Animating LED Boards for the WNBA All-Star Weekend

Brief

While interning at Fresh Tape Media, I was tasked with creating large-scale LED animations that would play behind players during an official All-Star Weekend photoshoot. These animations needed to feel bold and flexible, while also functioning as visually pleasing background for the shoot. The animations needed to be adapted to 24 different players and two additional generic versions; while also seamlessly looping so the shoot wouldn’t have any odd cuts. The only direction provided was a broad style guide with colors and typography — no motion system was defined. The animations had to balance consistency with customization, ensuring every player’s board felt cohesive. The project had a quick five-day turnaround, which meant moving efficiently from style frames to final animation while keeping the work polished and scalable.

Concept

I designed and animated three abstract boards that set the visual foundation for the project. I created all style frames and built out the animations, while Katie Nehring handled versioning for the individual player names. By developing a flexible animation system, we were able to deliver 24 player-specific boards plus two generic options that worked beautifully on the 10ft LED screen.

Results

Across more than 20 posts on all WNBA social accounts, the videos totaled over 3.5M views, according to Gondola.

The final boards created a striking visual backdrop for the All-Star Weekend shoot. Each player’s identity was highlighted in a bold, abstract environment that tied seamlessly into the WNBA brand.

This project challenged me to think about motion design at scale, it was great opportunity to explore how an animation reads on a massive LED screen versus a laptop, and how to design flexible systems that can be versioned efficiently. With only a broad style guide as my starting point, I was able to craft a visual language that was both expressive and cohesive.

Additionally, delivering the full system in just five days taught me how to balance speed with quality, and how to focus on the essentials that make motion design work at scale.

Results

Across more than 20 posts on all WNBA social accounts, the videos totaled over 3.5M views, according to Gondola.

The final boards created a striking visual backdrop for the All-Star Weekend shoot. Each player’s identity was highlighted in a bold, abstract environment that tied seamlessly into the WNBA brand.

Additionally, delivering the full system in just five days taught me how to balance speed with quality, and how to focus on the essentials that make motion design work at scale.