ABOUT

I was approached by Fabien, founder of Treegether, to collaborate and create an animation explaining the process of the chocolate bar production and how Treegether also aims to help their cocoa farmers. This project came about during the Covid-19 pandemic and so all discussions and meetings were held over video and voice calls.

Our project team consisted of Fabien (founder of Treegether), Mikael Rota (design coordinator) and myself (graphic designer and animator). During our first call Fabien gave Mikael and I an insight to Treegether learning about the history/background, who they are, what they do, and their short-term and long-term goals. From this, together, we were able to generate ideas and the story we want to tell. Fabien set the deadline and from this Mikael and I created a project timeline to make sure we stay on track and complete the animation on time.
After our first meeting, Mikael and I had a separate video call to generate storyboard ideas to present to Fabien during our next scheduled call. In addition, I also created an illustration style that I felt was in keeping with the logo style which would work well for the animation.

In our second team video call, Mikael presented our storyboard ideas which then Fabien was able to adjust slightly to be exact to his vision. During this, I also presented the illustration style in which he was very happy with. We also felt that a voice-over would be best to incorporate to explain the process clearly and easily, then for the animation to act as support/demonstration. Fabien developed the voice-over script and created it into a step-by-step process.

With our storyboard now finalised, we agreed that I would have a couple scenes animated for the next meeting to show the animation style. I animated the first and second scene and presented these to both Fabien and Mikael who were both very pleased with the outcome. Nice and subtle as to not distract from telling the story.​​​​​​​
Before animating, I recorded a temporary voice-over myself so I would be able to animate in time with the script (this would later be replaced with a professional voice-over). I created the animation using Adobe After Effects. I presented the animation to Mikael and Fabien, and both were very happy with the final outcome. There were a couple of scenes that Fabien wanted to change as he felt it did not work well and so I immediately made those adjustments.

This project was my first freelance job, and it was certainly and amazing experience. I learnt a lot about interacting with a client and how important it is for them to give as much input as possible as it is them who I am designing for and so it needs to be exactly what they envisioned. It was great experience of team work, idea generating, and presenting work to the client. It was important for me to understand what Treegether was in order for the animation to be successful and so with our first team call when Fabien explained it all, this was extremely beneficial to storyboard ideas and illustration ideas also.
It was an amazing experience, and I cannot thank Fabien enough for trusting me and allowing me to be a part of this amazing project. Also, a big thank you to Mikael Rota for being very supportive throughout the project and it was a great experience to work closely with an industry professional.

You can watch the final animation on Treegether's YouTube Channel