Heyday In Motion
Target’s Heyday brings a burst of personality to everyday tech. Designed for teens and Millennials, the brand turns chargers, earbuds, and speakers into style statements with bold colors, playful design, and reasonable pricing. By blending function with fun, Heyday transforms essential gadgets into fashion-forward accessories that feel as good as they look.
To start the project, my goal was to bring organic whimsy to the electronics category with motion and materiality. Each piece was crafted to communicate a clear product story within a tight 15-second window, using stop motion animation to breathe life into hardware. Working within the brand’s certified color palette and a tightly controlled stop motion setup with fixed camera angles and intentional prop placement, we transformed rigid cables into fluid, sculptural gestures that convey movement and a vibrant personality. Our goal was a sophisticated intersection of function and form, creating precisely crafted frames that feel alive rather than static.
Process-wise, we moved from traditional sketching to tactile storyboarding, capturing physical products in motion ahead of the shoot to establish a precise kinetic blueprint. In Dragonframe, overlay paths helped us calculate exact keyframes and timing so the final execution mirrored our previsualized narrative with surgical precision. Early tests defined pacing and momentum, and the application of classical animation principles elevated the work. This culminated in a logo animation with palpable energy that pushed the elasticity of the brand while maintaining core legibility.
A key challenge within this project was aligning the team’s technical instincts with an organic vision. Rather than chasing mathematical perfection, we embraced planned spontaneity through subtle asymmetries, micro variations, and intentional imperfection to avoid an overly sanitized and robotic result. This approach preserved the tactile character of stop motion and yielded motion that felt authentic, lived in, and approachable.’
The final campaign became a celebration of tactile creativity. By turning product features into playful visual cues, we kept viewers hooked and made the path to purchase feel effortless and fun. A key takeaway from this project was that premium does not have to mean polished to sterility. By leaning into natural nuance, we kept the work human-centered and full of character, proving that creativity thrives in flexibility and that problem-solving is more fun when it looks like magic.
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Photographer: Jordan Walczak
Art DIrector: Ann Leitel
Stylist: Kirsten Folken, Juli Hanssen, & Ali Harris
Producer: Madeleine Miller
Prep: Erik Stussy & Rachel Elias
Photo Assistant: Jesse Nelson, Jonathan Armstrong, & Madalyn Rowell
Digital Tech: Brian Vankeulen​