Axios on HBO | Graphic Design & Art Direction
1 big thing: How to animate the news during a global pandemic, and other excitements.
[WIP – Full case study tk]
At the start of 2018, a small team at Imaginary Forces and I were asked to animate an interview for a new documentary news program on HBO. Little did I know that this scrappy show produced out of an old firehouse would become something like home for the next four years.
In Season 1, we established graphic and motion toolkits that gave the show its own signature that still aligned with the house style of Axios’ site. With this system in place, our goal was to animate introductory chapter cards for each segment, and then one full segment of each episode. This pattern persisted for much of the show’s four-season run (most of the animated segments were recorded, written, designed, and animated in the space of 5 days)!
We took off the training wheels in Season 2, and continued to stare directly at some of the strangest times we’d ever lived through week by week. The season order expanded from 4 episodes to 12, which we thought was ambitious…
…only for that figure to expand to 20, and 21 in the following seasons. To accommodate the increased scope, and with IF’s blessing, I set up an independent studio called The Strangeworks in December 2019. We moved into a space in January 2020, after which nothing bad happened ever again.
Our work in Season 3 was nominated for an Emmy in Outstanding Graphic Design and Art Direction. I remain enormously proud that our team looked out for each other and stayed safe and healthy through a global pandemic and the ensuing lockdowns.
Credits (The Strangeworks):
Animation Director: Eric Chang
Head of Production: Lisa Muñoz
Production: Christine Hernandez
Art Director: Max Strizich
Animation/Design: Carolyn Figel, Jordan Bruner, Lindsey Mayer-Beug, Willie Russell, Nathan Goodell, Patrick Hosmer, Salih Abdul-Karim, Hannah Sung
Credits (Imaginary Forces):
Executive Creative Director: Peter Frankfurt
Executive Producer: Jon Hassell
Creative Director: Eric Chang
Producer: Lisa Muñoz
Art Director: Max Strizich
Animation/Design: Carolyn Figel, Nathan Goodell, Willie Russell, Rick Kuan, Henry Chang
2nd unit director of photography: Wesley Carrier
Head of Production: Aleen Kim