The client, Payactiv, commissioned a dynamic video asset to excite its user base about a major brand repositioning, shifting its core narrative to Live, Grow, and Connect. This motion graphics project was essential for showcasing the new user interface (UI) and was distributed across crucial digital touchpoints, including social media, the user newsletter, and internal employee web pages.
Context
Payactiv needed to effectively communicate its enhanced value proposition and updated design aesthetic to its existing and potential users. The goal was to make the abstract concept of financial wellness feel immediate and tangible. This required seamlessly integrating complex, animated UI elements—showing financial data and application features—onto live-action footage of users in everyday scenarios, ensuring the tech felt intuitive and futuristic.
Date Completed:
Mar 2021
Role:
Motion Designer / Post-Production Editor
Involvement:
Holographic UI Animation, Compositing, Rotoscoping, Final Video Delivery
Overview
The creative strategy centered on the concept of Holographic Financial Control. The new UI was transformed into glowing, ethereal “holographic screens” that appeared to float naturally within the user’s physical space. This approach allowed the video to focus on the user experience and the impact of the features, rather than just the phone screen itself.
Challenge
The most challenging aspect was the intensive post-production workflow, specifically integrating the custom animated UI with the live-action video while overcoming technical and artistic hurdles. It was a struggle to create the custom “holographic” visual effect that blended perfectly with the stock footage’s lighting and camera movement, demanding precise attention to compositing. Additionally, the project required extensive rotoscoping to place the UI elements behind and around users’ hands and bodies, which heavily affected the editing process and dramatically slowed down the machine.
Solution
I utilized the provided new UI designs as the foundation for the animated screens. The holographic look was achieved through custom lens flares, transparencies, and subtle volumetric lighting effects. Crucially, I employed precise rotoscoping techniques to create depth and realism, allowing UI screens and data points to dynamically appear in front of the phone but behind the user’s hand. This labor-intensive process was managed by batch-rendering complex rotoscope sequences overnight to mitigate machine slowdowns, ensuring project deadlines were met.
Results
The Payactiv – Live The Life You Earned campaign video successfully relaunched the brand identity, delivering a high-quality visual experience. The integration of the visually striking holographic UI effectively showcased the new interface and helped to drive user excitement, directly supporting the client’s goal of repositioning their features toward a modern, user-centric narrative. The resulting asset was versatile enough for all requested media channels, providing a unified, professional campaign look.
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