Tim Hortons: App Promo Toolkit
Tim Hortons required a way to enable their designers to quickly and efficiently create social media spots, while maintaining their brand and creative approach.
I worked with Hornet to develop an After Effects toolkit, allowing the Tims team to interchange modules to output endless combinations, in 9:16, 16:9 and 4:5 formats.
Tim Hortons: App Promo Toolkit
Tim Hortons required a way to enable their designers to quickly and efficiently create social media spots, while maintaining their brand and creative approach.
I worked with Hornet to develop an After Effects toolkit, allowing the Tims team to interchange modules to output endless combinations, in 9:16, 16:9 and 4:5 formats.
Tim Hortons: App Promo Toolkit
Tim Hortons required a way to enable their designers to quickly and efficiently create social media spots, while maintaining their brand and creative approach.
I worked with Hornet to develop an After Effects toolkit, allowing the Tims team to interchange modules to output endless combinations, in 9:16, 16:9 and 4:5 formats.
Modular components and custom script building
A modular approach was taken, with individual pre-comps serving as ‘Modules’ that could be combined in any order, with editable properties and contents controllable with Essential Properties, meaning that these always stay consistent across the campaign.
As animation duration was controlled with a Slider control, the length of a layer in the timeline didn’t necessarily correspond to the length of the module’s animation.
To make this process fool-proof for the Tims designers, visual warnings were built into each pre-comp, showing if a layer’s duration exceeded that of the animation.
Additionally, I developed a script that would apply expressions to define the ‘Animation Duration’ property of each selected module’s layer, based on each layer’s In and Out points. Effectively, this provided Premiere-like functionality that allowed designers to simply adjust the timing of modules visually in the timeline.
Modular components and custom script building
A modular approach was taken, with individual pre-comps serving as ‘Modules’ that could be combined in any order, with editable properties and contents controllable with Essential Properties, meaning that these always stay consistent across the campaign.
As animation duration was controlled with a Slider control, the length of a layer in the timeline didn’t necessarily correspond to the length of the module’s animation.
To make this process fool-proof for the Tims designers, visual warnings were built into each pre-comp, showing if a layer’s duration exceeded that of the animation.
Additionally, I developed a script that would apply expressions to define the ‘Animation Duration’ property of each selected module’s layer, based on each layer’s In and Out points. Effectively, this provided Premiere-like functionality that allowed designers to simply adjust the timing of modules visually in the timeline.
Modular components and custom script building
A modular approach was taken, with individual pre-comps serving as ‘Modules’ that could be combined in any order, with editable properties and contents controllable with Essential Properties, meaning that these always stay consistent across the campaign.
As animation duration was controlled with a Slider control, the length of a layer in the timeline didn’t necessarily correspond to the length of the module’s animation.
To make this process fool-proof for the Tims designers, visual warnings were built into each pre-comp, showing if a layer’s duration exceeded that of the animation.
Additionally, I developed a script that would apply expressions to define the ‘Animation Duration’ property of each selected module’s layer, based on each layer’s In and Out points. Effectively, this provided Premiere-like functionality that allowed designers to simply adjust the timing of modules visually in the timeline.
Colour palettes
In order to better ensure brand compliance, specific colour palettes were defined, each with light and dark variants.
In each module, the palette was selected via a drop-down, with each element within the module inheriting its colour from a master ‘Color Palette’ comp.
This freed up designers from having to check for colour consistency throughout the project, and also meant that any future colour palette changes could be made once, in a single place, and be reflected throughout the toolkit.
Colour palettes
In order to better ensure brand compliance, specific colour palettes were defined, each with light and dark variants.
In each module, the palette was selected via a drop-down, with each element within the module inheriting its colour from a master ‘Color Palette’ comp.
This freed up designers from having to check for colour consistency throughout the project, and also meant that any future colour palette changes could be made once, in a single place, and be reflected throughout the toolkit.
Colour palettes
In order to better ensure brand compliance, specific colour palettes were defined, each with light and dark variants.
In each module, the palette was selected via a drop-down, with each element within the module inheriting its colour from a master ‘Color Palette’ comp.
This freed up designers from having to check for colour consistency throughout the project, and also meant that any future colour palette changes could be made once, in a single place, and be reflected throughout the toolkit.
Typographic modules
A range of Type modules were developed to allow simple messaging that could stand alone or be placed over footage, emphasise key words, or highlight specific products.
Additionally, specified text would change its font size responsively to pre-defined values, based on the character count. This ensured layout and emphasis consistency.
Typographic modules
A range of Type modules were developed to allow simple messaging that could stand alone or be placed over footage, emphasise key words, or highlight specific products.
Additionally, specified text would change its font size responsively to pre-defined values, based on the character count. This ensured layout and emphasis consistency.
Typographic modules
A range of Type modules were developed to allow simple messaging that could stand alone or be placed over footage, emphasise key words, or highlight specific products.
Additionally, specified text would change its font size responsively to pre-defined values, based on the character count. This ensured layout and emphasis consistency.
Typographic modules
A range of Type modules were developed to allow simple messaging that could stand alone or be placed over footage, emphasise key words, or highlight specific products.
Additionally, specified text would change its font size responsively to pre-defined values, based on the character count. This ensured layout and emphasis consistency.
Product showcase modules
A Focus Product module used a parallax faux-3D effect to introduce Tims menu items. Control sliders determined the ‘distance’ of each product from the viewer, which in turn determined its transition speed.
A Multi-Product module could highlight multiple, or repeated, products. The number of products shown was adjustable, with controls to determine the relative horizontal and vertical spacing between them.
Product images were defined by simply dragging pre-defined images from the Asset Library into Media Replacement properties.
Controls allowed each product ‘slot’ to be individually shown or hidden, re-positioned, scaled and rotated.
Product showcase modules
A Focus Product module used a parallax faux-3D effect to introduce Tims menu items. Control sliders determined the ‘distance’ of each product from the viewer, which in turn determined its transition speed.
A Multi-Product module could highlight multiple, or repeated, products. The number of products shown was adjustable, with controls to determine the relative horizontal and vertical spacing between them.
Product images were defined by simply dragging pre-defined images from the Asset Library into Media Replacement properties.
Controls allowed each product ‘slot’ to be individually shown or hidden, re-positioned, scaled and rotated.
Product showcase modules
A Focus Product module used a parallax faux-3D effect to introduce Tims menu items. Control sliders determined the ‘distance’ of each product from the viewer, which in turn determined its transition speed.
A Multi-Product module could highlight multiple, or repeated, products. The number of products shown was adjustable, with controls to determine the relative horizontal and vertical spacing between them.
Product images were defined by simply dragging pre-defined images from the Asset Library into Media Replacement properties.
Controls allowed each product ‘slot’ to be individually shown or hidden, re-positioned, scaled and rotated.
Product showcase modules
A Focus Product module used a parallax faux-3D effect to introduce Tims menu items. Control sliders determined the ‘distance’ of each product from the viewer, which in turn determined its transition speed.
A Multi-Product module could highlight multiple, or repeated, products. The number of products shown was adjustable, with controls to determine the relative horizontal and vertical spacing between them.
Product images were defined by simply dragging pre-defined images from the Asset Library into Media Replacement properties.
Controls allowed each product ‘slot’ to be individually shown or hidden, re-positioned, scaled and rotated.
3D assets
Hornet produced a range of 3D models of various Tim Hortons products and icons. In order to retain control over the final look, rather than importing and lighting in After Effects as 3D objects, these were pre-rendered as 360º turnarounds to high-res image sequences.
With these, I was then able to build a suite of 3D components within the toolkit, with expression controls to adjust the 3D rotation angle and speed via expression controls, by time-remapping the pre-render.
3D assets
Hornet produced a range of 3D models of various Tim Hortons products and icons. In order to retain control over the final look, rather than importing and lighting in After Effects as 3D objects, these were pre-rendered as 360º turnarounds to high-res image sequences.
With these, I was then able to build a suite of 3D components within the toolkit, with expression controls to adjust the 3D rotation angle and speed via expression controls, by time-remapping the pre-render.
3D assets
Hornet produced a range of 3D models of various Tim Hortons products and icons. In order to retain control over the final look, rather than importing and lighting in After Effects as 3D objects, these were pre-rendered as 360º turnarounds to high-res image sequences.
With these, I was then able to build a suite of 3D components within the toolkit, with expression controls to adjust the 3D rotation angle and speed via expression controls, by time-remapping the pre-render.
Bespoke modules
The toolkit system also allowed for unique modules to be created for specific campaigns, where further emphasis on a specific product or offering might be needed, or simply to ‘break the mould’ with a bespoke section every now and then.
These special modules can be individually animated without the need for extensive controls, and placed in the timeline in combination with regular modules.
Bespoke modules
The toolkit system also allowed for unique modules to be created for specific campaigns, where further emphasis on a specific product or offering might be needed, or simply to ‘break the mould’ with a bespoke section every now and then.
These special modules can be individually animated without the need for extensive controls, and placed in the timeline in combination with regular modules.
Bespoke modules
The toolkit system also allowed for unique modules to be created for specific campaigns, where further emphasis on a specific product or offering might be needed, or simply to ‘break the mould’ with a bespoke section every now and then.
These special modules can be individually animated without the need for extensive controls, and placed in the timeline in combination with regular modules.
