Watch Them Glow was the chosen final brand direction I helped develop at R&R Partners for the rebrand of Carter’s, a heritage children’s apparel company founded in 1865 and the largest branded marketer of young children’s apparel in North America. The challenge was to create a visual identity that felt fresh and distinctive in a category increasingly dominated by muted, neutral aesthetics, while still feeling unmistakably Carter’s: warm, familiar, optimistic, and made for the messy, magical reality of growing up.
The brand is rooted in a simple idea: we’re all made of stars. The same elements that make up the stars in our universe make up every child, and that little bit of brilliance is worth celebrating. The shooting star at the heart of the new logo became the starting point for a broader visual system, with its tail, curves, galaxy of stars, and bright color palette remixed into patterns, graphic elements, and flexible layouts. The result is a playful visual language that can shift and evolve while always feeling connected to the brand.
Built for a large organization with countless stories to tell, the system is designed to be both expressive and easy to use. Bright, colorful, and full of movement, it gives Carter’s a distinctive presence in the children’s category while creating a world that celebrates every little spark, from their first twinkle to whatever they grow up to become.
