STORY OF US | NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

While living in Washington, DC for 3 months, I had the honor of animating the very poignant words of some of the most interesting people in the world as part of The Story of Us with Morgan Freeman, a documentary series televised on the National Geographic Channel.

As these little animated shorts were also to be shared separately on Social Media on their own, I wanted to keep the visual language reminiscent of the very recognizable yellow and black logo of National Geographic. I kept the look minimal and focused a lot on conveying visuals by playing with negative space and black.

You can find out more about the series here.

The people featured are:

Megan Phelps-Roper is a social media activist, lobbying to overcome hatred between religious and political divides. Formerly a member of the Westport Baptist Church which is known for it's daily public protests against the LGBT community, the military and Jewish people among others, she left the church in 2012.
Phelps-Roper has since become an advocate for people and ideas she was taught to despise.

Rigoberta Menchu is a K'iche' political and human rights activist from Guatemala. She has dedicated her life to publicizing the rights of Guatemala's indigenous feminists and to promoting indigenous rights in the country. She received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1998.

Daryl Davis is an American R&B and Blues musician and anti-racism activist. He has worked to improve race relations by seeking out, engaging in dialogue with, and befriend members of the Ku Klux Klan. Davis is a Christian and has used his religious beliefs to convince Klansmen to leave and denounce the KKK.

Nadya Tolokonnikova is a Russian artist and political activist. She was a member and co founder of the Anarchist Feminist group Pussy Riot @wearepussyriot and spent two years in jail after performing an anti-Putin concert in a Moscow cathedral. Pussy Riot was organized in part due to anger over what members saw as anti-woman government policies. They are also outspoken in their support of LGBT rights.

Joshua Coombes is the founder of the #DoSomethingForNothing campaign. His mission: to make a positive impact by giving haircuts to homeless people he meets on the city streets, connecting with them on a human level and sharing their stories on social media. So far he has cut the hair of hundreds of homeless people around the world.

Production Studio: The Duke and the Duck

Direction: Alex Herder

Visual Development: Raghav Arumugam

Storyboarding: Raghav Arumugam

Animation: Raghav Arumugam