motion designer
NBC NEWS Digital Explainer
final animation
1:1
NBC
NBC Digital is the digital division of NBCUniversal, a major media company that owns and operates a variety of television networks, including NBC. NBC Digital focuses on creating and delivering digital content and experiences across various platforms, including websites, mobile apps, and connected devices.
design challenge
To educate and inform viewers by giving them video-based content to help explain today’s complex topics. To create clear, engaging and visually stunning assets that support online articles. These are not just little videos, these are high-quality, beautiful visual stories that enhance the user experience and engagement by leveraging emerging technologies and trends.
role
I collaborated on the project with motion designer Ana Aponte. Ana's WEBSITE LINK
We both worked on the initial pitch concepts, styleframes, and animating the explainer video. While I worked on our animatic, Ana created the design of the final styleframes.
research
We researched what design styles and imagery NBC uses. We found that they use a variety of styles such as graphic collage. In their videos, they utilize photography to depict the topics being discussed.
To develop imagery for the article, we watched documentary clips about Antarctica, emperor penguins, and the impact of global warming on the continent.
pitch
summary
Ana and I presented initial explainer video concepts and designs to our art director for selection.
concept 1
layers of warning
This direction takes references from the graphics used by NBC.
It will contain photo and video elements combined with
vector graphics to portray a more simplistic but entertaining visualization of the data presented in the article as well as the relationship climate change has with the breeding failure of emperor penguins.
Ana and I created this concept.
I created this styleframe.
concept 2
melting
This direction uses simple vector and geometric shapes overlapping with each other in center compositions to show how climate change and the penguin's survival are intertwined with each other, melting them together.
Concept and styleframe created by Ana.
concept 3
impact
Witness the catastrophic impacts of global warming on Antarctica’s penguins with a serious and engaging 2D stylized realism design style.
I created this concept and styleframe.
notes
Concept 1 was chosen.
We needed to develop more styleframes for concept 1 that evoke more emotions. An example is to show the impact of global warming on the penguin's colonies.
first pass
summary
In the next meeting, we delivered the first animatic and revisions of the styleframes that evoked the emotional aspects of the article.
animatic
styleframes
notes
-More pauses in animation to let the audience process the information.
- Make objects appear before, after, or at the same time as the narrator says the object.
- We are relying on audio too much to explain information.
- The beginning and middle of the animatic have clarity issues.
- Objects need to animate in the same direction. Things need to consistently animate left to right. - Research how NBC formates logo bugs on websites and social media.
second pass
summary
We adjusted the animatic based on the feedback.
We worked on new styleframes and an animation test.
animation test
animatic version two
styleframes
notes
Creative director notes:
- Add more compositions with science and penguin actions.
- Reference penguin character animation from documentaries of penguins.
- Detach the head and wing from penguin pictures to emphasize overlap and follow-through when the penguin walks.
- Test animation's readability, and 1:1 compositions on phones.
- Make sure images are understandable without the VO.
- Use AI to help create more iceberg, water, and penguin images.
Art director notes:
- Change VO to say twenty twenty-two instead of two thousand and twenty-twenty-two.
- Change 1st frame to penguins representing the colony spots in Antarctica.
- Add a frame of the immigration pattern of penguins.
- In the frame with the graph, have the penguin animate fast and pause the camera on the graph.
Have more penguins dive down the graph.
revisions
summary
We applied the notes and created the first full animation.
Ana and I worked together on the animation.
1:1 test
my animation section
full animation
notes
Art director:
DESIGN
- Have design rules about using stroke lines in our animation.
- Exaggerate the paper edges and have it less smooth.
ANIMATION
- Move the penguins more to show their emotion.
- In the first frame, have Antarctica and oceans labeled.
- In the 2nd frame, have the text bigger, less animation occurring at once, and balance the composition by spacing out penguins over Antarctica.
- Add satellite moving around the earth when looking at the satellite images.
- In the hatching frame, have less blank space and add a graph.
- Have the camera tracking have no posterized time.
- In the boat scene, smoke should appear with similar timing and have the penguin open its mouth or have its head move down.
- In the end frame graph, the 2nd penguin animates down the graph too soon.
- Have the end frame be larger and zoom out after the baby penguin dies.
- Have the NBC logo animate over the end frame.
final
summary
I am thrilled to have created an explainer video that delivers important information in a creative and engaging way.