CORE CAFES
CORE CAFES
Project Description:
CoreCafes is a music streaming website that provides subtly animated backgrounds organized by music genre. Through illustration, CoreCafes seeks to bring the atmosphere of coffee shops and aesthetics to those who need a productive environment to get things done.
Objective:
Create a project that covers at least five categories of graphic design.
Illustration Process
CoreCafes has a signature illustration style so the different cafes are unified. Each cafe starts with a genre, then goes through a refined sketch phase, a flat color phase, and then the final illustration.
Frets & Frapps
Genre: Acoustic
Refined Sketch: In the refined sketch phase, the overall space and point–of–view is set, however colors and items are still able to be changed slightly. The cafe patrons are sketched in to see the amount of space they take up and to get a better feel for the composition as a whole.
Pop Roast
Genre: Pop Music
Flat Color: In the flat color phase, the space, object within, and the colors are finalized with little to no changes made. The lineart is refined and cleaned up. Here is where a rough animatic is created and the patrons begin getting a personality and story.
Classics (as seen in the walkthrough video)
Genre: Classical
Final Illustration: In the final illustration, light and shadows are added along with texture and reflections. The patrons’ character designs are finalized and put into the space. A final animation is created based on the animatic from the flat color stage.
Website and App
CoreCafes is desktop based with a companion app. The companion app allows users to stream the cafe to a TV, should they want the animations but need their computer for something else.
The app allows users to do everything the desktop allows, such as change from live mode to custom, light mode to night mode, and volume control. Instead of the full animated scenes, the app provides a preview of what is being casted to the TV.
Raw Animations
The animations are created in several layers. Each patron (and barista) is on its own separate file, then compiled together in the final illustration. Night mode animations are nearly identical to light mode animations, with slight changes being made to the overall color and tone, and the removal of sunlight. Below are the light and night modes of the classical cafe’s animation, as well as a variant with w different barista and patron.
Social Media
The social media also incorporates illustrations that can be seen in the cafes in the same illustration style. Here, users can find updates on new cafes, tips on how to use the desktop and app, as well as participate in sticker giveaways.