Poppin: a 3D logo and launch animations for an event discovery app

Poppin is an app for discovering local events: concerts, markets, parties, anything happening near you this weekend. The brand already had a fun, social personality, but its visual identity didn’t have the impact or polish to match it.

The brief was an animation. It turned into something bigger: a redesign of the bottle logo, a 3D version of it, and two animations the team can use across their app, website and social channels.

The original logo leaned too far into playful. It lacked refinement, and it didn’t reflect the energy of the product, especially in the places a logo works hardest today: app intros, social posts and short videos.

The wider identity had the same problem. Iridescent textures appeared on the website here and there, but next to other styles that pulled in different directions. It felt like several visual ideas competing at once.

So the goal was twofold:

• Unify the brand under one clear, bold look.
• Create visuals that work in motion and across formats, not just as a static logo.

I started by presenting a few redesign routes. One of them explored a blue and pink iridescent material, generated as a concept with Adobe Firefly. The client loved it immediately.

AI image tools are great for this stage: you can explore materials, colors and moods in minutes instead of days. But an AI image is a flat picture. You can’t rotate it, light it or animate it. To turn the concept into a real brand asset, the bottle had to be rebuilt properly in 3D.

I modeled the bottle in Blender, in two versions: with and without the cork. The aim was a logo that shines without feeling childish or overproduced, so every decision was about balance: enough detail and realism to feel premium, but simple enough to sit next to the app’s clean interface.

The hardest part was the material. Recreating the AI concept’s iridescence in a believable way took several rounds of shader and lighting tests. The final look is a soft, pearlescent finish that shifts from blue to pink as the bottle moves, keeping the playful tone while adding depth.

I prepared two animation concepts for the 3D piece. The team chose the simpler one: a clean pop and reveal that reads instantly, even on a small screen.

For the second piece I had full creative freedom, and went in a different direction on purpose:

• 3D animation: the hero asset. The bottle pops open in the iridescent finish, for app intros, the website and launch campaigns.
• 2D motion graphics: a fast, loopable logo animation built from the bottle icon, type and abstract shapes. Bold rhythm and snappy transitions make it ideal for social posts, stories and ads.

Both work as independent brand elements, so the team can use whichever fits the channel.

Poppin came out of the project with a modern identity that adds life to the brand without drifting from its original vibe: a refined bottle logo, a 3D version with its own signature material, and animations ready for every channel they publish on.

It was a short, creatively open project, and a good example of how quickly a brand can level up when motion is part of the identity from day one.

1. Use AI to explore, not to deliver. AI concepts are a fast way to agree on a direction. The final asset still needs to be built properly so it can be lit, animated and reused.
2. Design the logo for motion. A mark that will be animated needs clear shapes and a material that looks good from every angle.
3. Make one hero and one workhorse. A polished 3D piece for launches, plus a light 2D loop for daily social content, covers most needs without blowing the budget.

Thinking about 3D for your own brand? I wrote a practical guide to 3D product animation covering the process, tools and timelines.