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GAJAN VAMATHEVA

MOTION DESIGNER

  • Work
  • About
  • Contact
  • REEL
  • BLOG
  • DRIBBBLE

National Geographic Site Redesign Concept

This is my take on National Geographic's website, playing up it's quality of being a source of curated wildlife photography and story-telling. 

One of my all time favourite publications is the National Geographic magazine. I've always had a curiosity for the wonders of nature, but sometimes those moments are rarely captured and presented in a way that is easily accessible to the public. 

This is why I decided to redesign the National Geographic website and push it towards a more curated photo essay direction. I approached this project as if it were both a case study as well as a creative design exercise for myself. I wanted to take something that I enjoyed at the core and carve out its best characteristics. 

The current National Geographic website functions decently. When you visit the site, it gives off the feeling of a wide net being cast for all types of readers and users. I wanted to play to it's quality of being a leader in Nature photography, scientific knowledge sharing and most of all, It's ability to tell wonderful stories of our natural world. 

With that in mind, I started to sketch and design all things nature. The one reoccurring pattern I noticed about my work was that I was always drawn to it's most recognizable brand, the yellow frame on both the logo and the magazine cover.   

I want to play with the notion of breaking out of that frame. The idea is that you can not contain nature, and it is all around us. This line of thinking also applies to the interaction and motion of the website. Scrolling downwards through the different stories has the site accelerating and decelerating. The visuals on the page move in parallax to the frame and the text boxes. This resembles the feeling of realism of the landscape shifting before your eyes.  

Sportsnet App

The Sportsnet app was rebuilt this year from the ground up. It features a clean and beautiful interface for a more fluid and responsive user experience. The navigation was revisited, as users now use what we call a 'dial' to jump between the different features. It was designed with larger screens in mind so that users can still navigate with single-handed browsing.   

The new Sportsnet app was created in partnership with an outside development team and the Sportsnet UX design team. I was brought in from the creative team to lock down some of the first appearance attributes of the app. This included a well thought out loading screen that had to incorporate the brand new immersive feel of the app, as well as marketing and sales needs.  

Additionally, the team decided to go with a video background for the first launch and onboarding feature. The challenge was to come up with a series of clips that entice the user with action-packed sports footage, but still remain largely neutral in the background so users can be educated by on screen instructions.  

Some other features that I designed were:

-  App icons

- Looping animation of loading icon

- Sales Initiatives on launch

- Marketing and promotion of games and on-air shows

- A fluid motion animation of the onboarding experience, as well as some interactions within the app

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Motion Design Reel

This is a collection of my motion design, compositing, VFX and broadcast work. It features projects from the last 2 years, from a wide-range of companies and clients. Over the last while, I've been shifting more into the digital space. I feel like motion design on the product side is where I'm headed. Thank you for taking the time to look at my work, please enjoy! 

Mail - Motion Transition

This was a design test for a mail app redesign. The premise was simple: show the interaction, transition and result going from the inbox to a detailed message view. There was something about this project that always stood out to me. I originally approached it from a purely aesthetic mograph piece, but I quickly realized it wasn't about the look or polish, it was about the 'Why?'. Not only am I asking, why does the new message reveal like an accordion? Or why the elastic effect on the refresh? I'm asking a bigger question about the overall experience.  

Doing motion design isn't just about cool animations, but the design should reflect and answer the bigger questions about the overall user's interaction with the product. We need to think about the experience that we are designing and the impression that leaves the user feeling like "damn, that was cool and I got to do what I wanted."

Sportsnet Magazine - Collectors Edition

This was a project that was used to promote Sportsnet magazine's year end Collectors Edition. My task was to translate a static PDF into an interactive promo that would be viewed on a tablet device.

I did this by converting editorial artwork into dynamic infographics that informs the user on the most memorable sports stories of the year. I incorporated fluid animation to bridge the gap between different stories and articles allowing users a seamless browsing experience.

Geo-based Notification Alerts

This is a concept design that I did for a freelance project where I was tasked to create various notification alerts based on the user's geographic location. 

This is an example of a runner receiving Nike+ app notifications when a milestone has been reached. I love the idea of simple circular shapes that move using their own gravitational momentum. 

Sportsnet.Ca - The Insiders

This is easily one of my favourite projects that I've done at Sportsnet. We were tasked to promote the Sportsnet.ca website to our TV audiences to drive up digital impressions. The creative for the entire campaign was simple–reflect what our digital platforms looked like and bring it to life while focusing on our team of writers and analysts, "The Insiders". We wanted to visually let their stories jump off the page and spotlight each Insider with their own personality.

Gilette Drafted

This was a promotion for an entire campaign sponsored by Gillette. The main creative deirection and tone of the show was tension, since it was a reality show based on sports personalities and competitive nature. The graphics had to visually display that tension through a destructive adrenaline-fueled look and feel. 

A highlight to look for in the video: Deconstructed exploded view of 3D logo reveal using a low-poly wireframe look.

Rogers on Demand

This is my pitch for the next generation of On Demand interfaces for Rogers. Currently the On Demand cable interface for these products are falling short for the needs of the modern day viewer. The input (remote control) and response (set up digital cable boxes) feel slow and bloated which doesn't allow users to freely browse with ease. The concept shown here brings in the smart search optimization that is familiar to web users, as well as large and concise icons for the relative sized television screen. This interface allows for easy control and quick scanning through the application.

Panoramic Love

I love photography. Whether it is photos from my 60d or my iPhone, I try to take a picture every day, and anytime I go somewhere new. One of my favourite features is taking a super wide panoramic photo. There's just something about seeing a massive frame and getting that all juicy context.

Some of these photos are from Toronto, others are from all around the world, including my most recent trip to Barcelona. 

Styleframes

National Geographic Site Redesign Concept

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Sportsnet App

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Motion Design Reel

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Design Reel

Mail - Motion Transition

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Sportsnet Magazine - Collectors Edition

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Geo-based Notification Alerts

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Sportsnet.Ca - The Insiders

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Gilette Drafted

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Rogers on Demand

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ROD - Interface Concept (Search)

Panoramic Love

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Beautiful City

Styleframes

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