Character & Merchandise
Petey & Piper
A character-led merchandise system that turned Peterbilt trucks into a playful retail collection for kids, families, and fans.
- Character
- Illustration
- Merchandise
- Product Artwork
- Ecommerce
- Brand Extension
- Role
- Senior Graphic Designer / Character & Merchandise Design / Product Artwork
- Client
- Peterbilt / PACCAR, through BDA / DesignLab
- Year
- 2024
- Deliverables
- Character concepts, Final character artwork, Merchandise artwork, Apparel graphics, Product mockups, Pattern applications, Backpack and lunch cooler artwork, Sticker and accessory artwork, Ecommerce product assets, Production-ready proofing support
- Tools
- Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Product mockups, Production proofing, Ecommerce asset preparation
Challenge
Peterbilt needed a kid and family-friendly merchandise collection that could turn real truck models into approachable characters without losing the identity of the brand.
The challenge was to make the trucks expressive, playful, and product-ready while preserving recognizable Peterbilt cues across apparel, accessories, physical products, and ecommerce.
Approach
The system was built around two complementary truck characters: Petey and Piper. Each character needed to feel distinct, expressive, and approachable while still translating clearly across different merchandise formats.
The work balanced character personality with production needs. Details like facial expression, color, shape, linework, and simplified truck features had to work across screen print, embroidery, patterns, product mockups, ecommerce thumbnails, and physical samples.
Final Character System
Petey and Piper were designed as complementary characters with distinct colors, silhouettes, and expressions while staying connected to the Peterbilt brand.
Concept Evolution
Early style exploration helped define how real Peterbilt truck models could become expressive, kid-friendly characters that still worked as production-ready merchandise art.
Merchandise System
The characters were adapted across a wide retail product family, from apparel and accessories to bags, bottles, stickers, and youth products.
Physical Product Samples
The character system moved beyond flat artwork into physical merchandise samples, including plush characters and printed lunch cooler products.
Ecommerce Launch
The final merchandise family launched as a live Shop Peterbilt ecommerce collection with multiple character-led products.
What I owned
- Explored early character directions and visual styles.
- Developed final Petey and Piper character artwork.
- Adapted the character system across apparel, accessories, bags, lunch coolers, stickers, water bottles, keychains, plush, and other merchandise.
- Created product mockups and proofing materials for review and production.
- Helped translate the characters into a live ecommerce merchandise collection.
- Maintained consistency across character artwork, product applications, and retail presentation.
Why it mattered
Petey and Piper extended a heritage truck brand into a playful retail system for younger audiences and family customers. The project turned vehicle identity into a flexible character platform that could live across real merchandise, ecommerce, and physical product samples.
Impact
- Launched as a live Shop Peterbilt ecommerce collection.
- Applied across a broad merchandise family, including apparel, accessories, bags, lunch coolers, stickers, bottles, keychains, plush, and other retail items.
- Created a character system that could scale across multiple product types while staying recognizable and production-ready.