Visit Yosemite | Madera County Illustration, Animation, and Advertising Campaign
OVERVIEW:
VYMC is one of five gateways into Yosemite National Park. They realized that all five gateways looked extremely similar in their marketing and design. In order to stand out from the others, Madera County decided to do something unique. We copied the Disney model of building relationships with a destination through illustration and character. We highlighted nine different locations in the area and gave them a corresponding character.
We created an animated video and storybook introducing the characters and the locations to a family-friendly audience. Once tourists arrived they could collect trading cards that they could turn in for prizes at the visitor's center. The campaign has given Madera County an extremely unique brand and the connections they've made with people and the characters have been rewarding for the county and tourists alike.
SERVICES:
- Illustration
- Animation
- Campaign Strategy
- Design
Phase 1: Concepting
The first phase of the process was getting a rough idea of the tone, style, and look of the overall project. Each character's aesthetics needed to reflect not only their unique personality, but also the region they were native too. Here you will see the first concepts of developing the characters and their scenes.
Phase 2: Rendering
Once we had a solid definition of the basic design and personality of the characters and scenes, it was time to fully illustrate them. I illustrated each scene and character in Photoshop.
Phase 3: Animation
Once I rendered all of our illustrated assets, it was time to add some basic movement. I knew that the production budget would only allow for minimal animation so I simply tried to add some basic life and personality to the characters. I recorded all of our voices in-house and was able to sync the voiceover waveforms in Aftereffects with the illustrated jaw assets to create the voiceover animation.
Phase 4: Marketing Campaign
With all of the creative assets complete, I was able to start making messages and design materials around them. We created materials like collectible trading cards, storybooks, activity kits, direct mail, print ads, digital ads, landing pages, email newsletters, and billboards to market the new campaign.
