Makers at Heart | A look back on Head of Design Henry Foreman and VanMoof

We are Makers At Heart. We create the extraordinary.

As the creative engine room of the world’s biggest brands we are driven by one purpose: to solve our client’s toughest briefs beautifully. Our Makers believe in the power of cooperation and partnership to deliver ambitious ideas to that break new ground and deliver awe-inspiring creative work.

Everything we do as a team makes great ideas come to life. We are thinkers, designers, artists, directors, producers, developers, colourists, coders, technicians, editors, animators, writers, doers and makers.

In our Makers At Heart series, we introduce the people behind the projects to hear more about their inspirations, motivations and creative insights. We spoke with Head of Design, Henry Foreman on crafting the latest VanMoof spot, treading the line between abstract and explicit and working alongside our Creative Strategy team.

What was the brief from Van Moof and how did you go about bringing it to life?

This wasn’t just about animating all of the pieces of a bicycle coming together and making it look beautiful. There was another layer of storytelling we had to get right. For the client, they have a bigger message than just selling great bicycles. It had to communicate the need for people to come together and face the challenge of overcoming the impact of fossil fuel-based transport, without negativity or being overbearing…so we added a little humor…and charm. A frog. Why not?!

What was the process like creating this piece of work?

A timeline this short for a full CG film is always going to be challenging, so we spent a lot of time upfront with Tom Dibb (Creative Director) and the Creative Strategy team getting the story right with loose animatics, whilst working on the technical aspects of ingesting and repairing the CAD models of the bikes at the same time. We knew we could make the shots look great, but there were definitely hurdles in making sure the story made sense, whilst treading a fine line between being abstract and explicit. This type of challenge is where the collaboration between the Design and Creative Strategy teams really pays off.

Were there any challenges you encountered while creating this spot?

Other than the timeline this was the first fully CG animal executed in Design. Fortunately, we have the support of one of the most experienced CG VFX teams in the world, combined with working with some super talented designers to bring our frog to life. Although through all the excitement and problem solving that came with creating these films, we didn’t manage to name the frog… Any suggestions welcome!

You can check out more of our Design Studio’s work here and get in contact regarding any upcoming projects via our contact page.