Making the Switch
For the last month or so I've been designing and creating the MTV Switch site, and I'm pleased to say that it's just gone live today.
It's all about raising awareness about environmental issues, and features exclusive spots created by 180, Ogilvy, Cake, WK12, Y&R and Lowe.
CLICK HERE FOR A LARGER VERSION
It was a huge thrill to get paid to design spaceships (MTV were adamant about the space theme, which was just fine with me!), and it's been great seeing it all get turned around in a relatively short amount of time. Once the site had been designed, both in terms of the artwork and the interface, the talented David Terranova, whom I've worked with on a number of occasions now, got involved and developed the working Flash site. All the content is XML driven and editable by the client, and he did a pretty tasty job on the animation too. We wanted to keep the effects subtle rather than going OTT, as is tempting with the space theme, and personally I think he did a great job of enhancing the atmosphere found in the original artwork.
First of all I got to work on the ship interior, as this is where the interface was going to be. I really wanted there to be lots of strong angles in the composition, and didn't want it to be obviously created by human hands.
Next a colour study was needed, so I scanned the drawing in and got to work in Painter. Taking the reds and beiges from the MTV Switch logo just gave it a really strong mood, and from that point it was all about carrying that through to each design.
The final version ended up being like a stretched version of the original, with lots more detail incorporated, and an extra console squeezed in:
CLICK HERE FOR A LARGER VERSION
Here's the initial sketch I did of the ship, which had to match the logo in terms of perspective:
The first version looked a bit too much like a small craft, so as I developed it I pushed it towards what felt more like a space station, albeit one that looked like it could move if it needed. Initially the idea was that the ship should be in deep space, hence the red backdrop here and the more menacing feel. But later on when we incorporated the earth, it just lifted the colour palette, and also tied everything back to the campaign itself.
Again for the corridor, it started with a relatively simple sketch in Photoshop...
CLICK HERE FOR A LARGER VERSION
...which was then worked into a high resolution, 'high definition' rendering. It was important that the artwork didn't look like a cold 3d render. The idea was that it should be more like the beautiful painted backdrops you see in anime, with all that really strong light bloom. Well, somewhere between those two approaches anyway.
As I keep saying (stop yawning!), it was a fantastic project to be involved in, and I'd like to thank David for his work on, and dedication to the project. Thanks also to Julie, John and Pip at MTV for the opportunity. There are some great spots on the site too so be sure to spend some time there...
It's all about raising awareness about environmental issues, and features exclusive spots created by 180, Ogilvy, Cake, WK12, Y&R and Lowe.
CLICK HERE FOR A LARGER VERSION
It was a huge thrill to get paid to design spaceships (MTV were adamant about the space theme, which was just fine with me!), and it's been great seeing it all get turned around in a relatively short amount of time. Once the site had been designed, both in terms of the artwork and the interface, the talented David Terranova, whom I've worked with on a number of occasions now, got involved and developed the working Flash site. All the content is XML driven and editable by the client, and he did a pretty tasty job on the animation too. We wanted to keep the effects subtle rather than going OTT, as is tempting with the space theme, and personally I think he did a great job of enhancing the atmosphere found in the original artwork.
First of all I got to work on the ship interior, as this is where the interface was going to be. I really wanted there to be lots of strong angles in the composition, and didn't want it to be obviously created by human hands.
Next a colour study was needed, so I scanned the drawing in and got to work in Painter. Taking the reds and beiges from the MTV Switch logo just gave it a really strong mood, and from that point it was all about carrying that through to each design.
The final version ended up being like a stretched version of the original, with lots more detail incorporated, and an extra console squeezed in:
CLICK HERE FOR A LARGER VERSION
Here's the initial sketch I did of the ship, which had to match the logo in terms of perspective:
The first version looked a bit too much like a small craft, so as I developed it I pushed it towards what felt more like a space station, albeit one that looked like it could move if it needed. Initially the idea was that the ship should be in deep space, hence the red backdrop here and the more menacing feel. But later on when we incorporated the earth, it just lifted the colour palette, and also tied everything back to the campaign itself.
Again for the corridor, it started with a relatively simple sketch in Photoshop...
CLICK HERE FOR A LARGER VERSION
...which was then worked into a high resolution, 'high definition' rendering. It was important that the artwork didn't look like a cold 3d render. The idea was that it should be more like the beautiful painted backdrops you see in anime, with all that really strong light bloom. Well, somewhere between those two approaches anyway.
As I keep saying (stop yawning!), it was a fantastic project to be involved in, and I'd like to thank David for his work on, and dedication to the project. Thanks also to Julie, John and Pip at MTV for the opportunity. There are some great spots on the site too so be sure to spend some time there...
posted by Sam G at 6:27 PM
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