Discovery Channel - Expedition X

Pixeldust’s friends at Ping Pong Productions were seeking a fresh design for their brand new show, Expedition X, hosted by Josh Gates. The team jumped earnestly into design for this title, seeking to bring a high end broadcast style to the project.

Creative Director: Ricardo Andrade
Art Director, Design: Manuel Messerli
Animator: Manuel Messerli, Jason Starbird-Tierney
Producer: Elizabeth Andrade, Emily Vitek

CLIENT BRIEF

Expedition X is a documentary TV show following Josh Gates as he investigates supernatural and mysterious folklore, ranging from UFO sightings to monsters lurking in the darker parts of our world. The clients were seeking for a highly stylized approach to their motion design needs, including a title open, maps, lower thirds, and integrated graphics involving live action footage.

OUR SOLUTION

The Pixeldust team began with logo exploration, using the well-known Expedition Unknown title as a starting point. The team sought to integrate the familiar “Expedition” font with the unfamiliar and impactful metal “X”. Combining live-action green screen footage of the two hosts with the CGI composition of a dark and misty forest allowed our artist to create a dynamic camera move into the logo reveal. These stylistic choices, combined with a high-contrast color grade, were carried over to the rest of the graphics of the show.

LOGO DEVELOPMENT

Pixeldust developed four logos into detailed style frames to give the producers a clear understanding of the look and feel of each concept.

The producers were excited about the idea of a backlit “X”, and the concept was further developed into the final design. The logos shown here are a selection of the initial ideas.