Attic42 , a leading blockchain venture builder, wanted to create a podcast named 3327.fm where members of their R&D department, called 3327 talk about recent findings and ideas.
My task was to create a visual identity and motion graphics for the podcast. Before contacting me, they already had an amazing sound designer create the audio for the intro, breaks and outro.
3327’s slogan is Crazy. Bold. Forward. So I was not surprised at all when they gave me the brief: stick to the original brand identity and go crazy, or how they put it: “The crazier the better”. The deadline? 10 days, for about 60 seconds of motion graphics starting from 0.
I accepted the challenge and ensured I had the budget to enlist the help of my favorite collaborator.
My role was:
• Managing of the project
• Spearheading the art direction
• Facilitating the initial workshop where we did research, brainstormed, created the moodboard and storyboard.
• Consolidating the style and visual direction in a file in After Effects that we used essentially as a template for all the materials.
• Creating part of the motion graphics along my colleague
The process of creating 3327.fm, started with the first step: Gathering inspiration.
We did some research and found out Nikola Tesla had an obsession with pigeons, fed them in the park, left his hotel room with the window open for them to come and go as they pleased. This was an aha moment for me and became the connecting thread between all the graphics:
The members of 3327 research division are the pigeons, Tesla’s favorite and they are being guided in their adventures by Tesla himself, disguised as one of them. Blockchain associates us with innovation, science, discovery, wonder, space, superpowers, a different world from the one in which we live in today.
Creating a moodboard is easy when we brainstormed and researched the topic for hours.
Bear with me, it’s coming together.
Based on the audio we were given and the moodboard that we created we came up with a rough storyboard for all the pieces. After that I created a template in After Effects in which I consolidated the style and visual direction and we used this file to create all the motion graphics for the podcast.
This may be a good moment to lower the audio to make sure you don’t burst your eardrums.
[Audio transcription] Web3 R&D podcast. Stand together for something revolutionary. Revolutionary. Smart contracts, ethereum, polkadot, polygon, mantic, dex, defi. Badass people inspired by badass scientist. Welcome to 3327.fm
A human body with a pigeon head appears, zoom out to Tesla’s tower being constructed into a rocket. He is showing 3 fingers to signalize we are talking about web3, but also as a way to identify as Serbian. Punky hands in the rock and roll sign salute the pigeon as he passes on his rocket leaving behind a trace of blocks, coins and lightning. Real pigeons are being created on a factory line with the human-pigeon hybrid observing. It is revealed that the hybrid is actually Nikola Tesla masked as a pigeon. He shoots himself from a gun to create 3327fm the podcast.
[Audio transcription] Technology news, technology news. Because we read it first.
The pixelated title is replaced by a spinning coin in front of which the human-pigeon hybrid appears like a tv anchor, with pixel sunglasses falling on his face referring to the famous thug life glasses meme.
[Audio transcription] We did some research. Okay it was the first thing we read on a forum.
Laboratory, DNA, surveillance appear one after one another. This serious research takes a comedic turn after it is replaced with a pigeon typing on a retro computer that shows new pigeon clones.
[Audio transcription] Special guest. Today we have a guest, we have a guest. Yaaay, because we talk to each other every day.
A special guest is announced, the pigeon enters the studio with a red carpet in front of him. It ends up that the pigeon is alone and talking to itself in the mirror and even he doesn’t understand himself since the messages in the speech bubbles are different.
[Audio transcription] Badass people inspired by a badass scientist. 3327.fm. Putting the 3 in Web3.
Since the audio is almost the same as the end of the intro I recycled some materials from the intro such as the pigeons being observed by Tesla and added a custom typographic solution for web3 in the same style as the 3327.fm.
The result of this creative process embodies the values of 3327 and their podcast and received very positive responses from the team and viewers of the podcast.Some key takeaways from this project are:
A realistic time-planning delivery: The deadline for this video was tight; 10 days to create a one-minute of complex motion graphics from scratch. I identified that I needed some budget to get extra help in order to deliver the work by the deadline. Open communication about the resources needed to deliver on time is key.
Setting up the design team for success: It may be tempting to jump quickly into action when starting a project. I ensured that we spend time aligning on the ideas, vision and plan so as to be exactly on the same page, speaking the same language when we hit the execution phase.
Be resourceful, don't strive for perfection: All the viewer sees is the final video and they don’t care how you made it. We used all the templates, tutorials and resources at our disposal. Quick and dirty can be just as good as neat and planned, sometimes even better.
