When we first came on board this project with Ecosia, they were in the process of a rebrand by design agency Koto. With their entire design language being reshaped, we knew from the get-go our designs needed to embody their bold new look and feel.

With a brief this open, we were excited about the possibilities of playing with different techniques to really push the creative and hero the messaging of the campaign. This approach led us to an interesting look, of hand-drawn characters with Picasso-like faces, set in contrasting 3D backgrounds. This was all brought together by bold colours and careful imperfections, creating a beautiful and playfully wonky universe.

We wanted the piece to be humorous and buoyant, through design and animation as well as the writing and voiceover, which we enjoyed sculpting as part of the campaign. The driving force of the narrative was the idea of the social faux pas. We strove to find the nugget of what’s relatable and funny in each of these situations and home in on it, doing things you couldn’t pull off in live action—like personifying the trees.

It was important for us to tap into the global nature of Ecosia and acknowledge the different parts of the world where they team up with local farmers to plant trees, so we included a wide variety of designs to capture the diversity of both people and trees.

Our whole team got involved and had a great time coming up with ideas for the funniest (and worst) moments to have your search results read out loud.

To watch the finished animation and find out more, see the case study. Follow Animade and Seemore for even more glimpses into our craft and processes!