What would you do if you were tasked with promoting a new series about Norman Bates, the serial killing star of “Psycho”? Chain a girl to a basement sink, dump a severed hand in the ocean, string up a burning body and then throw a blacklight dance party, of course! As it turns out, our partners in crime over at A&E have imaginations just as twisted as ours. This is why we love them.

When A&E told us they wanted to tease their new series “Bates Motel,” a spiritual prequel to Hitchcock’s original film, and that they wanted to call it the “WTF Campaign” we knew we were the right deviants for the job. You might want to put the kids to bed before you scroll down.

Two weeks and one hurricane (thanks, Sandy) after getting the call, we were on a plane out to Vancouver to meet Vera Farmiga, Freddie Highmore and a series of dismembered body parts. Blessed with the best, smartest and nicest production crew in the great white north, we shot a series of six spots over four days in the balmy Vancouver November weather. Explaining our footage to the customs agent on the way home has never been so interesting.

Rolled out over the course of a month, our six tease spots introduced the television audience to the strange, shocking, and violent world of Norma and Norman Bates, and the internet has been abuzz ever since. That success translated into the opportunity to design and animate the show’s opening logo and credits sequence, unifying the in-show graphic treatments with the campaign as a whole. Though the advertising awards season is yet to come, we took the complaint from Standards and Practices as a reward in itself.

We had the pleasure of working with three of the show’s stars, Freddie Highmore, Vera Farmiga and Olivia Cooke. As consummate professionals they were warm and friendly on set, but once the cameras started rolling things got chilly!

The set of the Bates Motel lives outside of Vancouver, BC. Needless to say traffic slows down when Hitchcock fans recognize the iconic motel and (currently roofless) house!

We put our two days on the motel set to good use, fogging up the entire area and flying in zeppelin lights to get just the right sense of creepiness ol’ Alfred would’ve been proud of.

After leaving the motel set, our journey took us to a beach in Whytecliff, a basement in Chinatown, a house in downtown Vancouver and finally Stanley Park forest. We hung out with a variety of dismembered body parts and frightened children at each location.

No trip would be complete without a family portrait. Mama Bear Maria and Papa Bear Jonathan were nice enough to join us for just such a photo on our living room set at the Bates Motel.

What would you do if you were tasked with promoting a new series about Norman Bates, the serial killing star of “Psycho”? Chain a girl to a basement sink, dump a severed hand in the ocean, string up a burning body and then throw a blacklight dance party, of course! As it turns out, our partners in crime over at A&E have imaginations just as twisted as ours. This is why we love them.

When A&E told us they wanted to tease their new series “Bates Motel,” a spiritual prequel to Hitchcock’s original film, and that they wanted to call it the “WTF Campaign” we knew we were the right deviants for the job. You might want to put the kids to bed before you scroll down.

Two weeks and one hurricane (thanks, Sandy) after getting the call, we were on a plane out to Vancouver to meet Vera Farmiga, Freddie Highmore and a series of dismembered body parts. Blessed with the best, smartest and nicest production crew in the great white north, we shot a series of six spots over four days in the balmy Vancouver November weather. Explaining our footage to the customs agent on the way home has never been so interesting.

Rolled out over the course of a month, our six tease spots introduced the television audience to the strange, shocking, and violent world of Norma and Norman Bates, and the internet has been abuzz ever since. That success translated into the opportunity to design and animate the show’s opening logo and credits sequence, unifying the in-show graphic treatments with the campaign as a whole. Though the advertising awards season is yet to come, we took the complaint from Standards and Practices as a reward in itself.

We had the pleasure of working with three of the show’s stars, Freddie Highmore, Vera Farmiga and Olivia Cooke. As consummate professionals they were warm and friendly on set, but once the cameras started rolling things got chilly!

The set of the Bates Motel lives outside of Vancouver, BC. Needless to say traffic slows down when Hitchcock fans recognize the iconic motel and (currently roofless) house!

We put our two days on the motel set to good use, fogging up the entire area and flying in zeppelin lights to get just the right sense of creepiness ol’ Alfred would’ve been proud of.

After leaving the motel set, our journey took us to a beach in Whytecliff, a basement in Chinatown, a house in downtown Vancouver and finally Stanley Park forest. We hung out with a variety of dismembered body parts and frightened children at each location.

No trip would be complete without a family portrait. Mama Bear Maria and Papa Bear Jonathan were nice enough to join us for just such a photo on our living room set at the Bates Motel.

Here at the loyalkaspar offices, watching football is a full-time hobby. So when the NFL Network came to us to launch their new football morning talk-show, and we realized it would involve watching football as a full-time job, sports fans office-wide rejoiced. And research began immediately.

NFL AM, the daily morning show on NFL Network, helps sports fans start off their day with a nice hot cup of football news. We executed the combination of football, news and morning conversation in a package intended to break the traditional sports branding mold. Away went the usual shiny, chunky sports graphics, replaced by a warm, stylized, photographic route with the sophistication of a morning with a French-pressed cup of café and a fresh New York Times. If you’re a fan of football and want to be up on what’s happening in the league, NFL AM really is the best part of waking up.

When we rebranded Fuse the first time, way back in the day (…2008), we wrote the following: “Fuse is a member of the rare breed of music channels that still primarily broadcasts…well, music.” Four years later, that statement was as true as ever. As lovers of music television over reality television, we were stoked when the crew at 11 Penn Plaza called up with the need for another brand overhaul.

Brad Schwartz, Marcelle Karp and the team at Fuse quickly became our best friends for one simple reason: they believe, wholeheartedly, in taking creative risks and breaking molds. What more could a company ask for in a client? Maybe one that describes their audience as “allergic to bullshit?” That’s Fuse, too.

That attitude and unique voice became as integral a part of the new brand as sight and sound. Fuse is like the friend that you trust for music recommendations, who cuts the foreplay and tells it straight. That idea not only informed the mindset for the rebrand, but also directly influenced how the network communicates with their audience. You won’t find any “And now a word from our sponsors…” corporate-speak here. Hell, they even got rid of in-promo voiceovers.

Taking cues from musical structure, the network came to life with the rhythm and energy of a pop song. By the time the rebrand launched in the summer of 2012, Fuse’s passion for music and authenticity in broadcasting had taken form in a graphic, dynamic and endlessly expandable brand that perfectly reflects the wonderfully fast-paced, ADD lifestyle of those so-called “millenials” – who we’re glad to have around primarily to tell us what’s cool.

Moving your network bug to the center of the frame may not sound all that crazy, but thousands of outspoken Tweeters apparently had an opinion on it. Which is great, because as the center of music and music-related news it seemed natural for all of Fuse’s in-program messaging to spring from the middle – and spark conversation. Plus, corner bugs are sooo 2011.

For the IDs to reflect the authenticity of the network, we sent photographers to cities all over the country to capture real slices-of-life for each musical genre. It was like a National Geographic expedition, but with more hipsters.

Type-based IDs pulled classic lyrics from popular songs to always keep the focus on music front and center.

Inspired by the energy of music, our animation language utilized “beat expressions” to infuse the network with a graphic rhythm. Plus, with flexible pacing and element durations we could plug any broadcasting holes with more branding.

By sprinkling the brand elements throughout the breaks, rather than in :30 chunks, we kept things fresh without sacrificing brand presence.

Promo packages were all about attitude and rhythm, abandoning traditional VO for a type-based approach.

The show packages followed suit, wrapping all of the network content in a consistent language to ensure all on-air communication originated from the same place.

We literally wrote the book on how Fuse speaks, creating a brand voice guide for how the network sounds and communicates with the millennial audience.

The combination of a design philosophy bible and off-air toolkit ensured that the brand will remain consistent yet fresh as it continues to grow over the years. These are some examples of that success found in the wild. It’s great to see how the team at Fuse has been able to evolve the brand while remaining true to the foundation we established.

Know what it takes to produce a co-branded spot with Microsoft Windows 8 and AMC’s The Walking Dead? Brains!!! A bunch of guts. And a bloody handful of heart.

Collaborating with AMC Networks and Liquid Thread, we directed the first ever story-driven integrated spot for Microsoft’s sleek new operating system. And the results are so good, it’s scary.

When you want to create your own zombie apocalypse, you head to New Jersey! We invaded a sleepy suburban home in Montclair, transforming it into bloodcurdling bachelor pad fit for George Romero.

In early 2011 our favorite Mouseketeer, Jill Hotchkiss, hooked us up with Eddie Cox and his team at Disney Japan to launch a brand-spankin’-new network. The first foreign-owned free-to-air network in Japan, in fact! The task was both challenging and exciting: how would the Dlife brand strike the balance between being immediately relatable to a Japanese audience, with a focus on telling the story of the modern Japanese woman, while still being a natural home for predominantly American programming?

Dlife’s primarily female audience is attracted to all sorts of things, from food and travel to beauty and friends, so we created an attractive brand. Literally. There is a magnetic force at the core of the creative platform, starting with the logo, that pulls us through the entire Dlife experience. Shows, talent, and the elements within the logo itself attract and repel one another within a clean, bold environment as the brand guides the viewer through the day.

In the end, the launch of Dlife was a smashing success, a monster in the ratings, and proof that language differences can’t threaten great collaboration – even if the time difference does require 9pm conference calls! Plus, we finally got to visit Tokyo! Now as for that rumor that Scott dressed up as Hello Kitty and partied with the Harajuku girls, there’s no way to prove that it actually happened…

By creating such a clean, elegant brand we had the chance to really nerd out and make photoreal glass letterforms out of all sorts of materials. Throw in nine color palettes and music from multiple genres and you’ve got an audio-visual feast of attractive branding.

Not to be outdone by the Kodak Theater or Tiffany’s, we tackled some premium packages for Dlife Cinema and all their premiere content.

Of course we didn’t forget about the kiddos. Dlife hosts a branded block each morning and afternoon that features Disney cartoons from the States, so naturally Mickey – or at least his famous head – had to make an appearance in the brand.

Being an entertainment brand, Dlife needed to be consistent off the air too. And damn does it look good wherever it’s found!

R&D is always a great excuse to play with plexi, but the physical logo ended up looking more CG than our renders. Plus, executing the whole brand in stop-motion lost its appeal once we saw the deliverables list…

At the end of 2011, our good friend Chris Mantzaris at ESPN approached us to redesign the package for their hit morning show First Take, which features two well-known and…*ahem*… “strongly opinionated” hosts…err…”calmly discussing” the state of sports. We love a good debate as much as the next agency, so we politely accepted the challenge! We needed an excuse to break out that old ESPN boxing robe, anyway.

The hosts of First Take, Skip Bayless and Stephen A. Smith, are intelligent, passionate debaters who tell it like it is – even when it hurts. We wanted to show their dedication to the process by focusing on their intense daily preparations, from honing their arguments over breakfast to obsessively reviewing yesterday’s highlights for accuracy.

This took the form of an editorial, documentary style with type based on the white-board markers they so tenaciously wield. It also gave us the opportunity to spend the day with Skip and Stephen on the ESPN campus, a world in which you really can get lost in the pure joy of competition! We just hope that the quality of the finished product is something both hosts can agree on.

At LK we’re no strangers to Dexter packaging, so we were happy as a blood orange when Showtime asked us to promote America’s favorite serial killer yet again for the new season. But with so much ground already covered (and shattered), how would we push the boundaries of the promo design further than ever before?

Teasing the new season required combining what we know and love about Dexter with the revelations that set up the final two seasons. Following a now-iconic glass slide as it tumbles through space, key pieces of Dexter’s puzzle come together while we hurtle toward the inevitable conclusion – that everything we know about Dexter’s delicate-as-glass cover story could be blown apart in one heart-stopping instant. A focused and minimal approach to the execution highlight the fragility of the story, which has kept viewers in blissfully painful suspense for six years running. They always say “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it,” but we prefer to initiate the breaking process ourselves!

In late 2011, loyalkaspar was approached by suspense maestro (and friend of LK Creative Director, Elliott Chaffer) Mark Tonderai to create the end title sequence for his new innocuously-titled psychological thriller “House at the End of the Street.” Considering we love getting the bejesus scared out of us, and the fact that lead actress Jennifer Lawrence had been generating plenty of Oscar buzz, we gladly accepted! And promptly locked our front doors.

After rummaging through a junk yard in Ottawa for the creepiest props we could find (American junk yards simply don’t have enough unicorn statues), we attempted to recreate the haunting atmosphere of the film in our very own shooting space. Combining that eerie footage with a hand-drawn typeface created by aspiring young artist (and son of the aforementioned LK CD) Zephyr Hawk, the result was as disturbing as the film’s story. It was so successful, in fact, no one to this day has been able to go into our shooting space without first turning the lights on…

Back in 2009, when the Walt Disney Company partnered up with Marvel, the ceiling for epic blockbuster entertainment was blown sky high. Luckily for us the effects of this good-news-explosion rippled all the way to the loyalkaspar offices in New York! The afterglow for us was the dream opportunity to team up with our best friends at Disney XD and combine the aspirational teen world of XD with the physics-defying universe of Marvel. Thus the concept for the “Marvel Universe on Disney XD” programming block was born. And comic fans across the LK office rejoiced.

The biggest challenge we faced was how to create a unique execution that felt true to both properties. After many months of deliberation and exploration, we landed on a sublime marriage of styles: a motion comic with the look of a Marvel graphic novel and the immersive animation style of Disney XD. It was the perfect opportunity for us to push the boundaries of XD’s tight branding, a chance to try our hands at something that most kids can only dream about, and a great excuse to put a ring on LK’s favorite concept artist, Ben Zylberman.

So over the course of an epic Block Open spot and six promo packages, each referencing a relatable yet Marvel-centric environment, our universe came to life using the style of comic books with matte painted 3D textures for additional depth. And to take that marriage one step further, we even “Marvel-ized” the Disney XD font to create a custom hand-drawn typeface with unmistakable qualities passed down from both parents. In the end, there’s no question that when it comes to the TV versions of your favorite superheroes, Disney XD is the home of the Marvel Universe. And they’ve got some pretty kick-ass branding to back up that claim.

As lovers of design, we’ll admit that customizing your own sweet kicks is one of life’s great pleasures. But who has time to sit down with a white high-top and an 8-pack of colored markers just to bang out a little foot-based personal expression? Enter Nike iD, the sports goliath’s web-based system for building your own size-15 (or smaller) troublemakers, limited only by your imagination and Adobe’s Flash plugin. Working with agency Denton-Cardew Design in LA, loyalkaspar knocked out a trifecta of digital campaign promotions for three of Nike iD’s featured shoes: Mercurial, Free Run and Mogan III (third in succession of the Great Mogan Dynasty). Just choose your model, materials, and colors and you’re on your way to becoming the coolest kid on the block. Now if only motion design were that easy…

When it comes to visual environments, we’re always looking for ways to expand to more screens and they don’t get much bigger than the movies. So when Screenvision asked us to rebuild their brand from the ground up, starting with the in-theater experience, we were more than happy to call the silver screen our new home.

We created the Screenvision and Screenfanz logos from two shapes that stacked together to form the S in both names. These shapes informed the entire graphic language and iconography of the brand, manifesting themselves across the various platforms as icons, buttons, holding devices, printed collateral and even graphic worlds. Those worlds made up the branded environment of Screenvision, serving as the visual base for promos, trivia slides, content intros, standalone interstitials and, of course, the home of CMOR, the brand mascot.

But it wasn’t just the cinemas that would be getting a makeover. In addition to the rebranded pre-show we named Screenvision Limelight, the brand extended to the online and mobile realms in the form of Screenfanz, a unique user experience that allows movie-goers to find movies, make profiles, play games, win prizes and earn points towards movie rewards via the app that we designed.

www.screenvision.com

www.screenfanz.com

Screenfanz App

On the big screen and in the palm of your hand, Screenvision offers both the casual and the passionate movie-goer with an innovative, fully immersive theatrical experience unlike any seen before.

Fuel, your one stop shop for everything extreme, has been the home of thrill-seeking programming since 2003. So, when they asked us to brand their ‘Special Presentation’ package, we focused our concept on moody, cinematic elements that would hint not only at intense movies but extreme sports-related events as well.

When Fuel rebranded themselves shortly after the completion of the project, we needed to up the ante (and the adrenaline) to reflect their new focus on balls-to-the-wall cinema. The newly christened Fuel ‘Action Cinema’ package delivers a punch in the gut to prep you for the cinematic awesomeness in store. Like a Mountain Dew spiked with Red Bull followed by a 5-hour Energy chaser before a kung fu deathmatch, it gives you all the fuel you need for your extreme movie-watching lifestyle!

As part of the merger between Comcast and NBC Universal, the new NBCU overhauled their Versus channel into the NBC Sports Network. Luckily all our friends from Versus stayed on board through the switch, and called on us to help brand their Professional Bull Riding broadcasts to fit the brand new NBC Sports package. Our concept embodied the intensity and excitement of bull riding and brought that to a wider audience by placing the viewer inside the arena, with an environment-based 3D package dropping the audience into the action. With all the fun we had on the package we can’t imagine how this wouldn’t expand PBR’s audience, and that’s no load of bull.

Last year, our friends at the Food Network came to us and asked to team up on a campaign that would broaden the network’s representation of food and what it means to their audience. Sure food is something to celebrate, but it’s much more than that: it’s a part of all aspects of life, a key player in scenes with a wide range of emotions. By capturing simple, relatable moments we expressed the way food is entangled in daily life, from lively discussions to comfortable silences to risk-taking adventures.

This even extended to talent-based spots for the holidays, showing how when it comes to food we’re all on the same level. Now that’s food for thought!

Late in 2010, the Sleuth channel decided to follow the lead of their big sister network, SyFy, in rebranding themselves as something more unique and ownable. A couple of conversations later and we were teaming up with the good people at USA to develop and unveil the new home for all your crime and mystery programming: CLOO!

The concept was simple: clues are everywhere, if you just know where to look. Representing that idea visually we set out to create six unique packages, all based on iconic crime and mystery scenarios, where the CLOO logo lived in place of a piece of evidence at a crime scene. Integrating live-action footage with completely CG environments, the CLOOs ran the gamut from gold bars in a bank robbery to USB drives in a computer hacking to microscopic evidence in a forensics lab; all situations a mystery-obsessed viewer would feel at home in. Like the team at USA we’re fanatics too, and hope that came through in the brand!

AMC Networks, formerly known as Rainbow Media, is the parent company of some of the best cable networks on television. For their official name change, they also wanted a fresh new brand to show off to the world and asked us to team up with them. As AMC Networks continues to make waves and dominate at the Emmy™ Awards, we’re proud of our latest clean, bold, and timeless identity design!

The first part of the project was to package the networks and their content with the consistent branding of the parent company. This took the form of a 3D rendered logo and some flashy sizzle graphics!

The brand extended beyond just stationery. Soon it moved on to design of the website, print ads and, when they went public as the brand new AMCX, even the NASDAQ tower in the Times Square!

Our friends at ESPN came to us to help launch the Longhorn Network, a brand new 24/7 sports network for the University of Texas. Of course, we were game.

Right from the start we knew this wasn’t going to be your typical sports package—no flying shiny logos here (not that we have anything against that type of thing). But this package needed to reflect the spirit of UT fans, and the unique flavor of Austin, TX—which is, as they say… weird.

We came up with the concept of a massive trophy case, something that spoke to the past (tradition, classic games, and past championships) as well the present. Austin and the UT campus served as our inspiration. We took textures from the sides of buildings, old barns, the UT stadium, and the UT Austin campus. We built signage inspired by the eclectic Austin aesthetic. We found old rusted pipes, wrought iron fences, and weathered air conditioning vents.

With our raw materials in hand, we set about building a UT-branded trophy case with worlds inside worlds and where everything was branded Longhorn. Actual game footage was camera-tracked and used as reference for our camera animations, resulting in a style that felt dynamic and organic. Footage and still photographs were rotoscoped to serve as “trophies.” We even recruited Bevo to hold the boom mic in a few shots.

By the end, the package had even us New Yorkers shouting “Hook ‘Em Horns!!!” (the BBQ and bucket of cold Lone Stars didn’t hurt).

When Current TV launched back in 2005, it was a very different channel than it is today. Their original programming concept of using short UGC “pods”, while brilliant and unique, would eventually struggle to compete with the wider-reaching YouTube. And while their original on-air design was as beautiful and versatile as their content, after five years Current decided to move away from their techie roots as they began to introduce 30- and 60-minute shows aimed at changing the world and making a difference. That’s where Wolff Olins and Loyalkaspar came in.

After Wolff Olins helped create a fresh new look for Current, we were asked to take those brand guidelines and develop the on-air design and execution. The beautifully bold and simple look for Current had some very basic rules:

Among the current media landscape this simplicity not only stands out from the pack but serves to strengthen the clarity of the network’s message. When, like Current, you really have something to say the simpler you communicate the clearer that message becomes.

As for their new logo, the Current flag symbolizes a variety of bold concepts. It’s a declaration, a claiming of territory, the planting of the proverbial flag to position the network within and in opposition to the established media landscape. Current isn’t afraid of standing out and being a rebel, and in this case they have a very strong cause.

Travel Channel asked us to redefine the very idea of the network. They didn’t want to be about exotic locations in far away lands; they wanted something more human and closer to home to fit with a new slate of talent-driven programming.

We started with the idea: “It’s not the destination, it’s the journey.” We wanted to celebrate the spontaneous fun of summer road trips, wrong turns and unexpected detours. You don’t have to travel to exotic locales to find a great story. We honed this down into a bold new tagline for the brand:

Travel Here

The word “here” then became a central part of the brand voice. We used it as narrative voice, something anthemic, that celebrated the irreverent, one-of-a-kind personalities found on Travel Channel:

And we used it to reinforce tune-in:

Our design was simple. No shiny logos or soaring 3D cameras (not that we have anything against that kind of thing!). We wanted it to be clean and modern, but still feel a little homemade. We took typographic inspiration from makeshift roadside signs and our jumpy editorial style was taken from old home movies.

We designed a new logo for the network. Something clean, simple, with just enough personality to feel inviting.

Our typography was a combination of a custom mixture of different fonts with a ragged, uneven spacing. This was paired with a custom handwritten font based on the handwriting of our very own Steve Renn.

There was also plenty of live action shooting, which took us to exotic locations like Boston, Missouri, Florida, Alberta, and New Jersey!

When LK friend Mickey Strider, formerly of Mullen and now with Vitro, contacted us with an offer to pitch on a Kyocera commercial for their new line of Android phones, we knew the opportunity was a good one. So, we took it, won it, and off we went to DUMBO to shoot a live-action/CG combo commercial in the pouring rain. Luckily we were under a bridge, where our three talented actors danced and sang with their phones (which would later be replaced by CG models – not that you would ever notice!) to Gram Rabbit’s hit song “Candy Flip,” which was re-recorded as “Can You Flip” because apparently candy-flipping isn’t something the kid’s should be doing with their new Kyocera phones! Back in post, we animated eyes and mouths and other body parts, synched the animations to the lyrics and tracked and composited them onto the moving screens. So, to answer Gram Rabbit’s question: yes, we are EX-TRA TECH-NI-CAL, yeah!

Although the song says ‘Party in the Desert,’ we prefer to keep our parties in a tunnel, especially when its pouring down rain.

When we were commissioned by Sam Pattinson (of Treatment Visual Productions) to collaborate with Felix Barrett and Es Devlin in creating the visuals for Shakira’s Sale El Sol World Tour, naturally we were thrilled. The brief was simple enough, and just the kind of challenge we could sink our teeth into: create 14 pieces of unique content in 3 weeks! Our old office served as a perfect shooting space for Lu-Jin Li, fresh from a South Pacific wrap party, to come down and do her version of the thousand arm dance. Not to be outdone, Chi-Chi, Shakira’s body double, went beyond the call of duty by dancing “Shewolf” about 10 times, then sitting down for 2 hours to be covered in sequins for the evocative “Underneath your Clothes.” All in all we learned a lot from the experience, the most important nugget of knowledge being “hips don’t lie.” Indeed they don’t.

We had a lot of fun making the work and going to rehearsals at Madison Square Garden and Atlantic City. For more images, check out our Flickr page.

Due to last minute logistical and setlist decisions, certain pieces of content were not included in the final show, but we have added them here for your viewing pleasure!

After our successful partnership with Disney XD for their brand launch, it seemed natural to team up again for a few seasonal campaigns. We not only tackled a number of Fall and Winter promos and IDs, we also undertook a re-skinning of the entire network for their big Summer campaign. Highlighting the wonderfully quirky world of “Phineas & Ferb” we took a new approach to network branding, incorporating the show’s characters into IDs and promos to illustrate the carefree fun and excitement of Summer. That campaign had to be started back in the blustery months of Winter, but through all the sun and sand you’d never know.

Disney was so happy with the way the Summer campaign went they came back for additional Winter promos in December of 2010. Adding to the hockey and sledding themes from the previous year, we tackled a snow fort and ski gondola to further elaborate on the x-treme fun of Wintertime.

Most people are familiar with the challenge of balancing their work lives and personal lives, but few understand the struggle of being a cop, serial-killer, and father of three all at the same time. As you could guess, and Dexter Morgan discovered long ago, it ain’t easy. That’s why Showtime wanted us to promote the fifth season of their critically acclaimed original series by illustrating what happens when our hero’s lives finally collide and his carefully constructed world comes crashing down. We figured shooting shattering glass in super-slow motion with a Phantom camera served as a particularly effective metaphor for when one’s tightrope walk of an existence collapses under its own weight. And you thought your life was hard!

It had been a while since we’d worked with our favorite Midwestern agency, but when Hiebing called us out of the blue to ask if we would team up with them on a spot for the University of Wisconsin — Madison we knew it would be a chance to make something great. Though a challenged project in multiple ways, the intriguing agency creative and familial connection loyalkaspar has to the University won out, so a streamlined team (of three people, to be exact) was put in place and off we went. It was a fast and furious process, full of collaboration and 55-hour renders, but in the end we came out with something we can all be proud of. Go Badgers!

As a motion graphics studio, we know our way around the computers. So it was a refreshing change to get to work with Epix to brand their guilty-pleasure movie channel using nothing but cardboard, scissors and an imagination usually reserved for children. Born from a homemade video store feel, The 3 appeals to the unashamed B-movie lover in all of us with a network package that tackles the eternal question of “What if I branded a television network with only my video camera, a few friends and the shit in my basement?” It looks like we found the answer.

After several mutually gratifying hookups with the network over the past year, A&E suggested we advance our creative relationship to the next level with an extensive on-air package for 2010. Sticking to the subtle ambiguity that made their ID campaign so successful we highlighted snippets of stories that leave the juiciest parts to your imagination. A&E knows that real life can be more dramatic than fiction, like when a motorcade of Federal Agents goes zipping by, you find out your neighbor is an obsessive-compulsive hoarder, or Criss Angel interrupts your trip to the Grand Canyon by jumping over it on his motorcycle.

When perming the hair on your Bichon Frisé lapdog, it can be hard to grasp that this fuzzy little animal descended from pre-historic hunting wolves. But, in their continuing effort to present you with things you didn’t know you didn’t know, the National Geographic Channel wanted to show you exactly how mankind, through centuries of domestication, created the trusty companions that we now call our best friends. Combining show footage and animation, we wanted to represent that evolution in 30 seconds. It wasn’t easy, but hey, neither was breeding a pack hunter into the Taco Bell chihuahua.

You may know of the TV Guide Network as the channel with the famous “scroll.”  In an effort to give their network a makeover and establish it as the destination for premiere entertainment, TVG teamed up with us to rebrand the channel with a bold new look that showcases the glamour and excitement of Hollywood in a relatable way. Focusing on fan reactions and devotions to their favorite stars proved a strong concept to tie together the myriad promos and ID’s.  “Remember that one time when Larry said that thing to Cheryl?” Tune in and get hooked.

As part of their most recent rebrand IFC asked us to package their show “Icons,” which shines the spotlight on the unsung heroes of the industry, the innovators and pixel-pushers that most people wouldn’t recognize on the street. We took this to heart by executing a retro creative direction with frame-by-frame 3D animation, putting ourselves in the shoes of those pioneers from the earliest days of computer graphics. It certainly wasn’t fast, but we think the end result stayed true to spirit of these trailblazers.

Insight can be hard to come by, but with over 25 years of cable experience this Kentucky-based telecommunications company certainly has plenty to go around. They certainly had the good sense to hire the Brooklyn Brothers, one of our favorite ad agencies to work with. As a series of 10 commercial spots, their newest campaign imparts a bit of wisdom into what makes communication, and modern life as a whole, work. Many times, to make a better future you have to look to the past.

The Who are a bit of a rock institution, so when we got a call asking us to do the graphics for the band at the Super Bowl, we couldn’t help but be star-struck. From there, we teamed up with the halftime show team to create an epic 13-minute concert experience unlike anything we’d ever seen. In the end, the broadcast became the most watched program in the history of US television. Join those millions of viewers and take a look!

XL LED Laboratory kindly lent us a D3 machine for testing our renders in real time, in a virtual Sun Life Stadium setting!

Constructing the ’shield’ stage was in itself a miracle of human endeavor. Hundreds of volunteers worked tireless for two weeks perfecting the technique of wheeling it out, assembling it and plugging it all in. All within six minutes. Remarkable.

We took literally hundreds of photos of ourselves and behind-the-scenes action. Check out our Flickr page for the full compendium.

In addition to the stage graphics we designed and animated the broadcast elements, most notably the Bridgestone Halftime Show Bumper. Fun with tires!

There are some people that you can just tell aren’t into their jobs, and then there’s the cast of Starz’s hit series “Party Down.”  Making up possibly the worst (and arguably funniest) catering team in the history of craft services, these six walking failures can ruin any event you ask them to serve.  The show enters its second season in 2010 with a bang and loads of critical acclaim.  Unlike its characters, “Party Down” is certainly going somewhere.  And it’s somewhere fantastic.

Like all good live-action projects, this one started with hand-drawn storyboards.

Beat and Adam teamed up to direct the (hilarious) talent, which in many cases involved “go do your thing and be funny.”

You may have noticed that we’ve done a lot of work for A&E lately.  That is, frankly, because they are awesome and presumably think the same of us.  One of their coolest shows, “Manhunters”, shadows the US Marshals Fugitive Task Force (oh yeah!) as they hunt down the criminals who think they’re smarter than a Federal SWAT team.  If you like justice, drama and battering rams this may be the show for you.

Not all real-life drama is about action.  Sometimes it’s a look, or a moment, or something that catches your eye that seems to sum up the mysteries of the world.  If you’ve seen “American Beauty”, you know what we’re talking about.  In our continued partnership with A&E we tried to capture four such moments, illustrating the breadth and diversity of the types of drama their programming unearths.  Have a look and see what you discover.

Insight can be hard to come by, but with over 25 years of cable experience this Kentucky-based telecommunications company certainly has plenty to go around. They certainly had the good sense to hire the Brooklyn Brothers, one of our favorite ad agencies to work with.  As a series of 10 commercial spots, their newest campaign imparts a bit of wisdom into what makes communication, and modern life as a whole, work.  Many times, to make a better future you have to look to the past.

Sometimes it can be difficult to let go of things.  But for some people this compulsion to hold on can surpass simple nostalgia and approach a full-fledged disorder.  Like a maze, the house of a “hoarder” can become an unmanageable quagmire of clutter.  Our BFF’s at A&E entrusted us to bring this rather terrifying concept to life.  Warning: This promo may cause anxiety in particularly pack-rattish viewers.

After we finished launching a network that serves as a home base for young teen boys, Nickelodeon had an entirely different challenge for us: to rebrand a network that serves as a home base for young teen girls. Rebranding The N as TeenNick wasn’t just about unifying the Nickelodeon networks; it was about giving a voice to the teenage daughter in the family.

Much like the network’s audience, we wanted the brand to be bright, optimistic, and full of attitude. Just one viewing and you may be brought back to your youth.

A wise man once said, “I’m the new Sinatra.”  That man was Jay-Z, and he said it at the MTV 2009 Video Music Awards.  While no one really knows how well he can croon, his accomplishments have certainly put him in the well-deserved spotlight.  Creating the environmental graphics for Jay-Z’s VMA performance, we were tasked by event-graphics-producing guru and friend Lee Lodge with making Jay (and the whole of NYC) look good.  Like, DeNiro-Yankees-Empire State Building good.  Let’s hear it for New York.

We photographed a number of locations all around the city for Jay’s backdrop. When shot from the correct angle, it appeared that Jay had been comped into the scene.

“The Blueprint 3″’s logo also had its moments.

We also designed and animated the opening graphics for the host, British comedian Russell Brand.

If you’ve ever had your mind freaked there’s a good chance it was done by Criss Angel, the most daring illusionist currently on television. To up the freaking ante this summer, Criss decided to defy death not once, but five (5!) times. Our good friends at A&E asked us to make a promo worthy of these five heaping servings of awesome. So naturally we crushed, sank and dynamited a bunch of coffins. We figure if you’re gonna go, you might as well do it in style.

The Cleaner stars Ben Bratt as William Banks, a recovering drug addict who takes a by-any-means-necessary approach to getting other people off drugs. In our continuing partnership with A&E, we were asked to create the open for the show’s second season, communicating the rough and tumble world of saving people from their demons. Banks truly gives new meaning to the phrase “rehabilitative health care provider.”

As far as we know, this is the only title sequence known to man in which 80% of the talent is upside down.

Unlike other visual art forms, tattoos require a human subject as their canvas. Naturally this makes for some interesting conversations during the artistic process. No one understands this better than Thomas Pendleton (of “Inked” fame), who realized that the best stories don’t always just walk into the shop. “Tattoo Highway,” a new show on A&E, chronicles Thomas’ trip across the USA in his badass mobile tattoo parlor as he seeks out fascinating tales and brings the art to the people. Now that’s service!

When we set out to design our new identity, we had a clear goal in mind: simple, modern & clean. Little did we know our 11 letters would turn into a full-fledged alphabet following those same principles.

Meet KarmaLight, born 5.8.2009. We love her dearly and hope she’ll live up to her name and spread a good dose of, well, karma, through every screen and page she touches.

The winning goal, the victory lap, the high five; a kid’s life is all about accomplishing things and finding out what they can do. Disney XD, a global brand designed from the ground up in collaboration with Disney, serves as a window into that world. Whether you’re learning rad tricks on your BMX bike, sparring with your sensei or trying to impress your science classmate with a sweet volcano, this channel is your home base for reaching your goals. If the kids really are our future, the next 50 years are in good hands with XD.

We designed the Disney XD logo, which became the hero of almost every spot. The XD serves as a window from the regular world into the aspirational one.

Here are some Menus, based around the logo.

We also designed the XD custom font, including all the international versions…

…as well as the print campaign!

We had a hand in conceiving and designing the website.

There were plenty of live-action Network ID’s, which required a two-week long shoot in LA.

Sometimes an unexpected phone call is the best kind.  Especially when some of the words in that call are “U2″, “Grammy’s”, and “Screen Experience”.  Those calls can also be scary when the other words are “3:00 Song” and “In Two Weeks.”  Thanks to Catherine Owens’ wise decision to hire Juan Delcan and our friends at Nola Pictures, we received such a call in late January 2009.  Two weeks later U2 performed their hit “Get On Your Boots” at the 51st Grammy Awards, backed by 3:00 of original content born from ten sleepless nights and unbridled creative passion.

The thematic imagery ranged from political to religious to downright beautiful.

Photocopying and re-photographing gave much of the content a gritty, organic feel.

If you’ve ever looked out your office window and wished the asphalt jungle out there was a real one, Versus Country is for you. Rooted in a love of the outdoors, Versus’ programming block transports you to a simpler world full of simpler pleasures. We wanted these IDs to convey that serenity, right in your own home. We can almost feel the cool forest breeze now…

We had custom wood and metal signs made, and distressed, for authenticity. For the Menus and navigational elements, type was tracked onto clean signs.

The Delaware Water Gap made for a wonderful and authentic natural setting.

As part of our 5 year anniversary, we asked our designers to each make a film. The brief was ‘5′. Released over the course of a few months, here’s what they made.

Who would have thunk that an agency from Madison, WI. would be so damn cool? Starting out as a cold call, the project turned into an enormously enjoyable collaboration with Hiebing. The campaign for Famous Footwear was meant to evolve the brand through the use of motion graphics without forgetting the company’s roots. Ah, we loves photographs.

Fuse is a member of the rare breed of music channels that still primarily broadcasts…well, music. We were lucky enough to be put in charge of communicating that love of the aural arts through a full network rebrand. Music and those who love it, thanks to Fuse, have a home again. At least on TV.

The logo array, like the Fuse logo itself, is based around a square design system.

It can work for any show logo!

It works especially well for show logo layouts, such as the end of a show open. This allowed for an easy transition into the Fuse logo sting.

The square is also versatile in allowing for a navigational system built off of audio controls.

Buttons galore.

Check out the nav system.

The show packaging displays a wide variety of styles, while all staying within the Fuse family.

The National Geographic Channel recently underwent an image makeover. Now referring to themselves as Nat Geo, they want to emphasize their commitment to their mission: to know more. And to explore more. And to pass the knowledge they gain onto their viewers. No easy task! Luckily all you have to do is tune in to your TV.

What a great project: we won the pitch with good design. We shot for two days on stage and on location. We completed a hard post-production process in a short amount of time. We delivered a great package – which aired only once, unfortunately. T’is a shame. But that’s the way the cookie crumbles sometimes.

Showtime’s ‘Brotherhood’ is a critically acclaimed show about high life and low life in Providence, RI. We were excited when we got asked to work on a title sequence for the second season. In a parallel universe this is how each episode of the second season begins. Unfortunately, it didn’t make it to air in ours.

Dexter is a creepy show and Brotherhood is a violent show. So we made an ID with guns and, well, creepy stuff. INXS’ ‘The Devil Inside’ gives the piece a certain amount of gravitas. We don’t normally like violence and are torn on creepiness, but this was a good opportunity to try our hand at both.

Our contribution to ‘Pass it On…’, the experimental project based on process – ‘A technique derived from the Dadaist game of exquisite corpse and the children’s game telephone – applied to the arts of motion graphics, animation and film-making.’ We started the piece, National Television took over and Aaron Stewart finished it off strong.

In collaboration with Goodby Silverstein & Partners, we designed & directed a spot to introduce the latest version of Adobe Acrobat on their website. The 40 second film was produced to play for cinematic effect. the goal was to make it look as fantastically realistic as possible. Considering the complex nature of the spot, it worked out quite well.

The Brooklyn Brothers asked us to partner up to direct an 11 spot campaign for Kayak.com. They are also mad. The point was to make the spots so offensive they would get banned from television, increasing viral awareness. It worked: the owner of the company got so much hate mail he started a blog dedicated to the worst! We should all be so daring.

VH1 wanted an old school film studio open for their original productions. But with a twist. So we added a glimpse of a disco-party-concert (you decide). The rest is pure class. Marble letters n’ stuff. We designed the logo too, by the way. Fun with water.

Our collaboration with Renck Akerlund in Stockholm produced this whimsical fairy tale for Finnish back Sampo. We designed everything from character to environments and co-directed with Jakob Ström. It’s like a children’s book. And maybe that’s why it’s close to our hearts..

Our little blue friend went through a number of concepts before being born.

And then there was the color to pick.

Despite having no mouth, Sampo is a surprisingly expressive character!

In the end he inhabits a lush yet simple world.

This video is something akin to a performance piece, but it is far from straightforward with creepy kids, Gondry-approved stop motion, and reversed gravity all coming into play. It’s a slow burn, but in the end, very satisfying. All-in-all, a great video for a great song.

Memorabilia from a cross country trip was the basis for this promo. High-res stills and low res footage are unified through typography, graphics and a quirky editing style. Footage and graphics were re-photographed, printed and scanned to create a ‘look-what-I-found-in-my-wallet’ look. An ode to the road; a deconstructed, modern day haiku poem. Sort of.

Our contribution to the ‘Zoo With a View’ exhibition in Toronto, with proceeds going to the World Wildlife Fund. The quest of a highly evolved species to trap and exploit the ‘Cats’ for their resources. The coveted fur helps their transformation into an entirely different race. A classic, tripped-out vision of conquest and colonization, of course.with a view.

Not often do we get to work on something that matters more than supporting the global fight against poverty. An estimated 3 billion people watched the Live 8 concerts around the world in 2006. 3 billion! MTV/VH1 broadcast the events and gave us pretty much creative freedom. All we had to do was end on the logo. Well, that and have it make sense.

Before the most recent wave of green, there was Lime. The network for healthy living. With a twist. We designed icons, wrote scripts and directed the live-action. The hardest part: coming up with a system for our artistic package to live in. We think it worked out pretty well and has left a clean, refreshing taste in our mouths.

Unlike some companies that specialize in motion design, we really enjoy doing logo identity and navigation systems!

The linear cable network was only one aspect of the Lime brand; it also included radio, online and mobile, so we designed a strong icon system that would work across all platforms.

How often in today’s digital save-the-trees atmosphere do you get to design the collateral as well? We assume it was all 100% recycled paper.

Here’s an overview of the on-air package. After viewing, if you find yourself feeling either euphoric about life or guilty that you aren’t living up to your potential – we did our jobs!

Some BTS from the 2-day shoot. Why is our “Angel” looking so grumpy?

Inspired by the band’s album cover artwork, ‘Fortress’ reveals stick figures juxtaposed against lush, elaborate backgrounds. The video follows a prince and a princess, one time lovers now separated by a bloody war. A twist on Romeo and Juliet, or just history repeating itself? Again. Let’s hope that the world, too, can expect a happy ending…