Novel
Novel is an AI-powered reading app that generates real-time soundscapes underneath any book. It was designed for the generation that was never asked how they wanted to read; it was just assumed they didn't.
The brief was to build a brand that competes not with Kindle or Audible, but with TikTok, Spotify, and Netflix. A brand that treats reading as a sensory experience, not a discipline. A brand for the anti-reader.
The visual language draws from contemporary digital painting - soft gradients, muted botanical detail, figures rendered with the stillness of portraiture, but placed inside impossible environments. The decision was deliberate.
The palette leans into periwinkle, soft coral, and deep botanical green rather than the saturated primaries common in Gen Z marketing. The restraint is intentional. Novel isn't competing for attention the way a social platform does. It's asking for the opposite: sustained focus, quiet immersion
The reference pool sits closer to Hsiao-Ron Cheng, James Jean, and Studio Ghibli's background painting than to conventional brand photography or stock illustration. The output occupies a visual register that doesn't currently exist in the reading or audio space. That distinction is the point.
The palette leans into periwinkle, soft coral, and deep botanical green rather than the saturated primaries common in Gen Z marketing. The restraint is intentional. Novel isn't competing for attention the way a social platform does. It's asking for the opposite: sustained focus, quiet immersion
The reference pool sits closer to Hsiao-Ron Cheng, James Jean, and Studio Ghibli's background painting than to conventional brand photography or stock illustration. The output occupies a visual register that doesn't currently exist in the reading or audio space. That distinction is the point.