Creating a branded logo animation from scratch - Soul Vitamins
From confusion to clarity - New logo animation for online show
A look into how I created a brand new logo animation from scratch for a client that had been burned in the past working with inexperienced vendors without a repeatable process. I take you through the storyboarding, styling and some of the decision making that was put into the creation of the project from beginning to end.
THE MISSION
The client, Sonali Ariana was in the process of launching a new online video interview show and as she developed her branding assets she found herself in the need to implement animation in her content in order to raise her production value for her audience.
She had some animation work done by a different vendor but was fairly disappointed as it wasn’t suitable for her brand at all, after getting it refunded she found out about me through referrals from other influencers who worked with me.
THE OUTCOME
Then, with some video consultation and learning about the feel of her brand as well as her needs, we came up with the right solution for a new logo animation that would truly capture her brand (which has a very 70s style to it). After some back and forth she was happy with the result and approved of the design, ready for the launch of her show coming up soon late 2021.
SERVICES I OFFERED
Creative/Art Direction
Graphic Design
Animation
Video Editing & Audio mixing
THE IMPACT
More details about audience reception will come soon once the show launches, but the client’s team was fascinated with the result and is ready to implement it soon. Here are some words the client:
“I love it!!! Perfect!!! Thank you sooo much Sam I’m seriously obsessed with it!”
When you get burned, trust your connections.
The client, Sonali, was in the process of launching a new online talk show, Soul Vitamins, all about interviewing creative entrepreneurs to talk about mindset, lifestyle, amongst other interesting conversations with people that have successful creative careers.
However, as she worked on her branding assets and visual elements, she felt the need to get an animated intro that would serve as production value and part of her brand identity, so she had one made by a Fiverr vendor, who didn’t have much of a process but just created it based on the brief.
Needless to say, she wasn’t happy with the result, although it was technically a “correct” solution it was also fairly soulless, slow-paced, trendy but lacking in design aesthetic, with no rhythm, etc.
Therefore, she asked one of her acquaintances (another successful entrepreneur, Jamie Gibson) for referrals, which led her to me.
Starting with some storyboards to guide the client.
Initial Vitamin Reveal
Starting with the initial reveal, playing off the concept of “vitamins” in the literal sense, opening up with a pill revealing the rest of the scene, after the initial meeting presenting this to the client, I came up with a way to improve this scene by implementing illustrated hands holding and opening the pill. More details and full storyboard below.
Transition into the “Soul”
Inspired by the 70s style moldboard that the client provided for me, I came up with this trippy design representative of the “soul” my idea was to have this heart beating with the music and the shine rotating constantly, then transition “into” the soul for the logo reveal, signifying that her brand, her content was straight from the soul, she loves the idea.
Logo Lockup ideas
As for the final lockup reveal, I kept my options open, providing the client with different styles for the final reveal, which we went over and chose during the presentation of the boards, the main idea was to show a tagline representative of her messaging followed immediately with the logo lockup, then transition back into her content, in the end, I came up with a better solution (the back ground and sparkles part of the final video) which she enjoyed more than the initial options.
Storyboard reviewing
We had a meeting to discuss the storyboard I came up with alongside the moldboard they provided, to come up with the final design, after a short presentation and taking into consideration the client’s notes (including the idea of adding more to the initial pill reveal) I was ready to get started.
To the left, you can see a screenshot of the original messy presentation file I used to go over the storyboard with the client, nothing was final and everything was up for discussion.
With the planning done, it was time to begin production.
With all the strategy out of the way, creating the actual video became straightforward, saving you the technical details, I followed the client’s storyboard and decided to make it extra-illustrated by giving it a rough, handmade look, with a lower framerate and rougher edges, making it feel real and classic, this made the animation jankier which led to making it punchier and impactful.
I created the animation based on a soundtrack I chose with the client, which helped tie the whole thing together.
Some highlights into the decision making:
The video begins with a shape wipe, helping reset the viewer's brain, then reveals that the shapes were a pill all along, held by two nice illustrated hands, which then pull the pill open with another shape with a subtle zoom that helps signal the viewer we are going “in”, matching the music.
Going into the “soul” section, with a beating glowing heart, using both an illustrated glow and an actual glow, the beats of the heart match the music.
Then we transition into the logo reveal, with a very 70s inspired moving background that I found to really go great with the visual style of the video, showing off a tagline then revealing the lockup, all boiling with that traditional animation look.
After a few changes, the mission is complete!
The client was greatly delighted with the result and wanted to implement a different color scheme to fit her branding guidelines as well as some more simple tweaks, she also wanted to have snow on the logo lockup.
You can see the final result on the left, I still decided to show the original design through the case study as my peers and the feedback I’ve gotten is that it is overall a much better result, but the client was happy nonetheless.
More details on the client’s feedback coming soon.
Any questions? Let’s have a quick chat!
Zetanimo@pm.me
+58 414-8109974