Animation

Grommet Doesn’t Sell Boring

Grommet is a company I’ve never heard of, but after watching their brand launch video I definitely intend to check them out. Why? Because according to the video below they don’t sell boring stuff.

The in-house creative team at Grommet approached Tom Allen, co-founder, and CD at design and animation studio Buff Motion in Brighton, England to produce an animated promotional video to launch their new brand. The result is a fun little short that highlights some of the products they sell.

The goal was to develop a piece of content that would promote the platform, widen Grommet’s audience and introduce their current followers to a fresh new look. I think they nailed it. There is a nice use of color, typography, simple animations, and a solid voice-over that brings the entire package together while highlighting some of the product lines. And the shapes used seem to play off of the new Grommet logo. I say “new” because I’m not sure what the old logo looked like. This is a really nice promo that gets the message across without beating you over the head with what they are advertising. OK, time to check out the Grommet online store.

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TRIPWIRE Daydream

I often step back when I see an ad and ask myself “What do you think the pitch was like when presenting to the client?” This ad for Tripwire is one of those ads. The 60-second spot takes the viewer on a trippy little adventure, and the payoff doesn’t arrive until the very end.


I’m not saying the ad is bad, in fact, the production value is top-notch, and once you get to the end of the piece and realize what is going on it works. I’m just wondering how the team sold this concept to the marketing department at an IT / Data Security software company, and what the pitch deck would have looked like.

Agency: PMG
ECD: Kyle Kelley
ECD: Andrew Harper
ACD: Lori Wittig – lori.wittig@pmg.com
ACD: Justin Prichard
Writer: Benjy Joung
AD: Kevin Yurasovich

Camp Lucky
Director: Adam Littke
EP: Brandon Tapp
Producer: Elizabeth Spiva
Editor: Logan Hefflefinger
Assistant Editor/Junior VFX: Jake Odgers
Graphic Artist: Seth Olson
Color: Neil Anderson
Audio: Scottie Richardson
Finish: Mark Sullivan
EP: Jessica Berry

Nipponpaint Automotive “LOOP”

Director/animator Kakeru Mizui has created an animated short for the Nippon Paint Automotive Coatings division that develops new paint colors for the company. I’m not going to claim to understand the logic behind this. It’s titled “Loop” and is being presented as a “brand film”. I don’t get the brand part of it, and that’s OK. Maybe it’s something that is getting lost in cultural translation between my American Brain, and his Japanese creativity. None the less it is a wonderful animated short that feels heavily influenced by the late illustrator Charlie Harper. It also has some 1980s color pallets and gradients going on which pair nicely with the illustrative style of the animals and other nature elements. Does it make me want to buy paint from Nippon Paint Automotive Coatings? No. It does however have me watching this for the third time now.

Creativity Explained – Color

I’m really loving the “Creativity Explained” series from Adobe these days. In their latest installment they teamed up with Portland based OddFellows and Pentagram partner, Eddie Opara to talk about color. The impact color has on design, and Opara’s view on how color influences graphic design outcomes. OddFelllows work is once again spot on and does a wonderful job of bringing Opara’s voice over to life.

“Multifaceted design-mind and Pentagram partner, Eddie Opara sheds light on color and helps demystify the rainbow.

Creativity, Explained is an animated series from Adobe that explores the fundamental principles of art and design. Part education, part inspiration, each segment is voiced by a luminary in the field and provides highly relevant advice for hobbyists and working creatives alike.

Our challenge was to create a consistent storytelling approach and wrap it in an aesthetic unique to each topic while feeling like part of a cohesive series. In this second segment “On Color,” we explored the emotional side of color along with its theory and application in design.” Chris Kelly – Oddfellows