Squishmallows × McDonald's

Product Design | Brand Collaboration

2024

Who?

Squishmallows is a brand responsible for the soft, unmistakably round collectible plushies found at many big-name retail and grocery stores. Squishmallows functions similarly to the classic Ty Beanie Babies, offering a myriad of plush options, including special releases with varying rarity—paralleling Ty’s canonical trend of collectors and kids alike snatching up any new or rare plush they can get their hands on (history repeats itself ad infinitum). During the peak of Squishmallows’ popularity (2020–2023), McDonald’s partnered with the brand to release mini, authentic Squishmallows as Happy Meal toys, with roughly a dozen designs distributed at random.

Why?

The original brief for this project was to expand on the Squishmallows × McDonald’s partnership in a new and fun way. From this, I created States Squishmallows: a collection of five state-themed Squishmallows released every two weeks over a ten-week span, totaling 50 plushies—one for each U.S. state. This concept is designed to build hype within the Squishmallows collector community while also appealing to consumers searching for their favorite states, incentivizing increased frequency of McDonald’s Happy Meal purchases in an effort to “collect them all” before they’re gone. As a pivot, I also developed a pivot—a smaller-scale concept for a McDonald’s Squishmallows run if the full rollout proves too demanding or complex. This alternative features nine planet-themed Squishmallows released over two weeks (yes, Pluto is included—I won’t argue this), each designed around its designated planet with a corresponding name and bio.

How?

My designs consist of each state’s designated animal, state seal, and accessories that nod to the state itself. I’ve also given my State Squishmallow concepts fun names and written bios that directly correlate to their states. This approach extends to the Planet Squishmallows as well, which are modeled after their designated planets and include corresponding names and bios. Also included is a collector’s sticker sheet provided by McDonald’s: a sticker of each State Squishmallow would accompany the mini plush. This serves as bonus memorabilia, allowing collectors to mark off their collected states with cute, interactive stickers. Lastly, the project includes two advertisements—one for the State Squishmallows and one for the Planet Squishmallows. My designs consist of each state’s designated animal, state seal, and accessories that nod to the state itself. I’ve also given my State Squishmallow concepts fun names and written bios that directly correlate to their states. This approach extends to the Planet Squishmallows as well, which are modeled after their designated planets and include corresponding names and bios. Also included is a collector’s sticker sheet provided by McDonald’s: a sticker of each State Squishmallow would accompany the mini plush. This serves as bonus memorabilia, allowing collectors to mark off their collected states with cute, interactive stickers. Lastly, the project includes two advertisements—one for the State Squishmallows and one for the Planet Squishmallows.

IMPORTANT NOTE:

This project is also intended to showcase my ability to use AI as a tool to bring my ideas to life in a quicker, more efficient way. I strongly believe in the disclosure of AI use within my portfolio, and every instance of AI use is, and will be, explicitly stated. With that in mind, AI use in this project is limited to the following: the base 3D models of my Squishmallow concepts prior to editing (the designs themselves are drawn and created by me); the base 3D scene used for the State Squishmallows poster ad, featuring the plushies on a table with a U.S. map above them (the original generated image was heavily edited); the base 3D models of the Planet Squishmallows used in the billboard ad; and the plastic-wrapped rectangle used in the sticker sheet mockup. The sticker sheet and sticker designs themselves were created separately and added later in Photoshop.