Catch Of The Day: Dark Igloo’s brand for animation studio Cartuna reels you into the world of cartoons

Dark Igloo’s rebrand of animation studio Cartuna is jam packed with clever references to the art of traditional animation. Equally known for animating Spongebob and original shorts, Cartuna imbues every project with the humorous energy of a falling anvil. It made perfect sense, then, for that same cartoon energy to inform their new identity. “Every cartoon shares certain elements – painted cels, background paintings, an artist’s hand, sketches, timing notations, and iterations,” Dave Franzese, Co-founder of Dark Igloo tells us. “Our goal was to bring these elements out of the production process, and into the brand’s foreground through a visual world loaded with hand-styled typography, background paintings, and smear frames. The result is a cartoon company that is slick, and wears its passion for cartoons on its sleeve.” Cartoons have served as inspiration for Co-founders Dave Franzese and Mark Miller too. “When we first set up our then home-studio 15 years ago, Dave and I stuck small igloo shaped stickers on the mouldings so it looked like mouse holes from Tom & Jerry.” says Miller. “The results are always special when everyone can geek out on the same details.”