Since 1988, PBS series American Experience, TV's most-watched history series, brings to life the compelling stories from our past that inform our understanding of the world today. For their 34th season, American Experience worked to venture into new avenues in terms of distribution and promotion, including branching out into Instagram Reels for a new series to promote their films. I was first tasked with creating a short animated explainer video about medical remedies throughout history to promote the new film, Plague at the Golden Gate.  

To start, the team and I worked on creating a script and a visual language for the video. We explored several visual design styles, including medical illustrations from the 17th and 18th century, as well as cartoon styles and medieval paintings. However, we eventually settled upon a more humorous and less gory take by turning to animations from 1960s advertising, including the color and design popularized by the UPA. This design not only allowed for more comedic moments, it is also malleable for future video opportunities. 

Initial design inspiration

Initial Storyboards

It was important for the design to have a visual language based on colors previously used by PBS Digital Studios for American Experience, so we adapted our own rules for color throughout the piece, and made sure to keep a consistent use of texture, line weight, and more. We wanted the lines within the animation to feel hand drawn, while allowing the main shapes to resemble paper cut-outs.

Final Designed Boards

The final product performed so well with audiences, expanding reach on new platforms, that the American Experience built the video into a series to accompany each of their new films in the season. These often came with a short turnaround time from initial design to completion, however, because of our strong design branding, we were able to create more and more ambitious videos and meet all deadlines along the way.