It was a true joy to work with illustrator Jae Do Lee and animator Elizabeth Tae to realize this expression of Watershed’s brand.
The final set of illustrations grew to include 46 concepts plus minor color and content variations. It was accessible to the entire company for things as varied as HR materials, decks, and (naturally) in product.
The illustration set of “nouns” was composed of product pillars – “measure”, “reduce”, “remove”, “report” – as well as concepts like “success”, “climate tools”, “climate intelligence” and specific technologies such as “bio char”, “olivine weathering”, “direct air capture”.
In both still and animated form, the collection proved invaluable for enlivening technical jargon and conveying a clean, light-hearted & clever tone.
First project
Initial delivery
Placement tests
Narrowing in on treatment
A theme of this project will be Jaedoo’s immense generosity of spirit and willingness to collaborate. As I was full in the rebrand process, I was still discovering what would resonate with the themes I was discovering. After our initial 3 rounds were complete, Jaedoo delivered layered PSD’s so I could continue to explore color and clarity.
The delicate dance of collaboration – sometimes you are wrong in your suggestions, but sometimes it leads down a glorious path. The second project was definitely a big one for discovery of tone, and it enabled us to work with a greater shorthand as time went on – we established our sense of magical realism, or as I referred to the spirit of the brand: Mathmagical eco-future.
Hitting our stride
After we had aligned on an approach, the next few rounds were such fun! It would be like unwrapping a present to see the sketches. Oftentimes, there would be an immediate winner clear from the initial round.
Other times, I would get some crazy idea in my head, and Jaedoo would gladly follow me down a path that lead to some of my favorite spot illustrations.
When I was making ads for the SEC regulations, I got a concept in my head. I sent a sketch to Jaedoo and he was able to render it and send it back will layers so I could do final tweaks. The collaboration was so wonderful.
Into animation
In the continuing development of the nouns, I brought in an equally talented and collaborative animator, Elizabeth Tae. She brought many of these concepts into motion so they could live in an animation library as well as a illustration library.
See more of the Watershed Brand System