A 2,500-year-old mummy, revealed live to viewers in 95 countries. For Discovery's Expedition Unknown: Egypt Live, Pixeldust designed the show package for a once-in-history broadcast.
Discovery Channel viewers in 95 countries watched history being made as adventurer and explorer Josh Gates uncovered the mummy of a high priest, 2,500 years old, for the first time ever on live television.
Ping Pong Productions invited Pixeldust to design the show package for the event, which revealed one of the Old Kingdom’s mysteries buried deep in the sands of Egypt: a logo built on the Expedition Unknown brand, a dramatic show open, and the lower thirds, maps, transitions and bumpers a live broadcast depends on.
Designing a live-event show package
Discovery asked Pixeldust to build the logo on the existing Expedition Unknown brand. The designers developed a series of typefaces that evoke adventure, exploration and mystery while hinting at the richness of ancient Egyptian culture.
Pixeldust studied the hieroglyphs and artifacts of the Old Kingdom and its god Thoth, and worked those elements into the final design.
The initial brief called for mystery meets high tech. In one of the first concepts, Pixeldust combined dramatically backlit hieroglyphs with fragments of digital user interfaces. Another concept took the shapes and forms of ancient Egyptian artifacts and designed them in a more abstract way.
The network requested a graphics package with lower thirds and locator maps. Pixeldust also produced a variety of transitions and bumpers built from scenes of the main show open.
Frames from the open
