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‘Broad City’s Animated Titles Evolve with the Series

Designer Mike Perry discusses the evolution of the animated title sequence and visual identity for Comedy Central’s ‘Broad City.’

The first time Comedy Central asked designer Mike Perry to create the seven-second title sequence and visual identity for Broad City, he said no. At the time, Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson's web series-turned-TV sensation was largely unknown and Perry was booked solid. But, according to an interview with VICE’s The Creators Project, Perry, who previously designed collaborative coloring books, Hawaiian shirts, and a sculpture of Batman vomiting paint, was given another chance a month later.

The design brief asked for bold and colorful hand-drawn animations and a visual identity that exuded the same level of comedy and weirdness as the show. For the first meeting, Perry produced pencil sketches demonstrating how they could play around with type and the Comedy Central team, including Glazer and Jacobson, decided they wanted to use all of them, evolving and refreshing the intro with every episode as if it were a vital character in the show.

Perry likes to narrow an idea to its most basic form or action for his animations for Broad City, each of which consists of 160 individual drawings for each frame. For one intro he was inspired by the concept of a pimple as typography. He’s also experimented with a “walking the apple” motif, the colors of the American flag and the motion of an elevator.

“The power of animation is that you’re not bound by the laws of physics,” Perry reportedly says. “You don’t have to make something that exists with gravity and weights. You’re allowed to do anything, and the only limitations are what I’m able to concept.”

Head over to The Creators Project to read the full story.

Jennifer Wolfe's picture

Formerly Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network, Jennifer Wolfe has worked in the Media & Entertainment industry as a writer and PR professional since 2003.