UFOs, monsters and the folklore lurking in the darker corners of the world. For Discovery Channel's Expedition X with Josh Gates, Pixeldust designed a title open and graphics package built around a backlit metal X.
Expedition X follows Josh Gates as he investigates supernatural and mysterious folklore, from UFO sightings to monsters hiding in the darker parts of our world. Pixeldust’s friends at Ping Pong Productions wanted a fresh, highly stylized design for the brand-new show.
The team brought a high-end broadcast style to the project: logo development, a title open that blends green screen footage of the hosts with a CGI misty forest, and a look carried into maps, lower thirds and graphics integrated with live-action footage.
Broadcast design for a paranormal series
The producers wanted a highly stylized approach to every motion design need on the show: a title open, maps, lower thirds and integrated graphics that work with live-action footage.
The team began with logo exploration, using the well-known Expedition Unknown title as a starting point and combining the familiar “Expedition” font with an unfamiliar, impactful metal “X.” Pixeldust developed four logos into detailed style frames so the producers could clearly see the look and feel of each concept.
The producers loved the idea of a backlit X, and that concept was developed into the final design. The logos shown here are a selection of the initial ideas.
Combining live-action green screen footage of the two hosts with a CGI composition of a dark, misty forest let the artists create a dynamic camera move into the logo reveal.
These stylistic choices, together with a high-contrast color grade, carried over into the rest of the show’s graphics, giving the whole series one consistent, unsettling look.
