Scooby-Doo Character Studio

Project: Scooby-Doo Character Studio Client: Warner Brothers Agency: ACME Innovation Production / Studio: Groove Jones

Creative Director: Karim Youssef Producer: Kat Kinkead Experience Strategy: Karim Youssef AI Expert / Workflow Designer: Karim Youssef UX/UI Design: Ashon Sylvester, Bip Shrestha Art Direction: Bip Technical Director: Luis Ed. Pineda Development: Marley Kanui, Wade Hunter, Ahsan Ali Khoja, Brian Kim, Hugo Fang, Jitender Singh Editorial: Karim Youssef CG Supervisor: Averi Torres Audio: Andrew Carman Comic Book Artist: Mike White, Sean Salter 2D Animation: Duncan Studio

Scooby-Doo Character Studio is an AI-powered experience for Warner Brothers, built at the intersection of AI, interface design, workflow design, and audience participation. The work needed a clear idea first, then enough craft and structure to make that idea read inside the format it was made for.

The interactive experience’s primary feature is a web-based application that lets fans participate in an interview with Scooby-Doo and Shaggy. Fans can also create personalized avatars in the classic 1970s Scooby-Doo art style. The app also features an e-commerce store, allowing fans to purchase personalized merchandise featuring their custom avatar character alongside the Mystery Inc. gang.

ACME Innovation shaped the agency context while Groove Jones carried production, giving the work a clean path from brief to finished asset.

On Scooby-Doo Character Studio, Karim Youssef's contribution was turning character creation into a playful system with enough structure to feel intentional: shaping the creative direction, AI workflow, interface logic, and audience-facing rhythm so the system could feel personal without becoming complicated.

Fans begin their journey in the Character Studio by participating in an animated video call with Scooby-Doo and Shaggy.

The creative problem was not simply using AI; it was giving the technology a reason to exist. The experience had to feel immediate, legible, and personal, with the workflow hidden behind a simple audience-facing moment.

After the interview, users proceed to build their avatar, where they can customize their character with various options, including height, body shape, face shape, skin tone, hairstyles, eye shape, nose shape, mouth style, clothing, and accessories.

Once you're done, you can download a set of avatar graphics that are perfect for social sharing.

The result is a technology-led experience with a clear creative front door: useful mechanics underneath, memorable brand expression on the surface, and a flow that makes the system feel natural.

Based on the avatar characters they’ve created, fans can purchase custom-designed t-shirts, posters, and hoodies featuring any of their avatars.

A lot of the work lives in the decisions you do not notice first: the hierarchy, the path through the experience, the timing of feedback, and the way the interface makes the idea feel easy to enter.

Users can preview their customized book and have the option to purchase either a digital or physical version, making it perfect for holiday gifts. The Launch Edition book is based on the first-ever episode of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!, “What a Night for a Knight.”

The platform was launched in early September when Matthew Lillard posted the Beta release on his Instagram and TikTok pages. Since then, it has exploded on social media, with fans pasting their avatar character images and posing with their custom merchandise.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/8d9b7c_dbe28eb644e141379849742959ccd35c/480p/mp4/file.mp4

Scobby Doo Social Promo

The video and images show the experience from the audience side first, then reveal the product logic and production system underneath it.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/8d9b7c_e3c85204fd3a42b68af01160fd648778/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/8d9b7c_e697093d503d4f16910f66b90d5c0ad1/720p/mp4/file.mp4

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/8d9b7c_61e4d5bdf07142939adda43eff071cda/1080p/mp4/file.mp4