“Diamonds are the world’s most popular gemstone. But if you compare them to other jewels, it’s not obvious why. Scientists can now create diamonds in a lab that are structurally identical to diamonds mined from the earth… So what exactly makes these rocks so special? What is the value of a diamond?” - Diamonds, Explained
Design Toolkit
Diamonds, Explained was one of my favorites to work on. I came into it with little-to-no knowledge about the value of diamonds or their history. Art Director Rubab Shakir set the tone from the beginning with a directional document that included a color palette along with a few pages of dark & moody inspiration boards. I took those instructions and ran with them, by first developing a “toolkit.”
We didn’t have much time to create the many animations in each episode of Explained, so having an established bank of colors, textures and stylistic treatments allowed for more efficient and streamlined design decisions down the line. This process proved incredibly useful in designing for later episodes.
Fun fact: two people directly involved in working on this episode - including myself * - got engaged at the end of production!
In addition to Diamonds, I also worked on the Billionaires, Athleisure, and Sex episodes. You can watch them at Netflix.com/Explained.
* I did not receive a diamond 🙃
Process
selected styleframes
