The Brief

The Animation Guys worked with global recruitment agency Phaidon International to develop a distinctive collage animation that reinforced their brand values. The project aimed to foster a stronger sense of unity across Phaidon’s subdivisions by reminding employees of the company’s core mission and values.

Our Response

From the beginning, Phaidon made their vision clear: they wanted an animation that would engage viewers with a creative, abstract approach, while reinforcing their core values in a way that sticks.
One of the main focuses was to highlight the company’s people-first approach, ensuring the animation conveyed this message clearly. The textured, collage animation style we chose provided the youthful, dynamic energy Phaidon was looking for, inviting viewers in with its tactile appeal.
With the style in place, we worked with Phaidon to experiment with a few storytelling ideas, such as the concept of stitching, a continuous thread running through the action, and visual montages of people and hands creating together.
In the end, we went with one central device: the main thread, which runs through everything and ties the animation together. This symbolized the idea of shared experience and collaboration. The narrative followed small characters, representing Phaidon’s younger employees (aged 21+), journeying through a cohesive, vibrant world.
This creative process was a true highlight for our team at TAG, as we relished the opportunity to explore new creative directions with a client who encouraged our playful, innovative approach.

Style Development

After deciding on the collage animation style early in the process, we focused on refining key details to align with the storytelling. Questions like how the thread device would integrate, how Phaidon employees could be represented, and how to creatively incorporate Phaidon’s brand colours and logo guided our decisions. We also needed to balance the dynamic visuals with clarity, carefully considering the motion to ensure the animation remained engaging without overwhelming the viewer, and making sure the messaging stayed front and centre.
In addition to the thread, we introduced recurring collage animation motifs to enhance the visual narrative, including doodle arrows, geometric shapes, paper birds, and photographic cutouts. We kept the colour palette neutral and natural to let Phaidon’s brand colours stand out vibrantly.
For motion, we embraced a low frame-rate style to evoke a handmade feel. Movement rules were established to maintain order amidst the textured visuals: the thread appeared smoothly and gently, on-screen text jittered playfully as though placed by hand. Photographic elements and characters would “unfold” themselves into existence, all to reinforce the collage animation’s tactile theme.

Storyboard Development

Combining the concepts and visual elements into a cohesive narrative was our next challenge. We began by creating thumbnail sketches, or rough “story beats” to test ideas with the client. From there, we developed a detailed storyboard that evolved through collaborative feedback with Phaidon.

Initially, the flat, 2D, paper-like style lacked the energy Phaidon wanted. To address this, we introduced 3D space into the collage animation, adding depth and enabling more dynamic compositions and camera movements. This shift re-energised the animation, creating an engaging journey that aligned with Phaidon’s vision and values.

final Animation

Behind the scenes

To demonstrate our process throughout projects and give a little insight into how we create our characters, here are some behind the scenes assets from our artists.

What our client Said

“Producing our first ever animated video was a scary proposition and uncharted territory for us as an agency. Working with The Animation Guys they put us at ease, listened to our ideas and made the process come to life. They’re genuinely decent, honest and hard-working people that ultimately produce first-class animation videos. We couldn’t be happier with our final product and no doubt will return to them for a follow up video at some point! Fully recommend.”

Beth Hellowell

Managing Partner @ Signify Digital

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