Deliverables
Branding
Digital design
Motion graphics
Branding
Digital design
Motion graphics
A design challenge I took on for a marketing artist role.
I was tasked with creating a logo and animated Facebook ad for a fictional mobile game called Night School. I was given two character illustrations to work with, one being a zombie girl geek illustration and the other a faceless, four armed monster. I was given the choice of which character I wanted to make my animated ad over. I had a little less than a week to work and submit my packaged files.
The premise of the game takes place at a spooky town filled with good and bad monsters. Most of these monsters are everyday citizens like you and me, going to work, school, and wanting a prosperous life.
However, there are other monsters that want to haunt, harm, and wreak havoc to citizens of the town and students of Barrowmore High. Students and faculty alike must band together to keep their hometown safe from the creatures that would destroy it, while also trying to keep some semblance of a normal life.
The Approach
With that said, the brief asked for a look and feel along the lines of Genndy Tartakovsky's Hotel Transylvania, and DreamWork's Troll Hunters: Tales of Arcadia series.
The brief also mentioned using inspirations along the lines of Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, Monster Squad, Teen Wolf, Twilight, Smallville, The Breakfast Club, ParaNorman, and The Craft.
With the idea of Hotel Transylvania 3 and a high school vibe running through my head, I decided to start with some initial sketches. The first two were abandoned fairly quickly as I didn't feel like they were strong concepts. After thinking about it a little more I decided to bring in a traditional school varsity font and a school building itself as a emblem that would sit above it.
With an Idea settled on in my head, I decided to bring in more character to the logo than just a school building, by making the building itself a monster too. If you're familiar with Genndy's work, you'll be able to see some similarities in my inspiration with sharp lines, eyes, and angles.
After further exploration I settled on the logo above, but felt it needed a little more. I then decided to add a waxing crescent moon and to add strategically placed bats, to bring the logo to the next level in Photoshop.
After creating the logo, I brought my created assets from Photoshop and Illustrator into After Effects for the final Facebook ad animation.
Key Takeaway
Although I had a lot of fun with this challenge, I hadn't made anything like this before and within a week's time, thus felt that my skills were not quite up to what the employer was asking. I still think working on projects like this are a ton of fun and are in line with a deeper dream to achieve one day.
Although I had a lot of fun with this challenge, I hadn't made anything like this before and within a week's time, thus felt that my skills were not quite up to what the employer was asking. I still think working on projects like this are a ton of fun and are in line with a deeper dream to achieve one day.