Case Study

91st Oscars Campaign

Art Direction
CONCEPT Ideation
Brand Identity
Visual Design

Each Oscar season, the Academy creates their marketing campaign around a new theme or aesthetic. For the 91st Oscars, I developed and pitched my campaign creative concept that was inspired by acrylic resin pour artwork that my parents have owned since I was a kid and Rorschach tests.

I prepared a pitch deck, moodboard, animation samples and a rough key art concept that outlined my stylistic vision for the campaign – it was then presented and approved by key stakeholders. 

This creative concept was adapted by internal and external teams across a range of deliverables from broadcast graphics and social media content, to event invitations and other brand collateral. I also integrated the campaign visual aesthetic into our 91st Oscars Red Carpet video activation.

Moodboard
01

91O_Moodboard.png

Campaign Pitch Deck
02

Concept Development
03

 
OSCARS-KV_KS-oilslick.gif
 

Statuette Artwork Concept

After developing my moodboard, I created a rough comp recoloring an existing Oscars statuette image with a colorful jewel-toned gradient overlay (almost like an oilslick).

 

Proposed Campaign Direction
04

Our creative director then contracted, Richard Harrington, an independent artist to create a variety of statuette Key Art options based on our visual references.

Final Key Art
05

Official Key Art

During the latter steps of the approval process, Executive management opted for a version with less contrast and white background for the final version.

Although this was not my preferred Key Art direction, the 91st Oscars overall creative campaign still closely adhered to the initial art direction concept that I had pitched.

Photo by Thien Nguyen

Event Step & Repeats
06

I collaborated with other members of our design team to go through the jewel-toned color palette I had created for the 90th Oscars and establish vibrant color combinations for us to use throughout the 91st Oscar season. We then assigned each of the color combinations to the different key events throughout the season. 

Following my step and repeat designs from the prior year, which were relatively monochromatic, I updated the design to incorporate our more vibrant color palette. 

I wanted the colors to blend into each other more organically than the traditional linear gradient, so I created 12+ point freeform gradients using the color palettes we established for each event’s step and repeat.

Governors Awards

Governors Awards

Nominees Luncheon

Nominees Luncheon

91st Oscars Press Room

91st Oscars Press Room

Social Media
07

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91st Oscars#Red Carpet Activation