Forest Giant

When Schott came to us looking for a fun, animated video to give a quick overview of how they make their CERAN glass-ceramic cooktops, we really didn’t know heads or tails about glass-ceramic. Given that, the first step in our process was to do a bit of research and learn for ourselves just what the stuff is, how it’s made, and why it’s a good choice for cooktops.

While we were hitting the books, we sent a few videos over to the fine folks at Schott so we could get a better sense of what they did and didn’t like. Once we had our brains fully packed with glass-making know-how, it was time to write up the script & put together some design boards for the client to peruse. Based on what they liked & what what we thought would be visually interesting, we decided on a style that pairs simple, solid illustrations with tactile paper textures.

Every piece of illustration went through a distressing process that involved printing them out on our laser jet, crumpling them up to weaken the toner and impart texture, selectively scrubbing them with an eraser to emphasize crinkles, then scanning them back into the computer for colorization. Whew. We tested every eraser we could get our hands on to see what worked best at removing toner from the prints. Why do all this? Well, we were guided by a couple thoughts: 1) If you want it to look tactile, make it tactile & 2) If you want the end result to be playful, be playful while you’re making it. It kinda follows that if you’re having fun doing the work, you’re more likely to do a better job, right?

We must have been on to something, Because the team at Schott was quick to share the video with their colleagues in Germany, who liked it so much they immediately asked about getting a version translated to German for the European market.