Designing a creator-owned universe

Anime Universe spans anime, manga, gaming, art and the business of digital culture, built so creators own what they make. The problem at launch: there was no product yet. A creator-owned manifesto without shipped work reads as marketing copy. We needed something concrete a content creator could connect with.

I designed the launch around a single bet: A black and white Manga first approach, and use manga as the design language of the announcement. The splash page itself is drawn as one. Black-and-white ink, screentone halftone, comic-panel layout, hand-lettered display type. It opens with a ‘Building the Verse Together’ manifesto, lays out the three-pillar roadmap (Infinite✦Verse, Manga✦Verse, Limitless Play Studios), and routes everyone through a ‘Welcome Versekeeper’ sign-up that profiles creators and fans by interest. Those sign-ups feed Manga✦Verse early access. Manga✦Verse itself I designed as a reading product with swappable ‘expansion’ themes: Origin Story, Classic Manga, Originators, Origami. Each theme is built in HTML/CSS on its own design system. One reader, many art directions.

Manga✦Verse leads the public roadmap with early access. Infinite✦Verse and Limitless Play Studios sit behind ‘coming soon’ until they ship. Versekeepers sign up by creator type (illustrator, writer, animator, fan), and Discord turns the list into a working community that helps shape what comes next. The launch reads as a collective of artists that are joining to co-create the experience designed specifically for them.