The Hidden Beauty of Staplers
Process
A personal interest of mine for the past couple years has been collecting vintage staplers; I see them as a product with an intuitive design that is often overlooked due to its seamless integration in everyday life. As a result of this collection, I have way too much information in my head on the history and interesting quirks of the stapler, and used this infographic to scratch the surface of this very specific knowledge-base.
To begin, I wrote a short script outlining a brief history of the stapler's invention. I wanted to explore a collage style, giving me the opportunity to use a combination of photos, drawings, graphics, and animation types. I gathered a variety of photos, drew a couple of assets in Photoshop, and even animated a 3D model, all before bringing it all together.
[GIF of Photoshop-drawn asset.]
For a stop-motion-like effect, I took a short series of photos, isolated the moving parts, and aligned them in After Effects.
3-Frame Stop-Motion
Once all the assets were prepped, I brought them all into After Effects for the final animation. I picked a playful instrumental track to set the mood ("Methods (Extended)" by Unseen), modified it to fit a reading of my script, and started piecing everything together.
I used a frame rate of 12 fps to make the infographic's animation choppy and stylized. Guiding lines brought focus to pertinent graphics, and kinetic typography emphasized points of interest in the script. This all resulted in a fun and introspective final product I hope sheds some light on an unlikely subject.
