Smart Design, Re: Geri's Game & Chip Kidd

If you read my post on corporate video you may have picked up on my love for smart design. One of my favorite lessons on design comes from a TED talk given by graphic designer Chip Kidd, well known for designing the book cover for Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park.

Watch this short clip from the presentation.

Chip Kidd, "Designing books is no laughing matter. OK, it is."

TED2012, March 2012

(Watch the full talk here)

I was reminded of this ever-relevant idea of letting images speak for themselves just as much as text when reading Greg Singer's article about Pixar's storytelling.

"Their visual language captures the texture and cadence, the emotional core, of the story."

Pixar's animation is a far different medium from the graphic design Chip Kidd utilizes in his book covers, but they both strive to do the same thing: tell a story visually.

In much the same way Kidd allows his visual designs to speak for themselves, Pixar animators strive to use their medium not only to tell the story they were given by writers but enhance them.

Singer writes about how the storyboarding team decides what goes into the final cut and what doesn't

"There are a lot of great ideas and moments, but they can't all stay in the film if they are not serving the story. [...] A simple test is to turn down the sound when viewing the reels to see if you can still understand the flow of the story."

Pixar's short, Geri's Game, is a great example of the beautifully designed marriage of good storytelling and good animation.

Embedded below is Geri's Game with the sound removed. Per the method described in the above passage, let's explore the idea of the animation speaking for itself (without the assistance of sound).

While the film's absence of dialogue makes it easier to understand without audio, the takeaway here is that Pixar produces animated video that speaks for itself. That is smart design.