Autonomous.Co: Making the Gif

The guys were pretty clear with what they wanted so that cut out researching for different ideas and lead straight to designing. Originally they wanted this gif to be their logo but I advised them against it and suggested the logo should be a separate, non moving entity, mainly because it would be too detailed and complex for the logo but would work well as a complimentary gif which could be put at the beginning of their videos.

I started by creating a simple outline for a polaroid camera. The polaroid image I created separately and using artboards I was able to move the print out down the screen in equal segments, the rest of the polaroid was deleted so that it looked as if it was being printed. I used Photoshop last year to make a gif so I had a rough idea of what i was doing and how to use the software. 

Above are all the separate images in lines so that you can see the progression and what images the gif will use. I quite like this layout in itself as an extra piece of design, perhaps a poster, that could be used to promote Autonomous.Co.

This quick clip was my first attempt, I wanted to make it into a Gif and send it to them before I did anymore to it to check it was along the right sort of lines. Whilst it is a basic rough draft it shows enough to demonstrate the style it would be in.

 They were happy with how the gif had progressed so far. I originally worked on the gif before beginning the logo and got it up to this point. After finalising the logo that they wanted to go with I was able to adjust the gif to harmonise with the logo's style. The solid lines were replaced with a rough pencil line to match the logo. There were two extra things that they wanted: firstly for the image to be printed to have something on it, they either wanted a city or some mountains. I suggested a city outline and chose Leeds as this is where they are filming so it makes sense and ties in a lot better to the design. The second thing they really wanted was a flash to go off before the image printed, I was quite unsure how to go about creating this so sketched it out before working on it digitally.

The simplest way to create the flash seemed to be using a white rectangle that would come out from the flash and grow bigger until eventually the screen is completely white. The shape couldn't have a harsh outline as it wouldn't fit with the design or the nature of the flash, I used another artistic brush to create an outline around the flash which removed the neat, straight edges.

Above shows all the artboards as one, showing how the flash develops and the cuts out allowing the image to print. I used a coloured background so that the flash would be visible.

Here is the final gif, the separate images feed into each other well however I am still unhappy about the images jumping about. I really struggled to line the images up exactly, I am not sure if there is an easier way to do this that I am yet to discover. I send it to them anyway and they quite liked the jumpy nature of the gif, it fits in better with the style of the gif and logo.