Background
air up® is a brand that makes innovative water bottles that flavor water through scent, not taste. The bottles use scented pods placed on the mouthpiece. As you drink plain water, you also intake the scent from the pod, which tricks your brain into thinking the water is flavored, a process called retronasal olfaction.
I was tasked with creating visuals for LED banner with the main goal of raising awareness of air up. The key points were to: Show the logo often, use the main brand colours, show the product, explain the system in as few words as possible.
My Approach
Given the constraints of the LED perimeter banners, including limited resolution, unpredictable viewing angles, and short on-screen durations, I prioritized maximum visual clarity and fast legibility. The animations needed to be readable from a distance and recognizable even when only partially visible or briefly captured by a moving camera.
I designed using a high resolution mockup, matching the stadium's pixel specs, and worked within the LED panel refresh and looping limitations. To ensure visual punch, I employed high-contrast color blocking using air up's core brand palette, and set key elements like the logo and product images against dark backgrounds to maximize visibility.
Typography was treated with scale and hierarchy in mind: I used large, bold sans-serif type, with minimal word count per frame to ensure messages could be absorbed in under two seconds. Transitions were kept smooth and snappy, short easing curves and timed loops made each message feel continuous without being distracting.
To simulate the real environment, I built a faux-3D mockup of the stadium LED setup using After Effects. This allowed me to place the banner in context, simulate camera panning and audience angles, and validate legibility under real-world conditions. After iterating based on those tests, I finalized the animations and exported the assets in the format required by the stadium's playback system.
