Adam
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Case study

Man of the People

A weekly comedy-news show is a joke machine, and every joke needs a picture by Friday. I was the picture department.

Role
Lead designer, WGN-TV · January 2018 – July 2019 (two seasons)
Volume
~80 graphics and animations a week; 4,000+ delivered
Range
Photo composites, parody covers, segment opens and outros, specials
Audience
Season one averaged a 1.4 rating (45,518 households); #2 in Adults 25–54 among regularly scheduled Saturday late-night shows

The over-the-shoulder is the punchline's straight man

The over-the-shoulder graphic has to land the joke before the host finishes the sentence: a composite that reads in one second, built the same day, in a show's worth of variety. A selection from two seasons.

Over-the-shoulder composite · concept and build
Over-the-shoulder composite · concept and build
"Cruise Scene Investigation" · parody logo and composite
"Cruise Scene Investigation" · parody logo and composite
Parody magazine cover · design
Parody magazine cover · design
Parody tabloid cover · design
Parody tabloid cover · design
Parody web page · design
Parody web page · design
Parody book cover · design
Parody book cover · design
Over-the-shoulder composite · concept and build
Over-the-shoulder composite · concept and build
Over-the-shoulder composite · concept and build
Over-the-shoulder composite · concept and build
Over-the-shoulder composite · build
Over-the-shoulder composite · build
Over-the-shoulder composite · build
Over-the-shoulder composite · build
Over-the-shoulder composite · build
Over-the-shoulder composite · build
Over-the-shoulder composite · build
Over-the-shoulder composite · build

The package: opens, outros, and specials

The show's recurring segments each got an animated open and outro; the specials got their own look. Frames below; the motion versions are available on request.

"My Favorite Person of the Week" open · design and animation
"My Favorite Person of the Week" open · design and animation
Segment open · design and animation
Segment open · design and animation
"Live from the Red Carpet" awards special · title design and animation
"Live from the Red Carpet" awards special · title design and animation
Anniversary card full-screen · design
Anniversary card full-screen · design
Act 2 bump · composite
Act 2 bump · composite

What it taught me

Volume is a design problem. Eighty pieces a week for eighteen months, on top of the daily news desk, is where I learned to build templates before I needed them, to keep a library of reusable parts, and to automate what never changes. The After Effects and Excel system that produced 900+ trivia animations a quarter for Tribune's national multicast networks started here. So did the habit of shipping through a system, which became the way I run teams, and later the way I ran RecLet.