Motion Monthly Cover Image V2
1st August 2019

July's Motion Monthly.

Cabeza Patata x Spotify

Cabeza Patata is a London based studio known for its unique characters that have popped up across murals in cities, in magazines spreads and on TV ads. The studio has worked with the likes of the New York Times, Google and Apple, and now their latest collaboration is with Spotify.

The campaign focuses on the “ability of music to help shape and change our feelings”. As part of the campaign delivery, Cabeza Patata created 25 illustrations and 11 videos that demonstrate how music can influence our mood. In the words of Cabeza Patata: “We wanted the three-dimensional characters to look like real puppets so that, when mixed with realistic effects such as smoke, clouds and lights, the final result confuses the line between the real and digital worlds.”

The first challenge for the duo was creating a character that would work in Spotify’s 72 markets without alienating any of their audience. They then went through a number of iterations of clothing and style to create an easily-identifiable, modern, gender-neutral character with no specific age or race. The second was to portray 12 moods that ranged from positive, energetic to more calm and chilled videos. The result is a quirky series of character animations that reflect the feelings we imagine or experience when listening to music. I love the bit where they want to confuse the line between real physical worlds and the digital one. The combination of physical spaces and digital experiences is something we’re starting to see a lot more of.

Check out the full case study here.

Motion Monthly Webimages 1280X720

Kate Isobel Scott x Make Music Day

Make Music Day is an international event where free live music can be found throughout gardens, rooftops and hills all over the world. This year, renowned animator Kate Isobel Scott, who is known for her charming stop motion animations, was commissioned to create a short one minute animation as a central asset for the designated day of music.

It was commissioned by Spitfire Audio and the brief was fairly open; the idea behind Kate’s animation is that it would inspire music being written to it. The Spitfire community would be able to download the animation and score their own music to it. It’s a really cool concept that could be an upcoming trend, where you pass over a final piece to a large audience and see what different interpretations are made from it.

Ultimately however, the film highlights just how much time we stare at our phones while on public transport. Kate goes on to say: “Doing the same thing over and over again, such as commuting for work, can become so familiar and mundane. Sometimes, we forget to look around a bit more which results in us missing out on small amusements. So in my animation, all the characters are looking at their phones not even acknowledging this random performance happening right in front of them. So maybe this is something people should think about when watching the animation, on their phones, while on the train.”

Check out the animation here.

Motion Monthly Webimages 1280X7202

Printworks London Launches AR Type Campaign with OSME

Printworks London has launched their identity for the Autumn/Winter season, and has unveiled a new design campaign that combines animated, 3D typography with augmented reality (AR).

The campaign is a series of outdoor billboards that are inspired by print press rollers, which is the main structure of Printworks’ existing identity. Using a custom Printworks app, people are allowed to experience the full effect of the campaign as the billboards come to life in the form of revolving typographic animations.

The campaign is set to launch in London first, then over the coming weeks Leeds, Brighton and Bristol will all have access to the interactive out-of-home billboards.

The makers of the campaign are London based studio and type foundry OSME, who featured in last month’s blog with their Agenda 2020 exhibition; a studio effort to explore what could be done with typography and technology. It obviously gained some interest as the techniques in the exhibition are now seen in Printworks A/W season campaign. I think it highlights the potential benefits of a design studio constantly experimenting and exploring new ideas and putting them out there.

OMSE Director, Briton Smith said: “We’re excited to have worked with Printworks to create one of the first examples of how AR can be combined with traditional media to provide new and engaging experiences. The campaign builds on the printing press concept behind the Printworks identity taking it into a new world of 3D AR typography.”

Check out the case study video.

Motion Monthly Webimages 1280X7203

The Great Hack Titles by Ash Thorp

Recently released Netflix documentary ‘The Great Hack’ has a pretty fantastic title sequence created by Alt Creative, INC, founded by Ash Thorp who is a veteran in the motion and digital graphics industry.

“The Great Hack is one of the most important documentaries in this era of rampant social media, as it exposes the technological invasion of privacy and the scandalous data manipulation against its unsuspecting users.

“My main goal was to weave the line of art and data together into something that would be simultaneously informative and visually inspiring.

“All of the data which is collected, purchased, traded, and manipulated eventually takes the form of what we identified as the Wormhole – an endless tapestry of data that feeds into itself.

“The Wormhole was one of the more challenging conceptual segments of the project. My intention was for it to break our sense of scale and provide a glimpse into an alternate world beyond what we think of as inherent.

“I wanted to give the viewer an impression of just how magnificently brilliant our collective data could look.”

Check out the full title sequence here.

Motion Monthly Webimages 1280X7204

Sign up for our latest insights, ideas and inspiration