TumblrMart Badges
Client: Tumblr
Industry: Digital Marketing & Brand Experience
Role: Art Direction, Illustration
Date: 2023 - 2024
TumblrMart is a feature on within the Tumblr app and website that offers Premium subscriptions, Blaze, and various Badges for a user to purchase or earn. I led the design and illustration of a series of themed profile badges that users could buy to proudly display on their Tumblr blogs. The goal is to increase Daily Active Users (DAUs) on Tumblr and also increase overall revenue and brand relevancy.
process
⬩
process ⬩
Before jumping into final illustrations, I started with loose sketches to explore visual directions, styles, and badge concepts that would resonate with Tumblr’s user base. Each sketch aimed to capture a specific in-joke, cultural reference, or familiar Tumblr trope — from niche fandom nods to platform-native memes.
My goals at this stage were to:
Visualize variety: Experiment with different badge shapes and icon ideas while maintaining a unified style.
Test readability: Ensure that even the most detailed badges would be recognizable and legible at small sizes.
Capture tone: Balance Tumblr’s quirky, irreverent voice with a visually appealing, collectible design language.
These sketches served as the foundation for feedback and iteration. Working with the internal team, I refined the strongest ideas and evolved them into the final illustrated set, keeping the spirit of Tumblr’s community at the heart of each piece.
execution
⬩
execution ⬩
The final badge designs combine bold, readable shapes with a playful, sticker-like aesthetic — a visual nod to Tumblr’s layered culture of fandom, internet humor, and self-expression. Each badge was created to stand alone as a collectible, while still feeling cohesive as part of a broader set.
I used a flat yet vibrant color palette to ensure the badges popped across different screen types and sizes, and emphasized clean linework and minimal detail to keep the designs scalable and instantly recognizable on users’ profiles.
The end result was a suite of digital collectibles that felt uniquely Tumblr: weird, charming, and made with the community in mind.
