A concept, a database and some code.

From these humble beginnings we created and then performed live the motion design for the 2008 Chicago Creative Club Awards, a show honoring the best advertising work from the Windy City in the past year.

A few weeks before the show, the folks at twoxfour called and asked us to help with motion design for the event. Given recent history, they needed something tasteful, compelling and inclusive of the Chicago advertising community. We decided that the data provided by award show entrants would provide a nice foundation for our approach. This led us to build a simple database of names, agencies, categories and job titles.

Processing, an open-source programming platform, enabled us to use this database to create a particle system that could be programmed to behave in any number of ways. Without getting too technical, the system became a living thing that we could control with the touch of a button. In fact, Mode Project skirted convention by not providing any rendered files to be played at the event. Instead, we used a custom-design interface to perform the piece live, in real-time.

Credits:
Creative Director: Steve Juras
Designer/Animator: Stefan Draht
Interactive Artist: Derek Olson

Managing Director: Brooks Ruyle
Executive Producer: Kathleen Quinn

Music: Mark Greenberg, Mayfair Workshop