SMUD Time of Day

I was approached by Bongo Post out in Sacramento who teamed up with Adam Patch to help design and animate the start of will be a series of TV spots for the energy company SMUD. Our goal was to design something that retained all of the core elements of their brand, from color to shape, but pushed the style just a bit to something newer and more exciting than what one might have seen in some of their previous campaigns. Most importantly, the messaging and branding had to be clear, concise, and intentional, so the design and animation had to follow suit. We are happy where we ended up, and we created some pretty magical moments.

For this, I ran the gamut in terms of software and techniques. It was all compiled and mostly animated in After Effects, but there is a healthy dose of Photoshop animation, as well as some 3D keys out of C4D.

A few select board frames.

A couple of quick process GIFs.

Some early explorations.

Client: SMUD
Produced by: Bongo Post
EP: Bob Smith
CD: Adam Patch
Design and Illustration: Alec Cummings
Animation: Alec Cummings
Producer: Sarah Clough