Animation

Quartz The Next Billion: NYC Flagship Event Graphics

Continuing our collaboration with Quartz, we were thrilled at the opportunity to take things up a level for the sixth Next Billion Forum this past November.

The event has grown and a larger venue was needed; hence we got a whole new space to play in, the beautiful Conrad Hotel in downtown Manhattan.

We updated the onstage branding that we developed for London and New Delhi; however the most exciting opportunity was to create a custom loop that played throughout the day over the registration desk in the networking lounge.

The goal was to enhance the guest experience for the flagship event, and specifically bring the energy of New York City to the brand.

Based on our initial scouting of the Conrad in August, we determined that the space at the top of the stairs provided a perfect opportunity to greet guests with a lively visual element as they approach the registration desk upon arrival.

As in London, the aim was to engage the viewers with “visual brain teasers” that were simultaneously elegant and a bit playful. Since this would not be playing in the main hall during presentations (as in London and New Delhi), we were freed to cut loose with a lot more energy.

From the outset, Quartz design lead Eric Trott and I talked about using speed, angles, and bright pops of color to connect the brand to the energy of the city. We also wanted about 2 minutes before the content looped, corresponding to the maximum time it typically takes to check in an attendee.

2 minutes. Blank canvas. What on earth would we fill the screen with?

After some brainstorming, some goofing around, some sketching and some starting over, we found the key points of inspiration.

We’d juxtapose forms inspired by the architectural details of the space with shapes based on the Quartz logotype and Next Billion brand mark to ground the event in the space, and more broadly the brand in the city.

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We decided to include The Next Billion literally, extrapolating the number of internet users coming online leading up to event day. This idea, embraced in an initial design round, was expanded to include number of e-mails sent and smart phones purchased.

We also wanted to take this quite literally “outside the box.” In order to have the forms to float on the wall without apaprent frame lines, we decided to flush the projection to the top and sides of the walls, and break the bottom frame edge as little as possible (we made a few exceptions in the end!)

The animation was a hit, showing up on social media posts, and more importantly contributing to the immersive experience of The Next Billion forum.

The event sold out.

We were lucky enough to attend an amazing day of inspiring content. You can watch the livestream of the event here.

We love collaborating with the Quartz team and can’t wait to do it again.

2015 Smithsonian Ingenuity Awards

Rounding out a busy Fall of live events was the 2015 Smithsonian Ingenuity Awards ceremony on November 12 at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C

The event, sponsored by Smithsonian magazine, honors 12 people across nine categories, including technology, performing arts, visual arts, natural sciences, physical sciences, education, history, social progress and youth achievement.

We were excited to be asked by LanternEye Films to create the graphics for each category winner, like this one awarded to Fred Armisen and Bill Hader of “Documentary Now!” fame.

 

 

Working closely with LanternEye director Paul La Blanc, we upgraded last year’s look with the addition of 3D wireframe models for each category and recipient.

Watch the full set of videos on the Smithsonian Website, or check out out animations in this portfolio post.

Coming in 2016: Touched With Fire

We were thrilled to be tapped for visual effects for Paul Dalio’s Touched With Fire, which premiered at SXSW this year and will be in theaters on February 12, 2016.

The film stars Katie Holmes, Luke Kirby and Griffin Dunne in a story of two manic depressives who meet in a psychiatric hospital and begin a romance that brings out all of the beauty and horror of their condition. Spike Lee is the Executive Producer.

Our work included immersive environmental projections for a key scene and landed Declan Zimmermann a credit as Visual Effect Supervisor on the picture.

Watch the trailer.

We can’t wait to check it out on the big screen.

Quartz The Next Billion: London Event Graphics

For the fourth Next Billion forum the team at Quartz wanted to take the event space to the next level with an immersive, branded environment that included animations in the main hall at One Marylebone in London.

The Quartz creative team brought us on board to design and animate site-specific motion elements, which we were thrilled to find popping up on Twitter and Instagram. We love the way our animations worked with the lighting design by Full Circle and site graphics by Pureworks. The total effect was truly greater than the sum of the parts.

The process involved tight collaboration with Associate Design Director Eric Trott (who designed all the Next Billion graphic elements) and Event Manager Maggee Dorsey (who worked closely with Eric on the design and look of the space). Event Producer Laurea de Ocampo was instrumental in facilitating seamless coordination with the tech team across the pond, ensuring all went down without a hitch on event day.

Event Photos

(All photos by Holly Clark, taken at Quartz’s The Next Billion London, used with permission.)

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The stage is set with our looping spirals framing the presentation slides.

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Quartz Editor in Chief Bobby Ghosh delivers the welcome in front of our full screen flourish animation.
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Home for the Holidays Sweepstakes 30

Yes, it’s not yet Thanksgiving but the Holiday spots are on the air, and we made one of ’em.

Pureworks Studio’s Victoria Jordan hired us last month for a quick-turnaround, mograph-driven 30-second commercial for the Delta Airlines & Radio City Christmas Spectacular Sweepstakes.

We knocked this out in less than a week taking our inspiration from Vicky’s designs for the program and adding an airplane than makes snow.

Creative Direction: Victoria Jordan
Motion Design, Art Direction, Animation: Declan Zimmermann
Additional Animation: Haley Saner
Voice: Erin Setch
Software: After Effects with Element 3D and Trapcode Particular