Disney x ESPN Andscape Motion Exploration
for Slyvain

The team at The Undefeated held grand aspirations for growth, encompassing venturing into fresh platforms and exploring a wider array of black narratives.

However, they required a clear and inspiring vision to motivate their internal teams and captivate new audiences. Sylvain was entrusted with the task of answering the question: How do you build a global brand that embodies the full complexity of the Black experience?

Role

Motion Designer

(wordmark exploration)

Final Motion + Video Treatment created by Sylvain

DESIGN OBJECTIVE

Andscape, like The Undefeated before it, is a groundbreaking Black brand, a 24/7 multi-platform media venture curated for the infinite reflections of Black identity. They are disrupting the space with a broad, deep, and real representation of the Black experience. This is a place for folks to lean into all facets of their identity–all of their ‘ANDs’–and experience an extensive and inclusive view of the Black landscape.

My task was to explore different ways to bring the Andscape wordmark to life through motion. To give these explorations a clear purpose, I started with creating mind maps to explore how things should move and what those movements might represent.

One direction was related to waves and how it connected to the main goal of the Andscape brand; challenging one-dimensional ideas about Blackness – waves represent widening perspectives.

I also wanted to bring emphasis on moving together as a collective rather than just focusing on individual movements. And how each letterform reacts and communicates with each other succinctly.

During the iteration stage, I consulted on conflicts that could arise when animating certain elements, such as transitioning between lighter and heavier type weights. In the end, I recommended against this approach because it would distort the letters too much during the morphing process.