ABOUT

Already loved by millions of developers worldwide, GitHub tells an updated, value-based, brand story that delights their core fans, while simultaneously educating and inspiring new audiences. Updating their “What is GitHub” brand film was the first step to celebrate what had been achieved and set the stage for future ambitions.

The GitHub team knew that they wanted to launch a film, but they didn’t know exactly what they wanted it to say. Before jumping to production, we spent time researching and talking to key stakeholders, partners, developers and GitHub’s own creative team (who were working on some brand updates themselves) to create a solid brief. The goal was to attract a new audience while building a stronger understanding of what the brand currently is to their core fans. This film needed to pay tribute to Github’s achievements and get the viewers pumped for what’s to come.

We divided the film up in three chapters or acts.

Wow
How?
Who?

The first chapter was aimed at capturing the audience's attention and wow them with the endless possibilities that GitHub offers as a platform.

The second chapter was aimed to be informative, representing examples of user journeys and interactions. Showcasing UI and UX elements of the GitHub platform.

The last chapter was created to celebrate the wide range of users, developers and the GitHub community.

The film’s chapters highlight a different aspect of GitHub: a short technical How To, a celebration of some projects (and their developers), societal and cultural relevance and future ambitions. Each beat has a different style in this truly mixed-media story. We travel from the real (live action) world to 3D magic, and from cel animated characters to beautifully-crafted 2D motion. We kept all our ducks in a row by designing and making our very own rubber duck co-star. This was no garden variety rubber duck, designed in-house with love and 3D printed with scrupulous detail.

Just like GitHub as a company and platform can take many forms and be used for many different things, this film celebrates this by embracing many different production and animation styles. Capturing that spirit by combining the talent of a diverse team of artists, makers and thinkers into one singular vision and film that takes many forms.

Every pixel of this film was designed with intent. From the use of UI and UX elements referencing the GitHub platform to the wide range of brand easter eggs in every environment. And lets not forget about the rubber duck, over hundreds of sketches were made before we landed on the perfect combination of wonder, appeal and recognisability.

On a small or large scale it might inspire all different types of developers to see themselves in this film and be celebrated (as a quick glance through the YT comments will show you). It celebrates the diverse range of wonderful humans that use GitHub for spectacular things, big and small.