It's not every day you get to participate in the soup-to-nuts creation of two major professional sports brands in the span of two years. I was honored to lead the Utah Mammoth's motion team throughout their inaugural season, during which we created thousands of screens worth of graphics, render, and contents for the in-arena experience, social media, community relations, behind-the-scenes features, team needs, and more. Coming off of the prior season's temporary brand identity as the Utah Hockey Club, this represented an enormous leap in specificity, execution, and quantity of output for myself and the whole team. The execution of the motion theory involved a deep dive into creating an ownable, undeniably "Mammoth" set of curves, impacts, and image effects that could be applied across type, imagery, video and more, leading to a highly successful and versatile package.
The motion team also worked alongside the design team and contributed significantly to exploration of the overall look and feel for the Mammoth as a whole across all media. I'm happy to see many of the textural elements and cinematic aspects that myself and the team developed and championed still forming a critical backbone of the look and feel, and look forward to how they will continue to grow and evolve in '26-27 and beyond.
The season culminated in the team's first Stanley Cup Playoff appearance, and a playoff graphics package that pushed our season look further and louder. The electric feeling of being there with 16,000 fans seeing it for the first time is one I won't soon forget. This season was truly one of the most extensive and gratifying projects of my career.
It was also a great pleasure to work with Already Been Chewed on our show open and 3D elements, among our many other partners in production and post throughout the year.
TEAM CREDITS
Brand Director: Ben Barnes
Brand Director: Ben Barnes
Sr. Creative Director: Chris George
Motion Design Director: Doug Spice
Motion Design Director: Doug Spice
Motion Designers: Eva Gabrielsen, Jon Sousa, Doug Spice, Megan Tung
Art Director (Design): Brady Hackmeister
Graphic Designers: Victoria Stark, Skyler Eades, Derrick Hawley
Additional Design & Animation: Ethan Hendricks, Janos Nyujto, Hiro Yasuo, Already Been Chewed, IXOS VFX
Art Director (Design): Brady Hackmeister
Graphic Designers: Victoria Stark, Skyler Eades, Derrick Hawley
Additional Design & Animation: Ethan Hendricks, Janos Nyujto, Hiro Yasuo, Already Been Chewed, IXOS VFX