BukaLapak: Character Design for Sticker

Bukalapak Character Design Behind The Scene

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Can you imagine haggling a price with a seller while buying something online? In Indonesia, you can do that. Direct communication between a customer and seller was a custom that most people refused to check-out if the seller does not reply to their chat. That is why all online marketplace app in Indonesia have a chatting feature, including on Bukalapak.

Bukalapak was one of Indonesia’s largest online marketplaces, also one of a few startup unicorns in the country. When the chatting sticker became popular, Bukalapak was interested in integrating the sticker into their chatting feature.

To make a sticker, you’ll need a mascot or a character design, which Bukalapak did not yet have. The client feels that the most suitable characters for representing their business were a brown corrugated paper box, a tent, and an ant. A corrugated paper box was symbolized the box seller use to ship their product to a customer. A tent directly referring to the word “lapak” is a term people use to describe roadside traders who do their business under a non-permanent tent. An ant symbolizes cooperation between the company dan sellers in the ecosystem.

A corrugated paper box was perceived as an option that both Bukalapak users would easily understand. The initial designs we develop was a character with a paper box head.

Based on client’s user demographic, the selected design was given a more masculine look. The design was then minimalized into just a paper box and a pair of tiny legs. The last feedback we received was that client wished for the box character to possess a superhero image like a cape or Clark Kent’s glasses, symbolizing Bukalapak’s excellence in the retail industry.