Graphic Design and the Oscars

The Oscars is arguably the biggest show in show business. With its A-list line up, glamorous ceremony and legendary status, the awards show attracts a global audience of around one billion.

With such an iconic reputation to live up to, it’s no wonder that the tech team behind the Oscars put a huge amount of effort into creating the graphics for the show. In 2015, the intros for the awards categories were one of the highlights of the event, with all of them perfectly designed to show off the nominations in each category.

The importance of intro sequences

As we saw in 2015, Oscar intro sequences are a fantastic way to set up a category and get the audience excited by the nominations. The creative genius behind many of last year’s best intro sequences was Englishman Henry Hobson. A graphic designer who’s worked on the past eight Oscars broadcasts, Hobson has a lot of experience when it comes to creating eye-catching images for star studded events.

Having worked on the Oscars in various capacities for so many years, and having watched the role of graphic design slowly evolve and develop within the awards show, Hobson has now taken on an overall design role, helping to bring unity to the title sequences and create spectacular intros.

In fact, the role of graphics within The Academy Awards has now grown so much that the show employees three designers, two illustrators and twelve animators as well as Hobson, showing just how important the aesthetics of these sequences are.

Hobson’s main goal in creating intro sequences has been to reflect the nominees and the category he’s representing within the graphics themselves. By incorporating the films into the sequence in this way, Hobson has managed to create a unique aesthetic and title sequences that get the audience genuinely excited.

Graphic design and the Oscars

Considering how important graphic design is to the Oscars, and the movie industry in general, it’s surprising that the medium is only now beginning to receive the attention it deserves.

Though film posters, title sequences and fonts have long been iconic to the movie going public, the industry itself is yet to acknowledge graphic design with an Oscar of its own. Until they do, designers will have to make do with stealing the show at the Oscars and using the Academy Awards to showcase the incredible work they do.

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