American Airlines: Cadet Academy

American Airlines approached us in the early stages of their new pilot training program: The Cadet Academy: to help them develop the branding and storytelling approach. The Cadet Academy is designed for prospective pilots with little or no flight experience can begin down their training pat. We were tasked with telling a unique story - with the restriction that we couldn't film any pilots or cadets. It had to be completely animated. Their timeline was tight - as the program needed launch support in just under a month. Tackling a project of this size and scale in such a short period of time proved nothing short of a challenge, but the program premiered as a roaring success.

Year

2018

What We Did

Animation, Illustration, Design, Concepting, Strategy, Writing

Our Process

For the look of this piece, we wanted to keep things in the 2D, flat space to make the graphics relatable, but also fun. Since the piece had to include a lot of information, creating a look that keep viewers engaged was important. We concepted a visual story about a pilot in their early career stages, through becoming an American Airlines pilot.

Illustration Process

After sketching, applying the final design look to this piece came together beautifully – and quickly. The American Airlines color palette of red, white and blue created a perfect foundation for a mono color illustration style – carrying a few colors throughout the entire piece.

The Largest Airline in the World

Working with the largest airline in the world is pretty special. Even more special is that the team at American truly understands, and appreciates creativity and storytelling. We are looking forward to sharing much more from this fantastic partnership!