M01combinable without breaking silhouette or read at small size
7
Trait layers
Case · ZAI Rabbit
NFT · 2022
An NFT collection with a character system built to scale.
ZAI Rabbit is an NFT collection whose economic model depends on characters that remain recognizable at thumbnail size and varied enough at full size to sustain a secondary market.
- Client
- ZAI Rabbit
- Year
- 2022
- Scope
- Character design · Collection art · Brand
- Role
- Creative lead
- Team
- 1 illustrator + 1 designer
- Duration
- 10 weeks
01
The engagement
Context, approach, and the decisions that mattered.
We built the rabbit as a rig — base silhouette, trait layers, color rules — and documented the export pipeline so the mint team could generate the full collection without redrawing a single asset by hand.
- 01
Silhouette first
Every trait was tested at 64px before it was approved at 1024px. Rarity is visible in the large render and still readable in the wallet thumbnail.
- 02
A bible the engineers could run
Layer order, forbidden combinations, and export naming were specified in the same document as the art direction. Generation was an engineering task, not a design bottleneck.
02
Selected artifacts
A small spread from the engagement.
03
Outcome
The numbers we agreed to ship against.
M02handed to the mint team with export rules and rarity logic
1
Collection bible
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