Make It A Call Campaign
Client: iD Mobile
Studio: Troublemaker
Role: Styleframes, Storyboarding, Motion Design & Animation
The Mission
I was brought on by Troublemaker to create motion design and animation for an iD Mobile campaign. The project needed to feel emotional and on brand, while supporting a fast-moving production process with client feedback, timing changes and an evolving creative direction.
My Role
Developed storyboard and styleframes
Created the motion design
Worked with VO timing and music direction
Responded to feedback across Frame and Figma
Refined animation timing, transitions and visual flow
Collaborated with the Troublemaker team throughout the production process
Why It Mattered
Social campaigns need to communicate quickly. The animation had to support the message, keep the pace moving, and feel consistent with the wider creative direction. The focus was building something emotional that didn't feel like the typical phone advert. This is a campaign to get people off their phones, typing and texting, to calling eachother and living in the moment, hearing every pause and laughter. It's all about connection, which is what we need more of in this digital age.
Creative Approach
We went through two different creative directions, below you'll see what we landed on first. This direction was taken from the initial storyboard direction from Trouble Maker.
Styleframes round 1
This direction looks nice, but it's not got that emotional element they ultimately want. Back to the drawing board!
Styleframes & Storyboard round 2
On this round the client wanted something more relatable and human. So, characters are the natural direction. But, choosing the style of characters is important. It needs to be for a certain audience, grab attention, and not look corporate (please!)
Seeing as we were super close on the style with a clear brand, as well as a very clear inspirational reference, I went ahead and storyboarded first, then moved on to design the second storyboard myself.
The character designs all started with the female first as she is the main character. As we had to be super speedy, I used the same proportions for the male, just edited a few things to differenciate.
Storyboard
You'll notice from the final video to the storyboard that the sideview changed to a front on view, which worked way better to see the emotion on their faces.
Character Animation
Using Duik Angela and Joysticks and sliders, I was able to create an expressive main character with eye, eyebrows, mouth and head movements. I also had a body rig already made from a personal project that was easy to adapt to this project, but I ended up not needing the full rig. But it was good to be prepared!
Joysticks and sliders came in super useful. Throughout the animation, the client wanted more expressions, including different mouths and more expression, so it was important this system was in place.
What Stood Out
Created joyful, expressive character design & animation that was relatable & human
Adapted incredibly quickly as timings and feedback shifted
Helped bring a branded campaign to life through clear, emotional and playful animated graphics
Reflection
This was a lovely agency project to be part of. I thoroughly enjoyed creating these characters and animating them. Making fun and creative projects like these, alongside an important message, is exactly why I do this!
More
I was tasked to also transform the final video into different formats (1x1 and 16x9) See below!
