Summary: With the recent announcement of a brand new Bay Area WNBA team, I was tasked with helping launch the branding of the new sports franchise. It was a very exciting opportunity as this was the first time I have ever been part of launching a sports team brand from day 0. I helped bring the Valkyries logo to life working with our Creative team to tell a story of flight landing upon the eclipse reveal of the Valkyries logo. The Golden State Valkyries brand launch was a major success, setting multiple records for social media engagement for a sports team’s brand launch.
Process: The timeline was tight. I had just two weeks to create a brand reveal animation piece. We knew we wanted to tell a story that would eventually land on the logo reveal. Our talented in-house graphic designer Emma Leeper concepted and styleframed the story. Immediately upon seeing the styleframes I knew I would work mainly in 3D (Cinema 4D) to bring her vision to life. The original story had started with the Valkyrie passing through the doors of Valhalla and then soaring through the sky and landing upon the eclipse reveal of the logo. We ended up eliminating the door scene to shorten the animation. The final animation came together just a day before the launch, with me tweaking the lighting and color of the various scenes right until the launch.
Design Language: We wanted to incorporate Valkyrie mythology elements into the logo reveal. Wings were a given. So we wanted a ‘soaring/flying’ camera sensation as the backbone of the animation. The journey aspect was further highlighted with the transition and contrast from sunset to night sky. The reveal of the team’s purple color was also a major aspect, finding its way in the lighting of the whole piece. We teased the logo with the panning movement of the strobe light until the whole Valkyries logo reveal.
Role: Motion Graphics Designer & Manager