Behind the GIFs with Sarah Huth, MFAID '19
Our new ChathamU GIFs are a big hit! But what goes into creating these marvelous moving images? We chat with designer Sarah Huth, MFAID ’19 about creation, collaboration, and cartoon Carson the Cougar.
Sarah Huth, MFAID ‘19, designer of the new ChathamU GIFs!
By now, we’re sure you’ve seen a cartoon Carson peeking around your Instagram Story, or the “Meet Me at Café Rachel” sign flashing through your feed. Our Marketing and Communications department created these GIFs (short for graphic interchange format) as a fun way to celebrate the start of the Fall 2019 school year, and utilized the singular talents of our recent Communications Design Assistant Sarah Huth, MFAID ’19. Sarah Huth worked closely with Chatham’s Associate Director of Brand and Content Strategy Sarah Hamm, MFACW ’13 (is this enough Sarah H.’s with fine arts master’s degrees for you?), who interviews Sarah Huth below about their process:
Sarah Hamm for Pulse @ ChathamU: The GIF development started on my end when I created a list of possible GIFs that could be used by a wide section of our audience, from current students, to alumni, to general fans of Chatham. Then we collaborated on what would be the most feasible and useful, and I passed the list along to you. What was the process like on your end?
Sarah Huth: For the most part the process was some form of sketch, digitally illustrate, and then make it move using the program best suited for the animation style. For all of the text animations, I sketched them out then designed and animated them using Adobe After Effects. For example, Carson’s GIFs started as sketches in my sketchbook before they were brought to life using Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Character Animator – a program that incorporates motion capture. All of the GIFs passed through After Effects at some point, and were then reduced to an appropriate GIF size through Adobe Photoshop.
SH for Pulse: How did you use the skills you acquired in the Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Design program in the making of these GIFs?
Sarah Huth: I’d have to definitely credit my motion design courses for giving me the bulk of the skills that I utilized in creating these. I didn’t have any animation experience before I came to Chatham, and I loved that my advisor recognized that it was something that I wanted to pursue further and provided opportunities for me to take courses that would encourage the development of those skills.
“I feel like our program really prepares you to understand that each step in the creating process is important, and that thinking things through and understanding why you are making something before you make it is necessary and valuable.” -Sarah Huth, MFAID ‘19
SH for Pulse: Do you say GIF with a hard G (like “green”) or a soft G (like “genuine”)? I’m firmly in the “hard G” camp.
Sarah Huth: I say it both ways, but I feel like my natural inclination is to say it with a hard G. I think once I heard it was supposed to be a soft G I started trying to incorporate that more, but it sounds way less natural to me!
SH for Pulse: Which GIF was your favorite to work on?
Sarah Huth: I loved drawing that cute little Carson! I always get really excited about character design so that one was especially fun. I also really enjoyed the technical challenges of the coffee cup to flower transformation. It needed to be drawn frame by frame, so that animation alone is made up of probably 200+ little drawings! I needed to figure out how it would bend and move, how the coffee cup would dissolve, all of that. Creative problem solving is one of my favorite parts about being a designer, so it was a great one to work through.
SH for Pulse: You just graduated in the Spring of 2019. What are you up to now? Job search? Freelancing? Sleeping (what’s that?!)
Sarah Huth: For the past month post-graduation I’ve been taking my time finding a great full-time gig and doing a lot of freelancing. I’m fortunate enough to be in a place in my life (and have a super supportive partner) where I can kind of just take things slow for the first time in a while. Anyone who knows me though knows that my version of taking things slow also means that I’m drawing every day, working with several freelance clients, and reading 1-2 books a week. It’s great! I’m also going to Disney World at the end of October with my partner and family to celebrate completing my MFA program, so we’re all looking forward to that!
You can find our Chatham GIFs by searching “chathamu” on Instagram Story and Snapchat’s GIF features, or by going to GIPHY. Keep up with Sarah Huth’s designs on her website and Instagram.
