KontrolFreek
Lead Designer · Packaging Design · Print Production
Year
2017-26
Client
category
gRAPHIC
dESIGN
Intro
KontrolFreek makes performance gaming accessories, much of it officially licensed with studios like Activision Blizzard and Bungie. I worked across the full commercial stack for those products: the go-to-market marketing that launched them, and the physical packaging that put them on a shelf. Two disciplines, flat and dimensional, held to the same standard.
Product Launch: Call of Duty Modern Warfare Performance Thumbsticks
For the relaunch of KontrolFreek's Modern Warfare thumbstick line, a collaboration with Activision Blizzard, I built a full campaign from a single design language: the product's hexagonal geometry and signature blue. From that one idea I produced the entire go-to-market suite, and carried it across every channel a retail launch touches: email, homepage banners, social teasers and launch, GameStop weekly ads, a GAME UK in-store counter display, Amazon enhanced brand content, and a gift-with-purchase.
Collector's Editions and Packaging
The other half of the job was physical. I designed KontrolFreek's licensed collector packaging end to end, from concept through the 3D models that went to the factory floor.
Diablo IV Collector's Edition (Activision Blizzard)
A premium collector case built to Blizzard's strict Diablo brand guidelines. I started from the game's Horadric Cubes, designed the class-icon and gothic ornament artwork, then modeled the case in Fusion 360 to generate factory-ready files. When the studio changed source art mid-production, I reworked the design to hold the concept together. The result was a first for KontrolFreek: a stamped metal case with functional hinges and a textured finish, an artifact pulled straight out of the game. It sold out almost immediately.
Call of Duty Deadshot Edition (Activision Blizzard)
Themed packaging for Modern Warfare III Zombies, built around the game's Perk-a-Cola sodas. I designed it to read as a Deadshot Daiquiri can, with a custom topper I modeled in Fusion 360. Sold out on release.
Destiny 2: The Final Shape Collector's Edition (Bungie)
A five-stage lenticular sticker that brings the Traveler to life with a pulsing effect, set into a custom lid I modeled in Fusion 360 to mimic the Traveler itself. A static package with an animated soul.
Flagship Packaging Redesign, Generation 1 to Generation 2
Not licensed, but the most business-driven of the set. The original thumbstick packaging had real problems: it was easy to tamper with, too cramped to show features, and poor at cross-selling. I prototyped shapes rapidly and developed die lines and graphics in parallel, landing on a two-part thermoformed structure with a "try me" opening, room to sell the product's features up front, and a back panel turned into a cross-sell hub.
Closing
Same brand, two very different crafts. One side is a launch that has to live across a dozen screens and shelves. The other is an object someone holds, opens, and keeps. I like that KontrolFreek let me own both ends of that, from the first teaser email to the metal case it all arrived in.
