I began conceiving the direction for the opening titles by exploring the character's distinct personalities. The core thesis I developed was to communicate how the youthful (modern) and divergent personalities of each character somehow all seem to fit together within the context of a coffee shop (The Buzz) in New York. Coffee and New York became central visual queues that I wanted to allude to with the art direction. I derived a palette that's familiar to brewing coffee and Wendy Eduarte developed the type treatment with her initial design. The Art Direction came together to create a perfect 'blend' of modern typography, warm palette complemented with visual markers of each character's personality.
Teamwork
Under Professor Austin Shaw's tutorship, we gathered a team of animators to bring the designs to life within four days. Kenny Kerut, Yukari Schrickel, Lizzi Stuart and myself had a rough draft done within a couple days and a polished piece for the sound design team to really take it to the next level. Lizzi and Kenny did additional designs that went into production during the animation phase.
Ian Chase, Chris Walasek and Kyle Strype developed the music and mixing for the final piece.
The Buzz sitcom went on to receive 2 Student Emmy award nominations for best Series - Scripted and Writing for Comedy by its creators Matt Nickley and Shasta Ford, later winning a Student Emmy award. This top notch project in its entirety was produced by students of the Savannah College of Art & Design.
