Wahed Product Launch
To announce the launch of their international iOS & Android Mobile app, Wahed (an online Halal Investment Platform) sought to release a promotional video.
The company approached me to create and direct a 45-second animated video that will announce to 130+ countries user access to their app on Google Play and App Store.
REVOLUTIONISING AN INDUSTRY
As the platform facilitates ethical investing, we chose to feature an array of inspirational icons who made significant contributions to their communities and the world at large.
Anticipating the users to relate and look up to these icons, I designed visuals that recall well-known figures such as Muhammad Ali, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Ibtihaj Muhammad, Fatima Al Fihri, Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi, and Hasan Ibn al-Haytham.
See below for the design process that brought this animated video to life.
STARTING POINT
Script outline for the storyboard.
A voice actor was subsequently hired to read the script, creating a voice-over which allowed me to draft an animatic.
The potential user should feel motivated and inspired to use the app. The music we applied to the video has a forward-moving, action-inspiring tone/melody.
ART COLOR WAYS
The graphic art was drawn in black and white with pops of primary brand colors.
The background elements took on grey tones.
I sourced base footage for the rotoscoping animations. It was important for the subject to be in full view, and engaged in dynamic motion, that also communicates a winning action (eg. a goal, the basket, boxing jab, fencing toucher).
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar final animation, hand drawn frame-by-frame at 12 frames per second (fps) via a Wacom tablet using Photoshop timeline. Additional athletes included Muhammad Ali, and USA Olympic sabre fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad.
The research process for less contemporary figures included creating inspiration boards of concepts that could be animated to signify the inventions of each figure.
Ibn al-Haytham - The father of modern optics. First to explain that vision occurs when light reflects from an object and then passes to one's eyes.
al-Khwarizmi - the father of algebra. The term algebra itself comes from the title of his book (al-jabr meaning "completion" or "rejoining").
Fatima al Fihri - founded the first and oldest existing university in the world (Morocco, 859 CE).
MARKETING DISTRIBUTION
The final app launch video is distributed on all Wahed's social media channels (Instagram, Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn), reaching high user engagement and thousands of views.
