When Contra, one of our favorite reoccurring collaborators, were planning to launch a new feature for their product, we knew we desperately wanted to be part of the team. Now users are able to customize the design and layout of their portfolios, and we wanted to announce that in a fun, playful, and clever way.

One of the unique challenges for this project was the design and execution of our hero Jenny's spacesuit. We wanted to use the metaphor of customizing your portfolio on Contra, to crafting your very own suit to take you on an adventurous journey through space. We always start on paper, and once we like where we land, we take the sketch into 3D.

Like all of our projects, we first have to land the story. Thankfully, our collaborators at Contra had a good idea for the narrative they wanted to tell – we were just able to sketch the right drawings to go along with it. We had some questions we asked ourselves: How can we use the metaphor of Jenny customizing her spacesuit to represent users personalizing their portfolios on Contra?

Once we had our storyboards and styleframes approved, we dove straight into animation. Like all of our animation projects, we make sure that every single scene and transition is smooth, seamless, clever, and overall fun (we are talking about a character playing around in space after all).  We wanted to capture the spirit of Jenny's playful personality, and also the whimsy and excitement of our space setting, with vibrant colors and playful features. 

We also incorporated fun and catchy music provided by the Contra team, and brought to another level by our friends over at The Chicken Sound. The soundtrack and sound design were able to create an upbeat atmosphere that would engage viewers from all over.