Wimpy Kid

Website experience for an iconic children’s book series

Anything But Wimpy

Web redesign for an iconic children’s book series. Hand-drawn character animations. Collaboration with renowned author Jeff Kinney. Game integration. Tight Disney+ deadline. Optimized for speed and fun.

Jeff Kinney

The Author

Challenges

UX/UI Design, Responsive Design, ONIX Integration, Front and Back-End Development, Motion Graphics, Web Animations, Content Creation, CakePHP Custom CMS, GDPR Compliance, WCAG AA Conformance, SEO.

A big part of our company is the fun factor and the humor we use online, and we needed an agency that could work within that.

— Shaelyn Germain-Dupre, Global Engagement Manager, Wimpy Kid Inc.

Deep Dive

Designing the new website of Wimpy Kid was a challenging project, and oh so fun! We immersed ourselves in the world of Greg Heffley, his best friend, and other wonderful characters.

Just the Right Touch

It took several homepage concepts to create the right vibe for the cheesiest website around.

Bringing the Design to Life

Jeff Kinney had previously worked with other studios, but he couldn’t find a team who was able to bring the unique style of Wimpy Kid to life. We are proud Jeff trusted us with this important task.

Animating the characters took time, precision, and diligence. We partnered with Four Plus to create playful motion for each hand-drawn cartoon that appears on the website.

Co-Creative Process

Collaborating with Jeff Kinney himself was exhilarating. Our team thrives on brainstorming and sharing ideas with our clients every step of the way.

Say Cheese!

The cheese slice on the homepage proved tricky to develop. The java code needed to circle randomly selected, adjacent svg files and animate each cartoon character at different angles through predefined spaces. Phew!

Lights, Camera, Deadline!

Our team worked under a very tight deadline to meet Wimpy Kid’s movie launch on Disney+. We separated the website launch into two phases and passed Disney+’s approval with flying colors.

More, More, More

In phase two, we added a shop with branded apparel, accessories, and novelty gifts. We integrated the previously developed game “Wimpy Yourself” and created a fun zone with puzzles, activity sheets, and resources for teachers.

Honkingly Fast

The website loads extremely fast and is optimized for any screen resolution. Our development team integrated ONIX, the eBooks data aggregator used by retailers in the publishing industry. The site is secure and stays protected against vulnerabilities. We provide monthly support, maintenance, and security monitoring.

We've worked with many different companies over the last few years, and honestly, eDesign Interactive has been the best to work with.

We gave them a challenging deadline and very specific requests, but they were great at matching our needs.

— Wimpy Kid Inc.

Fast Facts

1

Disney+ movie premiere

6

weeks to launch the site

250M+

books in print around the world