Black History Oratory Competition

Skills: Title Design, Graphic Design, Styleframing, After Effects Animation, Templating

WJZ’s very own Black History Oratory Competition is a community tradition 30 years strong! Students from across Maryland were invited to submit essays based on 1 of 3 quotes by Black historical figures. After reviewing the submissions, the top 10 finalists were invited to the Speech event where they were judged on the delivery of their essays as orations. The top 3 winners of the Speech event won scholarship prize money.

Like the Purple Show Franchise, the new look prompted a refresh of this special show to bring it more in line with the new look. I was tasked with creating elements that could be put together into an hour long special by WJZ’s Creative Service’s editors.

Moodboards and Initial Designs

The first order of business was putting together something quickly so that Sales could start reaching out to clients. We knew this first iteration probably wouldn’t be the final look, but we needed a starting to point to generate graphics for use.

Moodboard 1 - Neoclassical

For this moodboard, I was leaning towards the “historical” part of the Black History Oratory Competition. However, I liked the idea of treating old photographs with Graphic accents to connect the old to the new—history to the modern day, as the special was centered around orations given b y today’s high schoolers.

Moodboard 2 - Flat Graphic Shapes

This moodboard leaned more into the flat graphic look that the rest of the CBS Package had. Some character was lent by graphic brushwork elements, but otherwise this was the “safe” option as many of the references were existing designs used by CBS already.

Logo and Tiles

I developed the show logo based on WJZ’s existing station logo. Some exploration was made to create some interesting tiles using the CBS Eye shapes and classic black history colors of red, green and yellow.

Bullets for Sales Presentation

A useable title FS and bullets FS was needed for Sales Executives to begin putting together their pitch decks to get sponsors for the event.

Expanding Look Development

I knew the special was going to feature lots of photographs, and while the initial direction was fine by itself, it left a lot of questions as to how the different parts and pieces would work together. I worried that the initial CBS eye tiles, with their large blocks of color, would dominate the content, and be fairly limiting as design elements. I wanted more design elements that were flexible enough to work into the package design, but which still put the content at center stage. I decided to do this by expanding on the tiles as African-inspired patterns.

Moodboard - Pattern References

I liked the thinner line styles in the top left and the building of complexity using simple shapes.

Pattern Tile Development

I tried to use the shapes of the CBS Eye as a basis to create patterns that had an African feel. This was challenging as the curvy shape language of the eye was quite opposed to the angular lines typically found in African patterns.

To expand the available design elements, I also experimented with creating pattern fills and borders from the base tiles.

Build Elements

The base pattern tiles and mandala ring I’d try to use across the package.

Testing using the tiles for a photo display—a subtle line boil was added to give a more hand-drawn character, but the pattern tiles themselves recede into the background to let the photograph shine.

This After Effects template was built such that the tiles adjusted dynamically around the width and height of the photograph. However, the old photo display (a simple background) was used more extensively during edit, so perhaps it lacked the flexibility needed by the editors. I would revisit this for next year.

The Full Package

Now that I had a better idea of how photos and design elements could work together, it was full steam ahead on the rest of the package elements—the Open, Lower 3rds, Wipes, and Animated Fullscreen Loops that the editors could use to build the special.

Open Styleframes

Whether new or old, the photographs were treated as black and white for uniformity. The tiles used more simplified colors, and some fills and borders were generated from the base tiles.

BHOC Open 7s for Camio

The Open Animation added just one more segment to round out the essence of the event—the wall of quotes!

Some additional texture and line boil also provided a touch of liveliness.

Still Promo Fullscreen for News

Fullscreen Animated Loop A

Fullscreen Animated Loop B

3x3 Monitor

5x3 Monitor

Vertical Monitor