They are beautiful, surreal worlds that tell compelling brand stories in engaging, imaginative ways. A love story using strings; a bubbly animated family personify a new smartphone application; an insurance company comes to life in a thrilling adventure odyssey. This is the power of design – the power of HUSH.

HUSH is equally renowned as a world-class design agency that can strategize, conceive, and produce engaging content, an expertise demonstrated by the trio of recent projects.

“We are a true design agency; we don’t believe in fluff,” noted HUSH Partner David Schwarz. “We believe in creative projects born out of solid thinking, and our recent work boldly expresses that philosophy.”

Companies of all kinds approach HUSH with the challenge of creating compelling content for yawn-prone audiences. When technology company gopogo wanted to promote its new social networking software, for example, it asked HUSH to conceive of a quirky, attention-grabbing visual concept.

Strings is an inventive spot that tells a gopogo-powered love story using mostly strings. Oscar (represented by a moustache hanging from a string) is trapped in his mundane life (represented by simple paper-crafted sets of a bed, breakfast plate, bus stop, and office sliding rapidly across the screen) when he meets his dream love (represented by a red wig dangling from a string) and pursues her all night across their city as their tangled strings lead them to each other.

The quirky video emerged from extensive brand research and meetings with company representatives. “We locked on to the idea that gopogo refers to their software as creating “strings” that connect a person to all of life’s activities,” noted HUSH Partner Erik Karasyk. “This was a clear visual metaphor that led us to the use of real strings, yarn, and constructed props and sets.”

To execute the project, HUSH gathered an army of talented paper crafters in their studio, then rigged all the props and lighting so that they could move from scene to scene with quick gags: a lighting change, props pushing in or pulling out, or other visual cues. The setup worked like a photo shoot, but with bursts of movement to bring the story to life. Additionally, HUSH developed a roll out of related digital and physical experiences that extend and broaden gopogo’s string metaphor.

When Chobani yogurt launched a new children’s product, they reached out to HUSH via digital agency Big Spaceship, to complete a difficult character-design and animation project.

They pulled the feat off with the Champlify video, which stars a family of bubbly animated characters in a constantly morphing world.

“In most of the character design projects we’ve been a part of, the marching orders are clear: design an iconic, unique character to lead the brand’s visual identity,” noted Schwarz. “Chobani Champions was actually much more difficult in that they did not want a brand mascot. Rather, they needed to create a piece led by childlike characters who could jump, point, play and interact, but didn’t assert themselves as a new brand identity.”

Another impressive recent animated effort came for MARSH, who commissioned HUSH to create a project that would inspire their global workforce and create internal and external buzz.

The IGNITE film for MARSH uses a Saul Bass-inspired aesthetic to follow a hero on an Odyssean journey. A woman hands a man a road map which catapults him through dark woods, into hot air balloons, and onto the stormy seas in an epic quest. Explosive, overstated graphics embolden the tale as the hero swings, dives and climbs his way through danger to protect his ultimate treasure.

HUSH is continuing at full speed, with interactive experience projects for Nike and Gillette in the pipeline. “All of our work is smart, meaning that it’s a result of a creative strategy and a close working relationship with our clients,” said Schwarz. “The output of that initial creative strategy is varied; it could be a complex, multi-part interactive experience or a targeted design project generating a single piece of content. It’s this mentality that keeps us going.”

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About HUSH
HUSH is a design agency. We craft visual concepts and design for digital experiences and creative content. We are Thinkers and Makers.

Brand Collaborations:
Nike, Sony Ericsson, Nokia, Microsoft, Zune, HP, Coca-Cola, Honda, Hyundai, Acura, Kiehl’s, E*TRADE, MARSH, Random House, Dove, Stylecaster, Showtime, Esquire, MTV, Syfy, Discovery, HBO, PBS, Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, Starz, among others.

Agency Collaborations:
McGarryBowen, McCann Worldgroup, Jack Morton Worldwide, Momentum Worldwide, Mindshare Entertainment, George P. Johnson, Grey, BBH, Sapient, space150, Central Planning, among others.

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