NEWFREND

Rolling out a Universe

Image Library, Swag, and a Lot of Good Vibes

SERVICES

PHOTOGRAPHY DIRECTION, GEN-AI, ILLUSTRATION, MERCHANDISE

Project Overview

Newfrend is a US cannabis vape brand built around one idea: the product is a social amplifier. Not something you use in isolation, but something you share at the game, the party, the hang. Simple, flavored, ready-to-go. The vibe is less dispensary, more good times.

They came to us with a brand identity already in place but no visual world to live in. No lifestyle imagery, no people, no moments. Just a product floating in a void. The ask: build a library that felt real, with scenes and faces that actually looked like their crowd, and swag that people would genuinely want to wear.

Approach

A great social brand needs a world to exist in. We built theirs.

The challenge with lifestyle photography for cannabis brands is a familiar one: shoots are expensive, talent is complicated, and the legal landscape limits where and how you can show consumption. Gen-AI gave us a way around all of it, not as a shortcut, but as a creative tool.

We used it to build a full image library that translated Newfrend's brand DNA into real-feeling scenarios: groups of friends, social settings, the kind of candid energy that makes a brand feel lived-in. Products, color palette, and brand vibes were woven into each scene rather than dropped in after the fact. For the swag, we took the same sensibility and moved it into illustration. Apparel and stickers were designed to feel like pieces people actually want, not merch that exists to have a logo on it. The brand's world, now something you can wear.

Process

We started by mapping Newfrend's visual language, colors, textures, the social scenarios most native to the brand, and used that as the brief for image generation. Each prompt was treated like an art direction decision, not a search query. The result was a cohesive library rather than a collection of random outputs. Swag development ran in parallel, using illustration to distill the brand's personality into wearable form. The directive was simple: if someone who didn't know the brand saw it on the street, they'd want to know where to get it.

The project began with a strategic audit of Harper's existing brand sketch and competitive landscape. From there, we moved into concept development, exploring several narrative directions before landing on the bridge as the clearest and most resonant through-line. Visual directions were developed in parallel, testing how the bridge metaphor could manifest across different execution styles, from literal to highly abstracted. Once the concept locked, we built out the full identity system, establishing rules for logo usage, typography hierarchy, color application, and imagery tone. The final deliverable was a complete brand guidelines document giving Harper the tools to deploy the identity consistently and confidently across every industry they serve.