Deep Time portrays the landowners, state officials, and oil workers at the center of the most prolific oil boom on the planet for the past six years. — IMDB
Creative Brief
Crafted Product
Link to → Deep Time on IMDB
I first saw the poster printed at the Rubin Museum in Fall 2015, New York City for this event:
Goal
- Create an impactful poster for Deep Time, a documentary film by Noah Hutton.
- The poster needs to be clear at poster scales and also postage stamp scales (as thumbnals online)
- The poster should emulate scientific graphics but put an unconventional spin and twist into them.
Role
My role: Art Direction & Graphic Design
- Charles Floyd, art
- Noah Hutton, client
Link to → Charles Floyd Design & Illustration
Process
Discovery
Observations
Noah, the film's Director, has an artistic, unconventional style in his filmmaking, which we wanted to convey in the poster. I began by watching some of Noah's film, Deep Time.
References
I also drew upon my experience working as an illustrator, with animator Anthony Kraus, on Noah's prior film series for Worth Publishers and Scientific American, back in the early 2010's. You can see the illustrations in the videos below.
Worth Publishers Illustrations | GraphicacyIn 2014, I worked with Noah on a similar unconventional style for this music video by Throw Vision:
Noah and I discussed how the visual communication around science topics could use a refresh. The below PDF records some of the thoughts and feedback about the poster between me and Noah, and my conversations with the artist, Charles Floyd.
Noah-feedback-for-Deep-Time.pdf980.9KB
My Discovery sketching with Noah landed us on the image of a section of the earth cutaway, like a scientific illustration. We decided to combine that recognizable image with a drill. I decided to contact Charles Floyd, a friend and former colleague of mine, to make the final illustration. Charles specializes in scientific and technical illustration.
Concepts → Blueprints
Concept Sketch by Charles Floyd
Blueprint Sketch, Work-In-Progress, by Charles Floyd
Blueprint (with style variations)
Deep-time-layout-v3.pdf3025.4KB
Reflection
Posters offer a compelling challenge. The Timeplots posters, such as U.S. State Boundaries, are deliberately complex. Yet most posters rely upon a key visual that draws the reader in. This type of simplicity and impact in creating key visuals does not come easily to me because I tend to think like a writer first, with a lot of ideas. I was fortunate enough to meet Noah and collaborate with Charles, two visual thinkers who understand how I think too, to create a poster that compels people to stop, look, see, and imagine.