<CaseStudiesIntro title={"Spreading awareness to LCIV's programs through motion design and video"}>

Case study coming soon 😉

</CaseStudiesIntro>

<PageSection color={'white'}>
 <InnerWrapper>
 <VimeoPlayer videoID={'698690533'} title={'Prospects'}/>
 <VimeoPlayer videoID={'697423985'} title={'Community'}/>

 </InnerWrapper>
</PageSection>

Jordan Lambrecht

Creative Director

Samee Callahan

Associate Creative Director

Daniel Hinz

Animation Lead

Abby Hall

Cinematographer

Lizzie Moore

Video Editor

Rebecca Cook

Motion Graphics

Olivia Boldt

Project Manager

Awareness Campaign

<CaseStudiesIntro title={"An internal video to get Backcountry's board hyped."}>

Case study coming soon 😉

</CaseStudiesIntro>

Operation Send

<CaseStudiesIntro title={"Turning (Gear)heads with motion graphic magic for the esteemed outdoor retailer, Backcountry."}>

Backcountry, an online specialty retailer known for selling the highest-performing outdoor gear, reached out to Pixel Bakery, in need of logo, typeface, and customer experience animations to supplement a series of four YouTube ads for their brand.

The deliverables to each video were to be unique, as each closing logo animation was a subtle nod to a different outdoor industry.

**Testimonial from client:**

> Please pass this message along to the broader team. I cannot thank you and your team enough for the collaboration on this project. The animations look absolutely fantastic and everyone that has seen the videos are blown away. I appreciate your willingness to be nimble and adjust on the fly. This project would not have come together without Pixel Bakery and I am eternally grateful. A million thanks.

</CaseStudiesIntro>
<PageSection color={'white'}>
 <InnerWrapper>
 <VimeoPlayer videoID={'669503482'} />
 <VimeoPlayer videoID={'669504297'} />
 <VimeoPlayer videoID={'669504130'} />

 </InnerWrapper>
</PageSection>

<CaseStudiesDescription textColor={'cream'} bgColor={'pink-light'} headerColor={'pink'} header={'Process'}>

Since these ads move so quickly, Pixel Bakery’s main objective was to produce tasteful, quick animations that were punchy, natural, and memorable.

With a tight turnaround time of just under two weeks, the team immediately got to work. Multiple directional concepts were provided for each animation, giving the client a chance to see a handful of options for each deliverable before narrowing down their selections.

</CaseStudiesDescription>

Gearhead Magic

<CaseStudiesIntro title={"Showing off why Lincoln's power grid is unique with motion design"}>
 Case Study coming soon 😉
</CaseStudiesIntro>

motion designer

Rates 101

Johnny Redd

Graphic Designer & Copywriter

Maria Smal

TikTok Extraordinaire

Ongoing Retainer

<CaseStudiesIntro title={''}>
 
Case Study Coming Soon.

</CaseStudiesIntro>

Karley Johnson

Hannah Klemme

Asset Designer

Miranda Hussey

Account Manager

Rural Broadband

<CaseStudiesIntro title={""}>

Case Study Coming Soon.

</CaseStudiesIntro>

Hay the Oxbow Way

<CaseStudiesIntro title={"How to Make Videos About Making Monday Less Scary"}>

Sunday Scaries approached us wanting a campaign to promote their CBD product. The goal was to create something lighthearted, quick/snappy, but serious about their product. The campaign was directed towards social media, which means we only had 10 seconds max to grab our audience's attention.

</CaseStudiesIntro>

<PageSection color={'white'}>
 <InnerWrapper>
 <VimeoPlayer videoID={'489174952'} title={'TikTok Boyfriend'} />
 </InnerWrapper>
 <InnerWrapper>
 <VimeoPlayer videoID={'489175978'} title={'Play-By-Play'} />
 <VimeoPlayer videoID={'489177723'} title={'Home Workout'} />
 <VimeoPlayer videoID={'447967764'} title={'Internal Monologue'} />
 <VimeoPlayer videoID={'449334205'} title={"Good Night's Sleep"} />
 </InnerWrapper>
</PageSection>

Detric Cook

Monday Man, TikTok Boyfriend, Sports Announcer

Workout Queen

Make Monday Less Scary

Tyler Loebig

Miranda Canon

Solutions for Change

<CaseStudiesIntro title={"Bringing a Tiny Chef with big, keto-friendly ideas to life."}>

The SOLA Company is a low-carb, low-sugar, keto-friendly brand that came to Pixel Bakery looking to make an animated explainer video showcasing their bread.

We had previously worked with SOLA in the live-action realm and were extremely excited to see what we could do for them within another specialty of ours - animation.

</CaseStudiesIntro>

<CaseStudiesDescription textColor={'cream'} bgColor={'pink-light'} headerColor={'pink'} header={'Process'}>

The live-action portion of this project consisted of hiring a production crew to assist in bringing the Tiny Chef Magic to life. The video production team included a director, gaffer, grip, assistant camera, and a FOOD STYLIST (how legit). Maria Smal, Pixel Bakery's social media manager, was pegged as the perfect candidate to be cast as the homeowner for the video.

</CaseStudiesDescription>

Disgruntled Baker

Michael Hennings

Director of Photography

Executive Producer

Cody Jones

First Camera Assistant

Madeline Christensen

Script Writer

Animator

Aaron Smith

Gaffer

Scott Pittock

Grip

Melissa Young

Food Stylist

Production Assistant

Tiny Chef

<CaseStudiesIntro title={"Using dry-humor to create something for a new demographic that's choosing healthier options."}>

The SOLA company came to us to create a 60-second commercial that would promote their low-carb, keto-friendly bread. They needed something that would appeal to their millennial demographic: hopefully combining dry humor with a relatable scenario to today’s young adult.

</CaseStudiesIntro>

<CaseStudiesDescription textColor={'cream'} bgColor={'pink-light'} headerColor={'pink'} header={'Process'}>

To bring an awkward Uber ride to life, you’ve gotta film in a moving car. Not the easiest task. Luckily, our small but mighty team works well in tight spaces.

We brought in a few reinforcements for an extra hand with lighting, filming, makeup, and assistance on set. We lucked out and found two local actors perfect for the Uber driver and his unfortunate passenger, and both were ready and willing to drive around in circles for hours and brave the bitter, midwest winter. We’ve got to give extra props to Kabin (the Driver) for his execution of the script, but also being able to ad-lib beautifully when we needed him to. Much of what made the final cut was made up on the spot.

Authenticity was key with this project, and we felt a green screen just wouldn’t do the scene justice. Instead, we were able to mount a Black Magic Pocket Cinema 4k on the hood of the car to get shots through the windshield, and then inside the car for some additional angles. We directed via walkie talkies and followed in a car. Many people were crammed in trunks. Our mothers disapproved. Exciting stuff!

Don’t forget about the real reason we’re all here, though: bread. We crafted trays of sandwiches for the perfect ending shot, and put our creative team to the task of food styling (it’s not easy.) If half of our time was spent in the trunk of a moving car for this commercial, the other half was spent watching Nathan trying to blissfully eat sandwich after sandwich until we told him to stop. (Sorry, Nathan.)

</CaseStudiesDescription>

Kabin Thomas

Driver

Nathan Dunham

Passanger

Editor

Scriptwriter

Katie Jenkins

Makeup Artist

Shanda Shappell

Rideshare Oversharer

<CaseStudiesIntro title={''}>

Our very first project with the Los Angeles based media giant. We provided two short but engaging animations for two episodes of their popular series. Using archival photos, we pieced together engaging imagery that served as a companion to what the host was explaining. In the process, we learned a bit more about the Declaration of Independence and Jim Crow Laws, and how both are still relevant in the US today.

</CaseStudiesIntro>
<CaseStudiesDescription textColor={'cream'} bgColor={'pink-light'} headerColor={'pink'} header={'Process'}>

copy copy copy

</CaseStudiesDescription>

Ben Kamprath

Tony Bertino

Field Tripped

<CaseStudiesIntro title={''}>

After working with them on another series intro animation, SoulPancake came to us to create the intro and individual episode animations for their popular series "Science Of." This season consisted of eight episodes, all about empathy. We were tasked with creating imagery that described the complex emotion while still being fun and engaging.

</CaseStudiesIntro>
<CaseStudiesDescription textColor={'cream'} bgColor={'pink-light'} headerColor={'pink'} header={'Process'}>

copy copy copy

</CaseStudiesDescription>

Ally Frame

Illustrator

Science of Empathy

<CaseStudiesIntro title={''}>

In order to better convey the abstract poetry, SoulPancake hired us again to provide illustrations and on-screen kinetic type for a six-episode run. We developed a brand typeface, color palette, and illustration brand guideline to be used across the series.

</CaseStudiesIntro>

Steven Foster

Spoken Word

<CaseStudiesIntro title={"Simple and shape-based illustrations promote First Honey's all-natural healing products."}>

Based in Tennessee, First Honey is a bandage company that uses manuka honey to provide a unique, all-natural healing experience—manuka honey is native to New Zealand and produced by bees that pollinate the manuka bush. First Honey came to us looking for an engaging way to captivate their audience and encourage them to give their manuka honey-infused bandages and ointments a try. We created two playful, family-oriented animations to help show the power of First Honey’s fast, all-natural healing.

</CaseStudiesIntro>

<CaseStudiesDescription textColor={'cream'} bgColor={'pink-light'} headerColor={'pink'} header={'Process'}>

First Honey wanted to highlight two products in less than 30-second video modulations for social media: their fast-healing ointment and all-natural bandages. For the first animation, we wanted the tone to be nurturing, lighthearted, and relatable; something that would appeal to our target demographic. A family-oriented playground scenario would achieve this tone. The second story gives a playful, inside look into the beehive production of their bandages. We wanted the tone to be informative, caring, and positive. To tie the animations together, we created a lovable bee character to follow through the animations.

Once we had an idea of where the script was going, we were able to storyboard each scene, finalize illustrations and start animating. We chose a pastel color palette that would compliment the First Honey logo and product design. The illustrations are simple and shape-based, and animated, take on a gentle and inviting nature. Subtle texturing and playful music pulled the project together.

</CaseStudiesDescription>

Director

Art Director

Lead Illustrator

Josie Sittig

Account Executive

Bee Better

<CaseStudiesIntro title={"For all small pets looking for something healthier in their day-to-day."}>

Our second project with Oxbow Animal Health centered on their organic hay line, which includes six types of hay to fit different small pet ages and personalities. Basically, we heard “small pet personalities” and ran with it. We found six local small pets with star quality, built some tiny sets, got a chinchilla to drink from a tea cup and a bunny to do some yoga, and “Hay Any Way” was born.

</CaseStudiesIntro>

<CaseStudiesDescription textColor={'cream'} bgColor={'pink-light'} headerColor={'pink'} header={'Process'}>

Our process for “Hay Any Way” began with brainstorming possible human-like personalities we could illustrate with bunnies, hamsters, chinchillas, and guinea pigs. We settled on six favorites: a western cowboy on a ranch, a yogi a their zen studio, a posh pet having a tea party, an artist hard at work, and a rough-hewn camping enthusiast.

We spent some time away from our computers to build mini “sets” for each character. Wanting to capture the bright color scheme of each hay flavor, we built small rooms with prop elements painted in a mostly monochromatic, bold color scheme. We loved the idea of the colors really popping on a social media feed.

Working with small pets is always a challenge, but rewarding! Somehow, we’re beginning to become experts at this sort of thing. A day of shooting small pets consists of a lot of small wins when your tiny stars finally start taking direction. Divas, am I right?

All kidding aside, we were so fortunate to work with the most enthusiastic and patient pet owners willing to donate their pets and their time to the shoot.

In post-production, we added sound effects and frame-by-frame, doodle-y animation as a final touch. The result is cuteness overload that we were able to modulate for all of Oxbow’s social media platforms, providing them with various lengths to accommodate different advertising specifications.

</CaseStudiesDescription>

Videographer

Lead Animator

Natalie Roteman

Kaitlyn Pfannenstiel

Tyler Leobig

Set Designer

Hay Any Way

<CaseStudiesIntro title={'How that college on a hill grew into a University that is Doane.'}>

To introduce their new school mission, vision, and values, Doane University wanted a video that showed their past, present, and future. They needed a way to captivate current and potential students and steer them toward their new vision.

That’s where we whipped up a sweet video to tell their story through a mix of images, kinetic typography, and a killer drumbeat.

</CaseStudiesIntro>
<CaseStudiesDescription textColor={'cream'} bgColor={'pink-light'} headerColor={'pink'} header={'Process'}>

After sifting through decades of photos and videos from throughout Doane’s history, we pulled together a timeline of material that would be set to a high-energy percussion track we remastered ourselves. We knew we wanted to build to a pivotal movement in the music where the animation switched from the past to the present.

Typography was the true hero of this video. We made sure to time out every beat to make each word pop with energy and significance. Once we got a feel for how the words and music would weave together, we sprinkled in images and video to further accentuate the look and feel.

The end product was a sweet mission roll-out video that’s sure to satisfy all typography and animation enthusiasts.

</CaseStudiesDescription>

Yoni Gill

On A Hill

<CaseStudiesIntro title={"Making an Online Music Festival During COVID"}>

Case Study Coming Soon 😉.

</CaseStudiesIntro>
<PageSection color={'white'}>
 <InnerWrapper>
 <VimeoPlayer videoID={'517621174'} title={'Lincoln Calling TV'}/>

 </InnerWrapper>
</PageSection>

Motion Designer

Copywriter

2020 Festival Campaign

<CaseStudiesIntro title={""}>

We were on cloud nine dreaming up an environment to showcase Enriched Life, Oxbow Animal Health's new line of products for small animals. Oxbow needed a cheerful, simple video to show rabbits, guinea pigs, and rats engaging with the small toys, huts, and something called an "Apple Stick Dangly" from the Enriched Life line (like, c'mon, it doesn't get much cuter than that.)

With the help of the Humane Society, we borrowed a few furry friends to become our stars for the day. We created a guinea pig-sized faux world with cotton clouds and lush grass to get the perfect shots of them interacting with products from the line. The end result is a quick and upbeat video full of clips overlaid with colorful pops of animated accents.

</CaseStudiesIntro>

<CaseStudiesDescription textColor={'cream'} bgColor={'pink-light'} headerColor={'pink'} header={'Process'}>

We knew from the start that we wanted to try our hand at stop motion in order to tell a story with Oxbow's products. The style fit the tone we were going for, mimicking the jerky movements of small animals, like rats and guinea pigs. We storyboarded with small movements in mind as well as ways we could accent each animal interaction with illustrated pops and squiggles.

Oxbow had a script in mind they wanted to incorporate, so we mapped out how each clip would be shot in order to interact with moving typography. Many props had an animated counterpart-for instance, we constructed a real-life pulley system for a plank of wood to be lowered and raised out of shots, which we emblazoned with animated type later in post-production.

Working with live animals was a challenging process at times, but who wouldn't want to play with bunnies all day? We fell in love with our Humane Society stars and kinda-sorta spammed our Instagram followers with footage of them all day. We were so happy to know that many were adopted not long after our shoot.

</CaseStudiesDescription>

Elaina Dye

Enriched Life

<CaseStudiesIntro title={"An on-brand animation highlighting all of its health benefits."}>

Karma Nuts is the alternative to the oil-fried cashews that we normally seen on supermarket shelves. These cashews are Wrapped®, giving them an irresistible crunch. We came in to spread the word about this tasty snack by creating a brand video that highlights all its awesome benefits. The goal was to create a cool and colorful 30-second, e-commerce animation that Karma Nuts could place to quickly tell the story of their products. Using the mandala-shaped logo as inspiration, we wanted to play with all the different flavors of nuts intertwining while giving it a bohemian flare.

</CaseStudiesIntro>

<CaseStudiesDescription textColor={'cream'} bgColor={'pink-light'} headerColor={'pink'} header={'Process'}>

Karma Nuts wanted the video to showcase their Wrapped® cashews in 30-seconds while making sure to highlight all the important health benefits. After examining their brand, we knew we wanted to make something with engaging with a lot of small moving parts. It needed to catch the audience instantly and hold them until the end by dazzling the eye with color and shape. The first step was the script. We made sure to include all of the health benefits in a short amount of time without it sounding like a shopping list. Once we got the tone set, we moved on to product photography.

There is quite an assortment of flavors with two different sizes of packaging, so we had to diligently make sure to note each cashew. Using a green screen, we placed out the cashews making it easy to cut out for later. We then shot the snack packs and larger containers until we hit each of the flavors. After we meticulously cut out each nut and package, we moved into After Effects.

The end result is a captivating and colorful animation that is on-brand for Karma Nuts. You can check out this video on Amazon, their website, and social media.

</CaseStudiesDescription>

Get Your Nuts

<CaseStudiesIntro title={"Bringing informative pup videos to social feeds forwarding brand awareness and recognition."}>

PupBox, a subscription box service catering to new puppy owners, already had great content on their social media. The only catch was that it was almost solely generated by their following — subscribers sent in their personal puppy pics to be shared on the feed. While the posts got a lot of attention, they weren’t translating to more subscription sales.

We came in to produce some content for their feed that combined cute pup vids with informational tidbits and a call to action using some motion elements. The videos provide some in-feed entertainment (who doesn’t love puppies?) while giving the PupBox brand a voice.

</CaseStudiesIntro>
<CaseStudiesDescription textColor={'cream'} bgColor={'pink-light'} headerColor={'pink'} header={'Process'}>

'We rounded up three puppies to be our stars and created a few loose story boards to showcase each pup alongside stacks of PupBox subscription boxes.

The biggest thing we’ve learned from working with animals is you can’t go in expecting anything to go the way you planned. However, throughout hours of puppy wrangling (and getting more creative than you ever thought possible in order to get a 2-month-old golden retriever to take a toy out of a box), there’s nothing better than when a magical moment happens on camera.

In post production, we brought in some basic motion elements and color to elevate PupBox’s brand, including bouncy kinetic type and subtle movement for their logo.

We packaged three videos for PupBox to use as native advertising in their social feeds that work toward brand awareness and recognition.

</CaseStudiesDescription>

<PageSection color={'white'}>
 <InnerWrapper>
 <VimeoPlayer videoID={'516404556'} />
 <VimeoPlayer videoID={'516393381'} />
 </InnerWrapper>
</PageSection>

Natalie Roetman

Puppyhood Made Easy

<CaseStudiesIntro title={""}>

We teamed up with Nelnet, a student financial services company headquartered in Lincoln, to bring the look and feel of their All Directors Conference (ADC) to life with 3D animation.

Playing off of the "futuristic" theme of the conference. we took the static ADC logo and delivered an animated "badge" to loop in and out of the lower third of various presentations. Going a step further, we provided a complete dynamic background for the logo to live in using Cinema 4D. This 3D environment became a platform to showcase data and company statistics in an exciting and immersive way.

</CaseStudiesIntro>

<CaseStudiesDescription textColor={'cream'} bgColor={'pink-light'} headerColor={'pink'} header={'Process'}>

The tagline of Nelnet's ADC conference was "See Your Future. Be Your Future."

Nelnet sees this quote from their CEO as a rallying cry for the company, so it informed the whole look and feel of the conference. Nelnet wanted to ask its directors to be visionaries as well as catalysts for change---this manifested itself in the logo itself: the circle and protruding "V" signified seeing into the future.

With this in mind, the direction for an entire moving, 3D environment to further the brand came easily. We sketched out an otherworldly landscape, imagining the curves and slopes of the 2D logo as plateaus and hills in a futuristic, glowing world.

We'll Get You Moving:

Already have art direction, a logo, or branding? Let us take it to the next level with our animation capabilities. Movement can transform your conference, festival, or company branding in a dynamic way. Either 2D or 3D, we've got you covered.

</CaseStudiesDescription>

2D Animation

3D Animator

ADM 2019

<CaseStudiesIntro title={"What started as just a prototype ended with realistic renders and a quality product to show potential clients."}>

Hudl came to us with a brand new, self-automated camera that could be used by sports teams to capture game footage without a cameraman, called the Hudl Focus. They needed a polished, fast-paced video to generate some hype around their exciting, homegrown product. Cool, right? One problem: the Focus hadn’t actually been manufactured yet.

</CaseStudiesIntro>

<CaseStudiesDescription textColor={'cream'} bgColor={'pink-light'} headerColor={'pink'} header={'Process'}>

For the highly anticipated launch of the Hudl Focus, we were asked to make a “sizzle” video. If you’re wondering what a sizzle video is, it’s like when you put meat on a grill and it makes that “sssss” sound—in a marketing sense, it’s gotta feel just like that. It needed to be exciting, it needed to quickly get to the point, and it needed to be… juicy.

Hudl came to us with a general concept and storyboards for the what they were looking for. At this point, they had a prototype model of the Hudl Focus, but not a final version. We took their AutoCad file and built out the camera in Cinema 4D to create a workable, 3D file with our system. Recreating tech hardware was a time-consuming challenge, from working with circuitry and motherboards to learning how camera lenses work, among hundreds of other components. In the end we were able to bring them highly realistic renders and a quality product to show potential customers.

We filmed during a live high school basketball game to achieve the authentic introductory shots. Working through external factors in a low-lit high school gym was a big undertaking, but a welcome challenge. We provided the team at Hudl with several approaches to get the shots they were after, including some drone work. Hudl had never made a sizzle video, so we offered our industry expertise when it came to things like pacing and how to frame shots.

Hudl has a recognizable brand that was important to incorporate and remain consistent throughout. During the project, they were actually going through a slight rebrand that was evolving as we were editing. We wanted to make sure the video had the smooth, sleek look they were aiming for, and less of an emphasis on their bubbly, orange brand colors. After many iterations, we stuck with slate grays and whites, and subtly incorporated orange in a few backdrops and in the reflections on the camera itself.

The final product is a hype video with slick 3D animation, cohesive branding, action-packed shots and, let’s be honest, background music that truly slaps.

</CaseStudiesDescription>

The Focus Camera

<CaseStudiesIntro title={"Bringing child labor to the forefront through animation."}>

In collaboration with YouTube and Participant Media, we teamed up with SoulPancake to create an animation promoting a feature documentary. The film follows Nobel prize winner Kailash Satyarthi and his mission to free children forced into child labor.

</CaseStudiesIntro>

<CaseStudiesDescription textColor={'cream'} bgColor={'pink-light'} headerColor={'pink'} header={'Process'}>

Since the animation was a promotional item for a film, it had a tight timeline and a hard deadline. We were given about two weeks after receiving the script to have the finished video ready for publication. This meant the project would become a full-team effort, where we were storyboarding, designing, and animating – all at the same time.

We started by going over the script, and jotting down some visual notes. Because the turnaround time was so short, we created a written storyboard rather than a hand-drawn one like we normally do. We went through the script line by line and took notes about what we wanted that scene to look like and how we wanted it to move. Since all visual cues were written down, the language had to be extremely specific and concise.

We started designing the first scene we needed animated, and from there began designing and animating congruently. This helped us speed up the production since we had two designers and animating all together. After all animating was done, we sourced and added background music and sound effects to give the video a much more engaging and dramatic tone.

</CaseStudiesDescription>

Josh Hoepner

The Price of Free

---

<CaseStudiesIntro title={"Bringing informative pup videos to social feeds forwarding brand awareness and recognition."}>

PupBox, a subscription box service catering to new puppy owners, already had great content on their social media. The only catch was that it was almost solely generated by their following — subscribers sent in their personal puppy pics to be shared on the feed. While the posts got a lot of attention, they weren’t translating to more subscription sales.

We came in to produce some content for their feed that combined cute pup vids with informational tidbits and a call to action using some motion elements. The videos provide some in-feed entertainment (who doesn’t love puppies?) while giving the PupBox brand a voice.

</CaseStudiesIntro>
<CaseStudiesDescription textColor={'cream'} bgColor={'pink-light'} headerColor={'pink'} header={'Process'}>

'We rounded up three puppies to be our stars and created a few loose story boards to showcase each pup alongside stacks of PupBox subscription boxes.

The biggest thing we’ve learned from working with animals is you can’t go in expecting anything to go the way you planned. However, throughout hours of puppy wrangling (and getting more creative than you ever thought possible in order to get a 2-month-old golden retriever to take a toy out of a box), there’s nothing better than when a magical moment happens on camera.

In post production, we brought in some basic motion elements and color to elevate PupBox’s brand, including bouncy kinetic type and subtle movement for their logo.

We packaged three videos for PupBox to use as native advertising in their social feeds that work toward brand awareness and recognition.

</CaseStudiesDescription>

Treat or Treat

<CaseStudiesIntro title={'Telling a Story with Spoken Word and Trippy Animation'}>

After working with KANEKO on their previous record-breaking Light exhibition, they brought us on for their very next one. REALITY exists to challenge viewers to step back and to look at the world in a different way. We storyboarded, designed, and animated the video to introduce the grand opening, as well as an introduction to the exhibition itself.

Whereas the Light video was videography taken from the different areas within the museum, REALITY was an exercise in more abstract and cosmic imagery. We animated several independent scenes in black and white, and strung them together with a recurring red lines and original voiceover consistent with the exhibition's branding and identity.

Additionally, we took elements from the animation and transformed them into holograms for another area of the exhibition.

This is Pixel Bakery's first commissioned work of art.

</CaseStudiesIntro>

<CaseStudiesDescription textColor={'cream'} bgColor={'pink-light'} headerColor={'pink'} header={'Process'}>

The process for this project was different than any project we've worked on before. There was no specific product, storyline, or cast of characters to work on. We had the REALITY logo, branding, and positioning, and were tasked with creating a cohesive video combining individual scenes, without inspiring a randomness factor to viewers.

After multiple all-team creative and strategy meetings, our plan of action was to create dozens of individual scenes consistent with the branding and combine them in a light to dark order, where the video transitions from lighter scenes to darker ones, while the red line appears throughout. After the first pass of the video, we decided a voiceover was necessary, so we crafted a script to enhance the viewing experience.

In addition to the full versions for social as well as the gallery intro, we segmented specific scenes for use on social media to keep the exhibition top of mind until it closes in September.

**Holographic Project**

After the video was completed, KANEKO asked if we would provide portions of the video that might work well for the hologram portion of the exhibition. We took two scenes and modified them specifically to be compatible with their holographic projector.

**Exhibition**

Because the animation was used as the announcement of the gallery opening, it was used as the introduction to the main exhibition. As patrons walk through the main doors, the video plays on a loop directly to the right. As the introduction to the rest of the exhibition, it was our hope that it would get people in the right mindset to view the exhibit, and the world, from a different perspective.

</CaseStudiesDescription>

Reality

<CaseStudiesIntro title={'Through poetry and visuals we were able to capture the essence of this one-of-a-kind exhibition'}>

We worked with KANEKO to tease their latest and possibly greatest exhibition, Light. They wanted a video that encouraged people to check out the different pieces without giving too much away. By utilizing ambient sound captured from inside the museum itself, we crafted a short but beautiful preview of what there is to explore.

Light has broken single day and overall attendance records and has been featured in prominent publications like the [Omaha World Herald](https://www.omaha.com/) and [Creative Boom](https://www.creativeboom.com/). Across Facebook and Instagram, the video has been viewed nearly 13,000 times.

</CaseStudiesIntro>

Post Production

Drone Operator

Light

<CaseStudiesIntro title={"Bringing mischievous animals to life for a rebrand."}>

Kelty is a 67-year-old camping gear company based out of Boulder, CO. The original inventor of the external frame backpack, the spirit of the brand is all about getting people outside to re-discover the joy they felt playing outside as a kid. Even their founder, Dick Kelty, left his job at Lockheed to spend more time in the outdoors. With a loyal base of customers in the baby boomer generation, Kelty rebranded to reach a new audience of active 25-45 year olds. That’s where we came in: they wanted a short animated video to show off their products in a way that would appeal to millennials, with little or no voiceovers or text. We created a short animation that was playful and a little bit edgy to capture the spirit of an outdoor escapade and appeal to a new generation of campers.

</CaseStudiesIntro>
<CaseStudiesDescription textColor={'cream'} bgColor={'pink-light'} headerColor={'pink'} header={'Process'}>

In the ideation stage, we dreamt big. Kelty’s brand is playful with a casual, go-anywhere, do-anything attitude that’s all about not taking yourself too seriously. They’re a company that wants to appeal to fun-loving, adventurous people–outdoorsy, but not so outdoorsy that they’re climbing Mount Everest. Kelty’s gear is for the weekend warrior, spur-of-the-moment, music-festival-campsite type.

Our challenge was to create something that would reach an audience that is well-versed in being “advertised to.” We needed to shoot for a playfully authentic tone without pandering. The animation had to showcase six different Kelty products in a way that is enjoyable to watch solely for the sake of entertainment—in other words, if it came up as a targeted ad on Instagram, you might stop scrolling to watch the whole thing.

With no voiceover or text to work with, we came up with the “Party Animals” concept. It tells the story of life after a long day outdoors from the perspective of animals that come out to play when the night is young. A feisty pet dog, Fête, and a scheming group of wild animals put together a forest rager with stolen beer, gear, and pool floaties under the noses of sleeping human campers.

The production called for a laundry list of assets, including Kelty gear and miscellaneous props, like disco balls and water guns. We took time in crafting each item, illustrating with uniform textures, gradients, and color schemes. We animated the forest scenery with moving shadows and flickering light from campfires and fireflies.

We brought each character to life in their own way (see: the dancing bear). It was a blast to craft an attitude and personality for each animal though simple movement and only a handful of sound effects. Top it all off with a couple music tracks, and “Party Animals” was a reality.

The end product was a 60 second video for the Kelty website and two shorter teaser modulations for social media.

</CaseStudiesDescription>

Elaine Dye

Party Animals

<CaseStudiesIntro title={'Teaming Up with Daake'}>

Daake, an Omaha-based branding and advertising agency, came to us to create two videos for their client Kidwell. After rebranding the IT and security systems provider, Daake needed a team to concisely and beautifully showcase all Kidwell has to offer. We shot for two days at their Lincoln headquarters as well as their brand new office in Kearney, Nebraska.

</CaseStudiesIntro>
<CaseStudiesDescription textColor={'cream'} bgColor={'pink-light'} headerColor={'pink'} header={'Process'}>

After research, phone calls with Daake and Kidwell, and our brand exploration survey, we created a master shot list based on the script provided. We first traveled to Kearney, NE and spent a day with the crew shooting in their new office. This first day focused on electrical installation, cabling, and planning, while the second day at the Lincoln HQ, focused on Kidwell's culture, philanthropic efforts, warehouse, and truck fleet. Throughout, we had the opportunity to learn about Kidwell's processes and got to watch their team members collaborate and work together.

Both days of footage came together in the editing room where it was combined to effectively tell the story of Kidwell and what they provide businesses of any size. In one particular outdoor shot, the sky behind a Kidwell employee became overexposed, leaving a bright white/gray background. In post-production, we masked the subject in the foreground, shot better footage of a blue sky, and replaced the bright white sky with a more natural looking image. In what was possibly unnoticeable by many viewers, the touched up scene makes for a more polished and attention driven piece.

**Working with Agencies**

Daake is the latest advertising agency to work with us to service their clients. As a production company, we like the process of getting to work with two different groups of passionate people. We are able to collaborate on the creative and strategic aspects with the agency while getting to know the people and businesses in our community. Check out some of our other collaborations with awesome agencies like Ervin and Smith, Wheelhouse Collective, and PLAY Creative.

</CaseStudiesDescription>

Photographer

Business Promotion

<CaseStudiesIntro title={'Our First National Client Ever 🤩'}>

We traveled to two different HopCat restaurants to do a series of videos. We went south to Kansas City to capture their opening day spectacle and finished up in Lincoln to create a line cleaning process video and a psycadelia infused crowler promo.

Traveling out of the state for shoots like this is one of our favorite things; we love all the amazing people that we meet. We are excited for the line cleaning and crowler videos to be used at the many HopCat locations across the country.

**2018 Silver ADDY for Internet Commercial**
**2018 Silver ADDY for Sound Design**

</CaseStudiesIntro>

<PageSection color={'white'}>
 <InnerWrapper>
 <VimeoPlayer videoID={'206631534'} title={'Kansas City Grand Opening'} />
 <VimeoPlayer videoID={'217603319'} title={'Line Cleaning'}/>

 </InnerWrapper>
</PageSection>

Post-Production

Crowler Promotion

Hi there! I'm Maddie Hahn and I'm the newest edition to the Pixel Bakery family. I'm super excited to be joining the team as Studio Manager, which basically means I'll be doing a little bit of everything to make sure the studio runs as smoothly as a freshly baked butter-soft bun. 

Here's a list of what makes me, well me: 

- Music is my #1 inspiration for almost everything I do. 

I'm a music fanatic, it's one thing that'll keep on giving and never take. Anything funky, jazzy, bluesy, alternative, punk or rock and roll puts me into a calming space when I need to get something done. I've lost track of how many concerts I've been to, but one person who I would have loved to have seen would've been Amy Winehouse. I tend to gravitate toward people, artists, musicians, etc. who have a deeper story to tell rather than those who care more about what's on the surface and Amy was one of the few who didn't care about the superficial. 

- I write poetry for therapy. 

Poetry is a form of escapism for me when I'm feeling sad, mad, happy or whatever it might be. It's always there to relieve some sort of emotion that I need to get out. Writing isn't always rainbows and butterflies just like anything in life, but you never know who you might touch or inspire by being vulnerable and speaking your truth. If you struggle with being your own worst critic like me, keep reminding yourself that nobody is perfect, reinforce positive affirmations, and remember to meditate. 

- Fashion is my passion. 

I've always had my own style, different from everyone else's. I don't like to wear anything that other people are wearing or whatever is considered 'trendy.' I think fashion is a form of inner expression so I tend to gravitate toward what speaks to me most as an individual. My advice on fashion is to never wear something that doesn't feel like you and don't forget to save the planet by always shopping sustainable. 

- I'm an avid adrenaline junkie. 

One thing that will live rent free in my head is advice Will Smith gave in a [YouTube video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0xijHHvN2I) on how to conquer fear, "On the other side of your maximum fear, are all of the best things in life." I try to live my life by this and the next thing I knew I was looking down 829 feet on the top of the Las Vegas Stratosphere ready to bungee jump at 40mph. So take some guidance from the Fresh Prince and you'll be able to experience life how it's supposed to be lived. 

- I'm always planning my next trip. 

Traveling is a huge part of my life because every destination teaches me something different. One of my main goals for this job is to challenge myself by getting out of my comfort zone. Just like traveling to an unfamiliar city and emerging myself into a new culture I plan on gaining a deep sense of satisfaction through new insights and skills at Pixel.

Just to leave you with a final thought, remember that everything in life happens for a reason no matter how many mistakes you've made along the way, you're exactly where you're supposed to be. So, stay groovy and most importantly keep spreading peace and love. Now it's time to get baking. 

Connect with me on [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/madisyn-hahn-788257140) and follow me on [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/maddielhahn/)!

-Maddie Hahn

Hi there! I’m Maddie Hahn and I’m the newest edition to the Pixel Bakery family.

A Little Reminder to Live In the Moment


I’m super pumped to announce that I’ve accepted a position on the Board of Directors for the [LUX Center for the Arts](https://www.luxcenter.org). As anyone who’s close to me will tell you, providing creative and cultural equity in Lincoln (and all of Nebraska) is something that I’ve dedicated a large part of my life to. Building a community centered around access to art, creative minds, and art education doesn’t just make Lincoln a better place to live — it puts us on the map. It’s what will turn Nebraska from a flyover state to the cultural epicenter of the nation. I’m a firm believer that the talent and mindset is already here; all we need is access and an open environment to flourish.

I’m so honored to have been invited to serve on a board with like-minded individuals, who not only share the same mission, but have the arsenal, motivation, and network to accomplish it. I can’t wait to dig in and get to work.

LUX Center for the Arts is truly Lincoln's community arts center, a vital resource for the visual arts in Nebraska.

The LUX offers year-round art classes for children, youth, and adults in ceramics, painting, drawing, glass, mixed media, and metals/jewelry. The quality of instruction sets the LUX apart. Classes are taught by artists/teachers in our Artist-in-Residence program, which each year brings four professional, well-educated, emerging artists/teachers to Lincoln to teach, in exchange for studio space, materials, and a solo exhibition.


And I can't wait to get to work

I’ve accepted a position on the Board of Directors for the LUX Center


Before becoming an ACD at PB, I played graphic designer at a wide range of companies:

🎒 in-house at a university

🎨 on a tiny team at a design shop

👔 on a big team at a marketing agency

This variety has helped me really understand how a #productionstudio, like PB, fits in the picture.

❌ We're not here to tell you how to do things.

❌ We don't know your business better than you do; it's just the honest truth.

✅ What we do bring to the table is the top-shelf execution, time and time again. We understand #design, #video, and how to expand your #brand ecosystem with those tools. Simple as that.

What's refreshing about working at Pixel Bakery, as opposed to your typical agency, is that we specialize in doing a few things really, really well.

❌ We're not looking to jump on the next big money-making service to increase our margins.

❌ We're not going to tell you we can do something that we can't.

✅ We're only looking to make really cool, designed experiences—be it videos, websites, or branded content—with companies that care about bringing those experiences to their audience.

It's been so rewarding to work with clients that don't feel like they're being bamboozled and who see us as a real partner in their success. Because that's exactly what we are, a very nice, very specific tool used to bring success to your business.

/rant


🚨 WARNING: A rant about why I love working here forthcoming.

💫 Why I love working at PBDS

Hey, what's up?! My name is Johnny (they/them) and I'm the newest Multimedia Designer at Pixel Bakery, meaning I do a little bit of a LOT - design, illustration, copywriting, you name it!

Let's get the boring stuff out of the way:

- I graduated from the University of Nebraska at Omaha in December of 2020...entering the job market in the middle of a global pandemic. We love a challenge. 
- While at UNO, I earned my Bachelor of Arts studying graphic design and art history, and I also worked as a writing tutor at the UNO Writing Center. 

Okay, now to the fun part where I get to infodump on all the stuff I love...and hate!

Things I can't live without:

- The color pink
- History podcasts
- Guzzling multiple caffeinated drinks at once
- Bullet journaling

Things that make me rage-quit whatever I'm doing:

- Car-centric urban design
- The sisyphean task of vacuuming
- Autoplay on websites and apps
- The electoral college


When I'm not taking a methodical approach to color-coordinating my outfit, you can find me designing stickers for my [shop,](https://www.etsy.com/shop/johnnyreddpdf) doing advocacy work with [Strongly Worded Letters,](https://www.instagram.com/stronglywordedomaha/) or squishing my cat, Frankie's, bean pad paws. 

![](/img/blog/johnny's-cat-frankie.jpeg)_Johnny's cat Frankie._

I'm loving the work I'm doing at Pixel Bakery so far (and all the free SNACKLINS...) and can't wait to keep growing and learning here.

Hey, what's up?! My name is Johnny (they/them) and I'm the newest Multimedia Designer at Pixel Bakery.

Johnny Redd Brings the Pink to Pixel

We have some news :)

When I started Pixel Bakery seven years ago (wow), I had dreams of of what success meant. I never weighed it with penthouses or yachts as currency. It was defined as:

-   Create beautiful visual moments for interesting and fun clients
-   Surround myself with a tight-knit team of other purpose-driven and hungry creatives
-   Leave a meaningful impact on the world. I wanted to be remembered as a force for good that improved people's lives

Nothing has really changed. I still want all of those things and they're still the driving factor behind every decision I make with Pixel Bakery. Back then, it was an unobtainable dream dreamt during the hour of freedom I got between working at Pixel Bakery and the start of my serving job. Not in a thousand years could I imagine that dream coming true.

I write the history of Pixel Bakery in my head divided into epochs. The first, as mentioned above, as the "The Struggle Era." The second, "Adolescence."

The past year has been the most transformative of Pixel Bakery's existence.

We've expanded our client roster to be composed of mostly national clients. Of those, we have four former Shark Tank winners. Three have over 500 thousand instagram followers, which means over 3 million eyeballs have seen our work. Five of them are listed in the Fortune 500. Two are in Canada, which *technically* makes us an international company, I guess? And our newest addition, Kodiak Cakes, marks the 70th relationship to entrust us with their brand story.

As of this year, we now have 11 Bakers, a satellite office in Northwestern Arkansas, and the competitive benefits my team has always deserved but was, until now, previously unrealistic.

This year has all been a crescendo to our third epoch, "Established." I'll never consider us done growing, but we're now damn good at what we do and we're damn good at figuring out how to do it. Pixel Bakery's team is the tight-knit group of dangerously skilled creatives I've always wanted, and our clients now come to us because they know we'll execute their vision at the highest-quality.

I believe that in the future I'll think of this week as of the start of our third epoch. We have three huge announcements:

## A Brand Spankin' New Studio

We've officially moved into a new studio that provides us 3x the space for our team to flourish and be even more creative. We love the community that Turbine Flats provides us and could never leave, but we're now on the first floor. You can find our front door on the southwest site of the building. Just bang on the garage door. It's still a mess, but our new address is 2124 Y Street, Suite 112, Lincoln, NE 68503. Stop by any time and say hi, hang out, or work from our couch. As like before, we believe that an open door policy fosters a great creative environment and breaks down barriers.

The move has been personally very bitter-sweet for me. There's an incredible amount of memories-- some good, some bad-- in the old office's walls and it'll be a such a defining part of my life.

## A Brand Spankin' New Website

Our old website didn't represent the brand we've grown into anymore and it was time to breathe new life into it. It's been a year in the making and I'm extremely please with the end result. Check it out at our new fancy .com address: [pixelbakery.com](https://pixelbakery.com/)

## We're hiring two new positions

Pixel Bakery is in the process of hiring two positions: a full-time cinematographer and a part-time 2D Generalist. If you know anyone, send them our way 😉

## Okay, I'll stop hogging your brain

While wrapping up, I'd like to pay homage to all the souls that have passed through Pixel Bakery's doors. Past and present clients and employees, we are who we are today all because of you. I am constantly incredibly humbled and honored of everyone that has been a part of our story. I'm so excited to see what the universe has in store for us, and I look forward to conquering the challenges the journey brings.

-J

[](https://medium.com/m/signin?actionUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fmedium.com%2F_%2Fvote%2Fp%2F634c4989fd80&operation=register&redirect=https%3A%2F%2Fpixelbakery.medium.com%2Fall-good-things-634c4989fd80&user=Pixel+Bakery&userId=c5edb7b5d543&source=-----634c4989fd80---------------------clap_footer--------------)

[](https://medium.com/m/signin?actionUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fmedium.com%2F_%2Fvote%2Fp%2F634c4989fd80&operation=register&redirect=https%3A%2F%2Fpixelbakery.medium.com%2Fall-good-things-634c4989fd80&user=Pixel+Bakery&userId=c5edb7b5d543&source=-----634c4989fd80---------------------clap_footer--------------)

[](https://medium.com/m/signin?actionUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fmedium.com%2F_%2Fbookmark%2Fp%2F634c4989fd80&operation=register&redirect=https%3A%2F%2Fpixelbakery.medium.com%2Fall-good-things-634c4989fd80&source=--------------------------bookmark_footer--------------)

We have some news :)

All Good Things

An intertview with our founder and the folks over at SEAchange

The Stream of Conscience Podcast

Hey there beauties! My name is Abby Hall and I am the newest baker in the shop here at PB! I use she/they pronouns and am a multimedia designer here in the studio. I have a passion for fashion and anything that gets my creative juices flowing. 🙂 I am a senior at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in the Johnny Carson Center for Emerging Media arts studying experience design, virtual production, and cinematic arts. I'm super interested in new 3d software and game engines and creating new types of art through digital fabrication, coding, and technology.

Here are a few other fun things about me:

-   I grew up here in Lincoln, but I was born in Fort Collins, Colorado!
-   I have a cat named Pangur Ban. He is my son and the light of my life.
-   I am an identical twin!
-   I hate ketchup (a lot)
-   I have played the piano for over a decade now and it is one of my favorite pastimes.
-   I enjoy sewing my own clothes and have designed a couple of my own clothing collections!!
-   Lord of the Rings was my biggest inspiration for wanting to be a creative! The set design and high fantasy world-building push all my buttons. I loooove it.
-   I love crystals and spirituality and would love to give you a tarot reading 🙂

I am super duper jazzed to be here at Pixel Bakery and to be a part of a kick-ass creative team that's baking up some really dope sh*t! PB is literally like, the coolest place that I know in Lincoln, so to get to be here and have the opportunity to be a part of this team felt surreal and daunting and terrifying and exciting all at once.

I really like to use affirmations to kindly remind myself of who I am and of what I need to hear in moments like that. Here's one of my fav and most helpful and positive affirmations that I use on the daily:

*Today is a beautiful day full of opportunity.*
*I am exactly where I need to be!*
*I open myself to the universe and trust in the unfolding of my life!*

I give you this affirmation and challenge you to tell yourself this and believe it while you say it. It will make a big difference in your day, I promise. Which you deserve 😉 Anyways, that's me, thanks for listening! Carry on with the rest of your amazing day! xx

Hey there beauties! My name is Abby Hall and I am the newest baker in the shop here at PB!

Abby Hall’s Favorite Daily Affirmation

I recently ran into an issue where I wanted to use NextJS's image optimization feature to display several images from Instagram.

NextJS requires you to define any domains you want to use for images in nextjs.config.js ahead of time. There's a ton of security reasons why this is important, but Instagram tumbles their cdn subdomain at random, so there's no way to account for every subdomain.

Unfortunately, as of right now, NextJS also prohibits the use of wildcard subdomains. In the future, it would be great to have the ability to add `[https://*.cdninstagram.com](https://pixelbakery.medium.com/*.cdninstagram.com)` or add a fallback url.

I did, however, notice that all of Instagram's CDN subdomains are valid. The images are not specifically stored on a single subdomain. You can replace the subdomain with any of their other ones and it still works.

There doesn't seem to be a lot out there focused on a workaround, so here's what I came up with:

In your nextJS.config.js file:

>images: { domains: 
[ 'scontent-akl1-1.cdninstagram.com', 
], 
},

Out of the box, this isn't enough. It might work for a day, but it'll expire.

When we call the image, we can replace the subdomain URL:

><*Image* *layout*='fill' *objectFit*='cover' *className*='instagram-image' *key*={*index*} *src*={*item*.media_url.replace(/^[^.]*/, 'https://scontent-akl1-1')} *alt*={*item*.caption} *quality*={33}/>

And it works!

## Conclusion

It's terribly frustrating that there isn't a better method of doing this. The only other option I discovered was [this medium post](https://medium.com/bb-tutorials-and-thoughts/next-js-how-to-proxy-to-backend-server-987174737331), which requires you to add an api request to set a proxy. I couldn't get it to work, which I'm sure is on me, so this solution was the best answer.

It should be noted that this DOES open you up to security vulnerabilities, but they're negligible since we're using the same main domain (cdn.instagram.com).

[](https://medium.com/m/signin?actionUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fmedium.com%2F_%2Fvote%2Fp%2Fab45b58382ca&operation=register&redirect=https%3A%2F%2Fpixelbakery.medium.com%2Frotating-instagram-cdns-with-nextjs-ab45b58382ca&user=Pixel+Bakery&userId=c5edb7b5d543&source=-----ab45b58382ca---------------------clap_footer--------------)

I recently ran into an issue where I wanted to use NextJS's image optimization feature to display several images from Instagram.

Rotating Instagram CDNs with NextJS


I run a small, 11-person animation studio in the Midwest (shameless plug: [@pixelbakery](https://instagram.com/pixelbakery)). As any small business owner knows, you're only as good as your team.

So many entrepreneurs today start companies with the sole objective of eventually selling the company to get rich, which is fine, but that's not why I'm in this. We don't sell a physical product, we don't develop revenue-generating apps, and I have no exit strategy. No venture capitalist in their right mind would invest in us.

Good. That's not something I want.

But even if I did want that, it wouldn't be possible. We sell the creative brains of our employees, which means we're not scalable, and that comes with a price.

## I'm an empath.

That phrase gets floated around a lot and is almost just... something people say. But most people don't fully understand the depth of what it really means. Empaths experience the emotions, feelings, and moods of the people in their lives down to the inner essence of their souls, which can be extremely overwhelming at times. When someone does something shameful, I feel their pain and self-defeat. The worst is when someone loses a person close to them. I experience grief and stay up all night resisting the urge to smother them and struggle with giving them the space they need to grieve.

However, for all the bad, there's an equal amount of good.

It gives me the unique ability to understand other people on a deep level. I can connect with them, listen to them, and hear their needs without interjecting my own life experiences/bias. It helps me to appreciate their journey, to give them patience and grace, and to respect their feelings. My wife would say that my most commonly used expression is "feelings are facts for the person feeling them."

## Running a business is hard

You'd think that would be obvious, but goddamn it's hard. For the first three years of owning Pixel Bakery, I bartended to pay my rent. I would work 80-hour weeks and sleep on the tiny couch in our tiny office to keep up. Covid was especially hard. It nearly finished us, and we were one payroll away from not existing. I literally had an email drafted and ready to send to all our clients informing them we would send over recommendations for other studios once our current obligations were finished. Heavy is the head that holds the crown, or whatever.

I'm not saying this for pity or sympathy. I would go through that a hundred times just to have the relationships I've made along the way. I might have the stress lines of a 50 year old at the age of 30, but it's all been worth it.

## The only reason we've made it is because of our clients, our community, and my team

This is where the empath part comes in. I've only recently diagnosed my personality as that of an empath. It's not something that's conscious - I've always just been... me. I never recognized how it shaped and molded my leadership style. I'm constantly insecure about being the boss, and it never feels real. My personal life is in a perpetual state of chaos, and I'm constantly wondering things like "does my team know I'm the type of person that has had a moldy coffee mug on their nightstand for a month?"

That said, I've spent a lot of time trying to pinpoint what makes me a successful leader and areas I may be failing in. Those areas are pretty obvious and are things that all leaders struggle with, such as time management, bucketing tasks, balancing employee work-life, keeping a stream of clients coming in that will creatively fulfill the animation department, etc. I don't have the answers to those yet.

But I have some insights on the positives that I've extrapolated from the whole empath thing. It boils down to really three things.

## "How Can I Support You?"

I try to ask it often as I possibly can without annoying my team. Again, we're not scalable and our creatives are our product. Providing the best support possible is not only the right thing to do, but it makes financial sense. Supporting your team is so important that if I were to write one of those self-help style horoscopes-for-entrepreneurs books, that would be the only sentence.

I push my employees hard and the weight of our projects usually weighs on them. Our industry is chaotic with an ever-changing landscape. I've had seven years of learning how to navigate that, but our team hasn't. The second someone on my team is showing signs of burnout, stress, or overworkedness(not a word, I know, and Grammarly is freaking out as I type this), I ask them about it. And I ask so often that they know it's not a canned response. I follow up with actions based on their response, and I'll immediately shift lanes and take on any tasks that have become overwhelming.

## "How are you?"

There are two intentions behind that question. The first is something you say in passing jovially as a form of saying "hello". It's not something that even merits a response if the other person said "hi" first, and often doesn't get one.

Then there's the other side of that coin. Try to pull them aside on a regular basis and prioritize time to actually ask the question. The tone of your voice even hits differently when you ask it that way. You say it more intention and eye contact.

There's the expression "Everyone is fighting a battle you know nothing about" and it holds true. Managing your team without fully comprehending that concept makes you a commander, not a leader.

## "I appreciate you so much."

It's a little corny and it takes a practice of vulnerability o get comfortable with it, but it's important. I say it to every single person when they leave for the day and after they accomplish anything from mission-critical tasks to the remedial ones. Sometimes it's hard to say it without tearing up (nothing says 'Ope' like crying in front of your employees).

Again, it sounds like something someone might say in passing, but I truly mean it and I hope they believes me when I say it. I'm sure they're sick of hearing it, but I'm going to keep saying it anyway. As previously mentioned, they're the reason behind our success. At the risk of sounding hubristic, we're damn good at what we do and highly revered in our industry, and it's all thanks to them, and they deserve to know that.

## Idk man, I'm making everything up as I go

Everyone is wingin' it and any CEO that says otherwise is full of shit. Don't take my advice as gospel, these are just the three things I've discovered so far. Really, I only have one thing about business figured out:

*Be kind. Treat your employees like humans.*

I run a small, 11-person animation studio in the Midwest (shameless plug: @pixelbakery). As any small business owner knows, you’re only as good as your team.

How Can I Support You?


When I decided at eighteen years old what I should probably do with the rest of my life, I settled on
a career as a journalist. Fast forward a year, and I decided that really wasn’t the thing for me–I wanted
to design, too. Down the graphic design rabbit hole I blindly fell, but I drifted towards projects entailing
ambient, (slightly weird) immersive video, music, and finally, my last semester of college, I took an
Adobe After Effects introductory class. Only ten short months ago I applied at Pixel Bakery with very
little experience animating, but something about motion design clicked with me. It felt like something
I could obsessively throw myself into. That’s always a good feeling.

Now, I work with motion design almost daily at our little studio. I animate for hours on
end and only _sometimes_ want to pull my hair out and thwack my head against the desk in
frustration. Trust me, it wasn’t always this way!

Here are ten tips for anyone wanting to plunge into the daunting, fascinating,
infuriating, yet always rewarding world of Adobe After Effects and motion design.

## Set a Goal.

This is easy if you’re learning on the job–you probably have a project you need to
complete. But if you’re learning on your own time, it’s important to have a goal in
mind. Something like animating a character you designed to walk across the screen and
wave, or creating a moving logo reveal for your brand. Don’t give up until you’re
satisfied with the end result!

## Be Patient With Yourself.

Learning something new takes time. Even if you’re a whiz at other Adobe programs, you
might not intuitively understand everything right away when it comes to animating in
Adobe After Effects. Let yourself be a beginner, and don’t let frustration or confusion
overwhelm you from giving up on your goal.

## Take things one step at a time.

You’re going to have to start somewhere. Make a list of the things you need to learn or
do in order to finish your goal project and start at the top. You might be surprised how
quickly you can tick off each smaller task within the larger project–you can find a
tutorial online for even the most specific questions. Tackling each element one by one
is the best way to learn Adobe After Effects–you’ll start to notice that the skills you
learn along the way will start building on each other, just like learning an instrument
or a language.


a guide to becoming an after effects master

Recipe for Success: Mix Adaptability and Confidence (together, in a medium sized bowl)


Hello hello, my name is Rebecca and I am the newest animator at Pixel Bakery! A little background about myself is I'm originally a Cali girl, but I've been bouncing around the midwest for most of my life now - growing up in Omaha, earning my Bachelors of Fine Arts from the Kansas City Art Institute, and rolling to a stop in Lincoln to be the newest Cook in Pixel Bakery's Kitchen.

As an Animation Generalist, I do a little bit of everything along the production pipeline when Pixel
Bakery is producing an animated sequence. I'm involved in the concept work, storyboarding, sometimes
I'm doing the animating myself, and other times I'm building the structures to be animated by my peers.

Which all sounds very whimsical when I introduce myself at social events and family functions - I'm a cartoon-loving kid who gets to make her drawings move for a living! Drawing all day, this is the dream! Well, I do love my job terribly, but I would be remiss not to mention that, like any creative career, it comes with a lot of trial and error to find work/life balance when art is my job and my hobby.

I'm still tweaking my routine to find that balance for myself! And while I don't have all the answers or the Ultimate Recipe for juggling your responsibilities to others and to yourself, I do have some tips and tricks I've picked up along the way that I'd like to offer from my spice rack to yours.

## Identify What Is Essential For YOU

Notice the things you need to feel okay. That means your comfort in your work, in your relationships, in your body, and taking steps to choose a life that feels good over a life that looks good.

You need sleep, you need food, you need to move around, you need to socialize, you need breaks. And it takes some trial and error of treating these like they're optional, secret extra stashes of work time, to realize that they're real limits to work with, not against.

For me this means daily routine changes like prioritizing my sleep in a way I didn't for many years, not doing work during mealtimes, limiting my social media time, having a stretching routine, correcting my posture when I notice it (even when slumping and sitting like a pretzel is reeeally comfy). I recently made a change with my work equipment, I replaced my drawing tablet with a new tech setup that isn't going to hurt my wrists over time.

For you this might mean noticing what time of day you work best at, changing your social media habits, taking more breaks when you need them, whatever you need to feel more okay in your routine than you were yesterday. Be on the lookout for ways to care for yourself in increments - working with your body when you notice that a habit isn't working for you, and setting boundaries for yourself so you aren't stealing your sleep or family time to squeeze in more work.

## Schedule Out Your Time

We have all had times when we wanted to accomplish something, but were derailed when "life happened". We're busy people! We've got a lot going on!

A tool I use to combat this swept-away feeling is to schedule out my time. And I don't just mean writing out my To-Do's for each day, I really mean logging where each of my 24 hours a day are going. I keep a dry-erase board of my weekly schedule by hour, and I've worked it into my weekend routine to set it up for the following week. I don't always follow it to the letter, but the exercise is a valuable visual aid for seeing my goals as a marathon instead of a sprint.

First, I block out my big obligations: my work hours, my commute, my appointments, my plans with friends and family. Next, I block out the time to look after myself and my home: the amount of sleep I need, time to exercise, approximate time for meals and chores. After establishing these limits, I can start loosely delegating how I want to spend the remaining time.

Some free mornings I have a project I'm just itching to work on, some free nights I facetime my family to have game night from across the country! I can fill those hours with anything - or nothing when I need the break - I'm still very flexible to the curveballs life throws at me. But the exercise of scheduling out my time this way has given me a new sense of control over my schedule and helps me to value the limits I have imposed upon it. When I can see at a glance how it all fits together, I'm much less likely to skimp on my sleep, and I stick to my work hours instead of cutting into my family time.

Whatever your method of keeping a schedule, knowing where your time is going in a concrete way helps you feel less like life is just happening to you, and more like you are an active participant in it.

## Keep Trying New Things

When I'm thinking about how my job intersects with my hobby as a creative, the first concern in my mind is "I'm using my creative brain all day every day, how am I going to avoid burnout?"

And I'm learning to think of it the same way I handled the conundrum of "how am I going to avoid eye strain from being on the computer for work and for fun?"

The answer is easy but hard to accept: Use the computer less.

If that's not an option for how I do my job, I need to lessen the hours I'm on it in my free time.

The answer is also easy for my creative conundrum: If my creative muscle is being strained from using it so much, I need to,

1\. make less art. I am very satisfied with the work I do for my career, and I'm working on giving myself permission to do less hobby-art than I used to. It's alright for your relationship with your craft to change with you.

2\. focus on quality over quantity, and really narrow what art pieces I execute to the projects that matter to me. This can mean ideas I think are important or just things that are purely for fun! (I think my best work happens when I'm having fun anyways)

3\. fill that time I was spent churning out more work with new activities! Time with family, time with friends, new hobbies, old hobbies, getting to know my community, anything that lets my Artist Side be only one of many sides to me.

Do the thing you enjoy less to better your relationship with it, is easy advice to know and hard advice to do. It's hard to accommodate the idea that this isn't a problem you can muscle through! But it is frightfully important as creatives, to keep our relationship with our craft a positive one - for our careers, for our hobby, many times for our sense of self. And to do that you need to have a whole life outside of your art career to feel well-rounded and avoid burnout. Most importantly this keeps you feeling fulfilled, an added bonus is that it makes your art better. It's the desire to process and share your experiences that drives creativity, so you need new experiences to feed your art and your soul. Remember that you haven't tried all the things you are going to love yet.

## You Can't Do It All, So Pick One Today

As you can probably guess from how meticulous I am with my weekly schedule, I'm a note-taker. I have dozens of notes stashed everywhere I possibly could keep notes - about things I want to try, things I need to accomplish, things I want to make. I am, realistically, not going to do them all. I'm not even going to do most of them! There are just so many ideas I've had, and I am never going to stop generating new ideas, new wants, and new interests to pursue. This is okay and normal.

There will never be enough hours in the day, ever, so you have to decisively pick what to do with yourself today, so you can stand by the choices you made for yourself. Because you'll get even less done if you never come out of that indecisiveness cave.

When I'm starting my designated Task Time, no matter what it is, I try to queue one big task to focus on, and maybe two smaller tasks to fill the gaps. And doing one thing well is enough!

A valuable piece of advice I was given in college was, "if you can only manage to do one thing every day, in a month you will have accomplished 30 things." This is a guiding principle I use to both narrow my focus when there are too many choices and to be more okay with the amount of less important options I leave behind. I may not be able to pursue every interest I've ever had, but I sure do have a lot of niche knowledge that is evidence of the hard work I put into the interests I've chosen to take with me.

The final takeaway I want to send you off with is that no one gets this work/life stuff perfect. We are all trying our absolute best, so as gracefully functional as the people around you look, don't feel like you're doing it wrong.

My work at Pixel Bakery is better for the skills I've developed in my free time pursuing things that are important to me, and in return, my personal work is elevated from the professional touches I'm developing at Pixel Bakery. It's a balancing act but I think I've got it, and I'm looking forward to the things we'll create together.

And if you see me wandering about the streets of Lincoln looking lost, I know.

I know I'm lost.

I'm working on it.

Look, this is the Life part of that balance, I'm building character.


Hello hello, my name is Rebecca and I am the newest animator at Pixel Bakery!

Ingredients for a Creative’s Work-Life Balance


Sup!

My name is Lizzie and I'm the new Post-Production Apprentice here at Pixel Bakery!

I'm currently a senior at UNL studying Broadcast Journalism while minoring in Entrepreneurship. One of my dream jobs is to join a cool artist on tour and film/edit videos of their concerts, features at festivals, etc. I love music and video editing so combining the two only makes sense.

My entrepreneurial dream is to start my own clothing brand. I'm picky when it comes to buying clothes, so, why not just make my own. It would start with graphic tees, face masks, lighters, trucker hats, and stickers. Then I would eventually add clothing that fits the sophisticated streetwear ~aesthetic~.

Aside from my professional interests, I love to hammock, watch sunsets, make Spotify playlists (follow me lizzie13moore!!), watch Keeping Up with the Kardashians, cook (suck at baking tho), play piano, and adding items to my online cart that I don't even buy...just to name a few!

I also love traveling and had the opportunity to spend two weeks in Greece and Italy. My absolute favorite place to visit was Capri, Italy. the island was full of the kindest people, designer shops, yachts, celebrity mansions, etc. The food was also amazing.

![Lizzie Moore Italy PBDS](/img/blog/pixel-bakery-lizzie-more-italy.jpeg)_Photo I took from one of the docks._

Now that you know a little more about me, I'm ending this post with the wise words of Guy Fieri,

"That's all she wrote."


My name is Lizzie and I'm the new Post-Production Apprentice here at Pixel Bakery!

New Kid on the Block


Hello, fellow Bakery fans. Welcome to this blog post about me, Samee Callahan, the new Associate Creative Director at Pixel Bakery. I’ve taken a short but winding journey to this seat. In my four years as a professional, I’ve worked as a graphic designer in-house, a small shop, and a large marketing agency. Pixel Bakery and I align in many ways, primarily in our shared passion for creating quality, innovative work for clients that value such a thing.

If you read the following list, you'll know about everything there is to know about me:

- First and foremost, I'm an avid cyclist. I took to the gravel roads three short years ago. In that time, I've raced in one 75-mile race and two 100-mile races. I coincidentally finished them all in the same amount of time - 7 hours and 50 minutes.
- As I traversed an incredibly steep, loose, rocky mountainside on a "bikepacking" trip through South Dakota, I realized I would be decent at mountain biking. The adrenaline and sense of badassery had me hooked. I bought a mountain bike shortly after.
- One of the best vacations I've ever taken consisted of doing a three-night bikepacking adventure on the Maah Daah Hey Trail in the Badlands in North Dakota, followed by two days of mountain biking in Spearfish, then finished off the week with a 100-mile race in Scottsbluff. If you can't tell, I'm full of energy.
- I have two kitty cats; Auggie is six years old, survived kidney failure, and is now considered retired because of the new kitty in town. The new kitty is Kimchi, and she's a one-year-old ball of sass. Most of my conversations with my friends consist of talking about our cats endlessly.

Now that you know what I do, I'll give you a little bit of the why.

I'm motivated by excitement and challenges in all areas of life. When presented with a problem, I always think, how can I amplify this? For example, riding my gravel bike is fun enough, but by adding a goal of completing a race in a decent amount of time, I'm adding a challenge and, therefore, excitement. Instead of checking the box and calling it done, I always try to find a way to push myself and my work a little bit more each time. Ensuring that I'm excited by a project almost guarantees that the client and the target audience will be excited too. Ultimately, if you're not providing an exciting experience for the audience, you'll be forgotten.

So, look forward to lots more exciting things coming out of Pixel Bakery - and know that, behind the scenes, we're pushing ourselves to the next level with every project.


An introduction to PBDS's new Associate Creative Director

Samee Callahan: A Winding Path to Excitement

## Hi, I'm Sophia Stueven

I'm the newest pixel in the bakery. I'll be helping the team as a Post Production Specialist and I'm jazzed to be here! I'm an upcoming junior at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, majoring in Emerging Media Arts with an emphasis in Cinematic Arts and Virtual Production.

## Here's a quick rundown on me:

- Taco Johns over Taco Bell. YAH. I said it.
- My favorite way to take the edge off is listening to my Audrey Hepburn getting ready playlist.
- I make killer banana ice cream.
- I like to stir the pot by making my PB&J's open faced.
- I'm really empathetic which makes me really great at understanding a brand and building off of its aesthetic, but that also means I cry often at Disney movies.
- I have a thing for scheduling and organizing. <3
- My biggest goal in life is to have fun with it.

While I love finding new ways to make my life exciting, I've noticed I've been stressed lately. Chances are, you are stressing about something just like I am. So I'm gonna tell you my most favorite secret to de-compress. I do this one little thing that always changes my outlook on life, grounds me, and makes me feel warm and fuzzy. And it literally takes 3 seconds. Okay... are you ready?

## Take a deep breath

One, two, three. Observe what it feels like to have a nose.

That's it. 🙂 Okay. You might be super disappointed, confused, annoyed. Or you're smiling at the screen right now. Either way, did the feeling surprise you?

This is a great meditation technique for centering yourself. Focusing on my nose reminds me how precious my body is, how it's doing its best to keep me here. It centers me back on my breath and helps clear my mind. Okay, so your nose isn't working. Don't freak out! Have you ever felt your left pinky nail? Or the little crease in the back of your knee? Your experience might be different from mine, but the way mindfulness switches so easily from one thing to another always intrigues me.

Having better control of where your attention switches to is life-changing. Being mindful can help you notice when you begin flushing yourself down a toxic thought spiral. Then, you catch those moments and bring yourself back to the present.

## Keep Working At It

Not gonna lie, meditation can be so frustrating. One thing that I think helps is if you observe your feelings like you're watching a movie. Like a wide-angle, aerial shot. Just observe, no judgments. Then, if you observe harmful behavior, you're more likely to catch them before they happen again or at least understand the deeper reasons they come up.

If you want to keep practicing meditation, a few of my favorite apps are Simple Habit, Calm, and Head Space. Insight Timer and Youtube are great free options too. (Not a sponsored post, but I wouldn't be mad if it was...)

I'm stoked to be working with Pixel Bakery and can't wait to get editing. Stick around for more projects coming from the desk of yours truly.

Follow me on [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophia-stueven/)and check out [my portfolio](https://sophiastueven.myportfolio.com/reels).

-- Sophia Stueven

Chilling Out with Groovin’ Stueven

Sophia Stueven’s Favorite Way to Breathe


> Note: This is a scan of a newspaper article clipping. The article has disappeared off of the web, so we pulled a copy from our records and created a high-resolution scan for historical archival purposes. The original article is dated January 2019 and appeared in The Lincoln Business Journal, a subsidiary newspaper of The Midland Business Journal. The author is [Dwain Hebda](https://www.linkedin.com/in/dwain-hebda-b2584310/). All transcription remains true to the original article. A High-Resolution PDF copy is available for download [here](https://pixelbakery.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Lincoln-Business-Journal-Pixel-Bakery-Motion-Marketing.pdf).

![Newspaper Article Clipping titled "Pixel Bakery goes from idea to solution of choice in motion marketing"](https://pixelbakery.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Lincoln-Business-Pixel-Bakery-Motion-Marketing-1704x1080.jpg)

Jordan Lambrecht, co-founder, and one of three managing partners of Lincoln's Pixel Bakery Motion Studio pulls no punches in describing the early days of the four-year-old motion marketing production house.

"Back then it was terrible; we were college graduates, fresh out and our work wasn't

good," he said. "Luckily [Co-Managing Partner Tony Bertino] was able to find a couple of smaller companies that pitied us enough to sign contracts. Our first client was a floral shop out in Sydney, Nebraska. We made a small Squarespace for them and that was kind of enough to get by for a bit."

The company, which also included Co-Managing Partner Karley Johnson, got its big break when it somehow found its way onto the radar of California production house SoulPancake, the brainchild of actor Rainn Wilson of "The Office" fame.

"We're still not necessarily sure how they got our contact info," Lambrecht said. "But, ever since then, I think people were like 'Oh, maybe we should take these guys seriously.' That gave us the credentials to keep pushing our company forward. Fast forward, we're up to seven employees now and working on international brands."

Not bad for three college pals who got their start in a student-run advertising company program at the University of Nebras­ka-Lincoln. The real-world experience the program offered helped them see gaps in the services offered by area firms.

"There are a lot of creative agencies in Lincoln, Omaha, everywhere, there's a ton," Lambrecht said. "We realized that if we were going to start our own, we would have to be doing something different enough, offering something unique enough and specialized enough to be able to stand out.

"We saw a lot of bigger agencies were not doing a ton of production work in-house, not a lot of animation spe­cifically, just because it's a little bit more ex­epensive, it's time con­suming. So we started the company with the idea that we would be like the go-to small agency for animation, for video for those companies to use."

The SoulPancake gig brought Pixel Bakery more and more clients, and a varied lot at that. The company has produced animation and video products for music festivals to law firms and has grown to offer non-motion branding services, print layout and book design.

"As far as clients that we like, it's people that bring us fulfillment and happiness and we feel like we're a part of something bigger than ourselves. Those are the clients that we like," Lambrecht said. "We have a charter, a moral initiative that says 33 percent of our active client load has to be in the nonprofit sector at all times."

Getting to this point hasn't been without its growing pains as the company went from an idea of three creative people to an actual working business.

![The Pixel Bakery co-founders. From left, Managing Partner Tony Bertino, Jordan Lambrecht, and Karley Johnson](/img/blog/pixel-bakery-founders.jpeg) _From left, Managing Partner Tony Bertino, Jordan Lambrecht and Karley Johnson.
...The firm got its big break working for actor Rainn Wilson's California production company SoulPancake and has since attracted work from a wide range of clients._

"We didn't know how to start a business," Bertino said. "We just knew we needed to do it and we saw a great opportunity. We decided it was possible, so we'll figure it out. Even three years later there's still things we probably don't know. Every day there's something new that we need to learn and figure out."

Management has figured it out to the point that a second location is becoming a real possibility in the near future.

"We've always played with the idea of opening a second location," Johnson said. "We haven't definitively decided where we want to go, but I know at some point all of us want to live somewhere different and get to experience a new place. There's a lot of searching. We still need to plan for that."

> Center text reads as follows:

Pixel Bakery Motion Studio

Phone: 402-238-5913

Address: 2124 Y St, Flat 208, Lincoln 68503

Service: animation, videography and design

Employees: 7

Website: pixelbakery.co

> Note: The primary phone number for Pixel Bakery is no longer as listed above. It has been preserved for journalistic integrity and transparency. Pixel Bakery's primary phone number is now (402) 302-0323


A High-Resolution scan of one of our first newspaper features

Pixel Bakery goes from idea to solution of choice in motion marketing

> Note: This is an internal process document that we provide to new hires. It outlines all of the different technologies, terminologies, apps, and programs that our employees will be using daily during their tenure with us. Our industry is very niche and constantly evolving, so there's a lot of systems that we use. As previously mentioned, this document was originally intended for internal use only. However, we believe in open and free education and have thusly 'de-classified' the document. It's our intent to inspire and elevate other creative studios in our community, and we're thrilled at the idea of this document providing a springboard to do just that.

Hello New Baker,

You're about to receive a ton of different emails from the various platforms and systems that keep our ship moving forward. The role of these platforms and the connection between them and our mission can be slightly daunting and overwhelming at times. We'll go over all of these during your onboarding session, but we wanted to provide you a solidified list as a quick reference guide. Some will be obvious and familiar; some will not. Our processes are perpetually evolving, so let us know if there's something new you'd like to try.

---

## The Apps We Use

### Slack

This is our primary means of communication. You've probably heard of it. It's a messaging app and doesn't require a lot of training. We ask that you install it on your phone and your laptop. We do not expect you to respond to slack messages on the weekends or after 6:00 pm. Slack will ask you weekly what you intend to do with your four-day workweek -- please remember to respond. Our slack URL is [pixel-bakery.slack.com](https://pixel-bakery.slack.com/)

### Monday.com

this is the bridge of our ship (I make many Star Trek references, sorry in advance). It's how we manage projects, initiatives, people, and space. It's an intricate system, so I suggest you watch [a few YouTube tutorials](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLutcJfNEwNkQ13_Fra2PrPgy2VG-gI_1v) on it. Our Monday URL is [pixelbakery.monday.com](https://pixelbakery.monday.com/)

### Gusto

[Gusto](https://app.gusto.com/login)acts as our HR and payroll software. You'll interface with Gusto before you do anything else. We'll send your employment contract and offer letter through this system. It's how you track benefits, set up your 401k, and gather tax documents. You will ALWAYS have access to this software, even after your time with us is up -- in which it will switch your username over to your personal email. Gusto manages a unique benefit offered to all of our employees: Cashout. Cashout allows you to borrow against your future paychecks for free in case of emergency. Additionally, it automatically handles employment verification should a prospective employer ever ask for a reference.

### Google Drive

Self Explanatory. We're slowly moving away from this system. We use it mostly to make Google Docs and spreadsheets. We archive initial client assets that a client hands off to us here as well. Internal brand kit backups for quick reference and our internal photography and headshots are also stored here. There are many archived leadership documents like our US Trademark, articles of incorporation, and lots of other boring stuff you won't need to see. We require you use the Pixel Bakery letterhead If you create a google doc. You can do this by hitting the big plus button, Hovering over Document, clicking the > symbol, and selecting 'From Template.'

This is how you track the hours you spend at Pixel Bakery. We use this information to gather business intelligence and historical data on past projects, establish budget baselines and know how much to pay our hourly employees. The desktop app is excellent. Please make sure that you update your timesheets and check them for accuracy by every Thursday EOD. our Harvest URL is [pixelbakery.harvestapp.com](https://pixelbakery.harvestapp.com/)

### HoneyBook

We refer to [HoneyBook](https://honeybook.com/) as our 'clerical' software to our clients. We use it to write estimates and proposals, send project contracts and master service agreements, and request invoice payments. You'll generally never need to see it unless you're on the Accounts Services team.

> Note: If you're a photographer, freelancer, small business, or event coordinator. I HIGHLY recommend HoneyBook. The customer service is amazing, it's affordable, and it handles everything you could ever need it to. If you want to give it a try, we have a free trial link that you can use. If you end up liking it and sign up, we get a small kickback :D [share.honeybook.com/jordan62345](http://share.honeybook.com/jordan62345)

### Calendly

Calendly is an incredible scheduling platform that allows us to skip the back-and-forth of trying to find a time slot that works for both the client and us. You establish base meeting types, Calendly generates a link, and the recipient chooses a time slot. We use it primarily for job interviews, discovery meetings, project kickoff meetings, and creative concepting sessions. This is what the client experiences on the front-end: [calendly.com/pixelbakery](https://calendly.com/pixelbakery/)

You can access our admin dashboard here: [calendly.com/event_types/user/me](https://calendly.com/event_types/user/me)

### 1Password

This is the gatekeeper to all of our passwords. We organize passwords into three vaults: Client Logins, PB Credentials, and Private. As the name suggests, you only need a single password to access the rest. 1Password generates random passwords for all of your accounts, which creates fewer vulnerabilities in your security chain. If someone hacks one of the websites you use, the rest of your internet accounts won't go down with it because of repeat passwords. 1Password will send you a master secret key -- we recommend you email that key to yourself and additionally slack it to yourself, pinning the slack message.

Your passwords are encrypted, and leadership never, at any point, has the ability to access the passwords you store within your private vault. When your time with Pixel Bakery is over, you have the option to transform your private vault into a personal, free account. We require you to install 1Password on your browser and your phone.

### WordPress

WordPress is the CMS (content management system) that powers our website. Generally speaking, you'll do two main things with our WordPress -- Case studies and blog posts. You can log into our WordPress here: <https://pixelbakery.co/wp-admin>

Your first introduction to WordPress will be to write a blog post introducing yourself.

### Instagram

It sounds silly, but Instagram is an integral part of how we obtain new business, connect with the community, and showcase the talent of our creatives. Pixel Bakery requires all employees to download the Instagram app on their phones and log into the [@pixelbakery](https://instagram.com/pixelbakery) account. It's a hefty load to carry alone, so all employees are encouraged to post to the story, respond to DMs, like/comment on relevant posts, and expand our brand's presence as they see fit. You can find the password on 1Password. You can find the content guidelines, along with our brand voice laws, inside your Cookbook.

### Vimeo

Last on the list is [Vimeo](https://vimeo.com/pixelbakery). Vimeo is how we deliver rough cuts (a work in progress version) and pic-locked distribution-ready versions (The 'final' version, if Pixel Bakery did not ban the word 'final') of our projects to the client. Clients can download different sizes and qualities automatically and leave detailed frame-by-frame feedback during the revision process.

---

As you begin to log into these platforms and get comfortable, please take ownership of them. Upload your headshot to your profile, fix mistakes as you see them, and organize/improve things at your discretion.

All will begin trickling in shortly, but your first task is to create an email signature for your new, shiny pixelbakery.co email address: <https://pixelbakery.pbds.dev/email-generator.php>

> Note: If you'd like to use the code that we wrote to generate our email signatures, you can find the two PHP files [here](https://gist.github.com/jordanlambrecht/7ea6da2ddcd1b1a6a6c8bb6bb49baf25).

A breakdown of the technology that we use every day

An Introduction to our Technology Stack


Hello, all! My name is Olivia Boldt, and I’m one of the newest additions to Pixel Bakery. Here at PB, I’m a Project Manager. That means I keep track of project deadlines and observing the status of where each studio member is at with these projects. I am humbled to take this position and can’t wait to see how I grow at Pixel Bakery.

A little bit of background about myself is that I was born in Haverhill, MA, raised in good ol’ Madison, SD, and have been living in Lincoln, NE, since 2017. My Alma Mater is the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and I recently graduated with majors in psychology (no, I cannot read your mind) and music performance (yes, I am still terrible at drum set). This fall, I will be taking a year of coursework through CareerFoundry’s UX Design Program and applying for jobs as an entry-level UX/UI Designer after completing the course.

Here are random facts about myself that will either amuse you or help you get to know me better:

- I don’t know whether it’s a witty trait of mine or if I am genuinely a father trapped in a 22-year-old’s body, but I am exceptional when it comes to dad jokes. To ask me to refrain from making corny bakery jokes at Pixel Bakery seems nearly impossible in my mind. I’ll let you know how far I make it before one slips.
- If you can’t tell from my music background, I am a huge advocate for music of all types. Except country- sorry y’all. Some of my favorite bands include The Strokes, Interpol, Punch Brothers, The National, and The Black Keys. One of the greatest parts of life is being able to experience live music; it never fails to remind me to live in the moment.
- I nerd out when it comes to literature. Especially poetry. Some of my favorite poets include Charles Bukowski, Walt Whitman, and Shel Silverstein. As far as authors go, I would never turn down a chance to read Kurt Vonnegut, Ernest Hemingway, or John Steinbeck. I’m hoping to get a book club rolling at Pixel Bakery to learn more about what other people are reading. If you have any book recommendations, please send them my way!

Here’s to a great year at Pixel Bakery. 🙂


Olivia Boldt joins Pixel Bakery as a Project Manager

Olivia Boldt: Bol(d)ting Into the Bakery

Hi friends! I'm Brenna- Pixel Bakery's new ~Studio Manager~ and I'm so excited to be here. I'll be making sure everything is running smoothly in the office and keeping Jordan sane.

I was born and raised here in good ol Lincoln, Nebraska, and have yet to make my escape. I'm finishing up my college career studying Advertising and Public Relations and Graphic Design with a minor in Textiles, Merchandising, and Fashion Design.

Here are the key bullet points:

- Taurus sun, Taurus moon, Virgo rising- I am grounded af
- I'm already a crazy cat lady at the prime age of 22 (shoutout to my children Tims & Cleo <3) (See Exhibit A)

![Brenna Bode's cats](/img/blog/brenna-bode-cats.jpeg)

- Taylor Swift has been consuming my entire life since I was 9 years old and I have no shame about it (See Exhibit B)

![Brenna Bode with Taylor Swift](/img/blog/brenna-bode-taylor-swift.jpeg)

- You will either find me enjoying a glass of wine while putting together a 1000 piece puzzle then going to bed at 7 pm or white girl dancing at the Brass Rail (while obnoxiously trying to get the DJ to play Taylor Swift, of course) until the bars close and there is no in-between.
- I've been running my small photography bizz for about three years now which has brought me some of the most amazing experiences and people into my life (like Pixel Bakery :')).

If I've learned anything throughout my creative journey (and just life in general) it would be to trust the process. Focus on what you're passionate about and let the universe do its thing. Eventually you'll end up exactly where you're supposed to be. I started doing photography as a fun hobby to keep me and my friends entertained in high school and somehow it snowballed into a business that paid my bills and would later help me get a big girl job at Pixel Bakery.

I'm just super stoked to get to surround myself and work with such talented and creative people. As my duties of being Studio Manager I'm mostly looking forward to taking over the aux in the office- hope you guys like Taylor Swift and Olivia Rodrigo <3

Pixel Bakery's New Studio Manager

The Brenna Bode Starter Pack


We use Gmail and Gsuite as our primary email providers at Pixel Bakery. As is the case with everyone else, I'm constantly bombarded with automated emails about updates, shipping orders, security alerts, product surveys, 'gurus' offering their SEO services, and a billion other things. Generally, by day's end, I'll receive about 50 emails on my PB account and 30-40 on my personal. It's overwhelming and a heft task to get my inbox down to 0. For the most part, I enlist a barrage of filters (close to 200) to weed out emails I don't want or need. But what about the emails that I WANT to see but aren't what I would consider 'mission critical'?

I like getting shipping confirmations and updates, but all I need is a glance at the subject line and forget about it. The solution: tell Gmail to archive or delete certain emails after a specified number of days. Surprisingly enough, Gmail does not have this as a native feature. Users can set filters to automatically delete emails from certain senders or with keyword pattern matches, sure, but that's an instant filter and those emails never see the light of day.

I scoured the internet for a solution, but apparently, no one has revisited the subject since circa 2012. The result was a lot of abandoned Reddit threads and deleted files. I finally stumbled upon a very very old post with a screenshot of some code inserted into [Google Scripts](https://script.google.com/). Not really ideal and not easily implantable, so I took it upon myself to rebuild the script and add some modernization to it.

This solution creates a Google Script that looks at your Gmail inbox for emails that have a certain label applied to them and then runs an appropriate function based on that label name once a day. We combine this with the use of Gmail's automatic filtering system to create an easy-to-manage solution to a bloated inbox. Here's a link to a [GitHub Gist](https://gist.github.com/jordanlambrecht/ec6ad36b5a48271fcbb4bb811512e477) the actual [Google Apps Script](https://script.google.com/d/1BW2AqvwUSbd9fID36fszLLUKkEmu8gj0FfKjyKanEwV7OGgzQuxHZS9e).

## Step 01: Set Up Gmail Labels

For the script to work, it needs information on what to archive and delete. The way we do this is by using Gmail's labels. Set up two new labels, one called "archive me" and one called "delete me". Within Gmail, navigate to the cog icon in the top right of the screen and select 'See All Settings' -> Labels. Make sure the labels are all lowercase, as it's case-sensitive.

## Step 02: Set Up Gmail Filters

Once you have your labels set up, create a few automatic filters so we can test our script. Don't feel obligated to create them all at once. It's a daunting process that will happen dynamically over time as emails come in. A great starting place is Amazon emails. Select an email you want the script to run on. From there, select the three horizontal dots at the top of the email and hit "Filter Messages Like These". Within this window, you can enter any of the parameters that you want the filter to automatically apply to. You can mix and match these to suit your needs, but are three main approaches to this:

1.  Applying the filter to ALL emails from a certain domain. For this, you would remove any additional text fields and enter \*@amazon.com. The asterisk acts as a wildcard
2.  Applying the filter to certain addresses from a domain. For example, orders@amazon.com
3.  Applying the filter to subject-line matches. For example, you could enter the words "has shipped", which applies the label to any subject, regardless of which domain or email address it's coming from. This is great if you get similar emails from different places. A great example of this is "confirmation code". I get a lot of 2FA login requests with codes to log into a different website. I don't really need these after I get the number, but I always forget to delete the email afterward.

Note: It's always going to be better to set BOTH a subject and an email domain. This will help prevent any mess-ups and accidental deletions.

Once you have your filter criteria figured out, hit Create Filter. Select either 'delete me' or 'archive me', depending on what you want our script to do with the email, followed by 'apply to X matching conversations'. This will make sure it's applied to emails that already exist.

## Step 03: Create the Script

Now for the good part. Let's get our script operational and running. In a new browser tab, navigate to [scripts.google.com](https://scripts.google.com/). Create a new script, name it, and paste our code into it. I have the default set to two days for both the 'autoDelete' and 'autoArchive' functions. You can change them by editing the variable delayDays on lines 3 and 35 respectively. Save your code.

Before we move on, we need to tell Scripts to use the Gmail service and grant it access to that scope. While still in the code editor, navigate to the nav item on the left labeled 'Services'. Locate Gmail API and hit Add.

While we're here, let's also give our file a more user-friendly name than code.gs. Again in the left-hand panel, hover the filename, select the three dots to the right, and hit rename file. I set mine to autodeletearchive.gs, but this is arbitrary.

## Step 04: Create Triggers

We have our code ready to go, but we need to tell Gmail when to execute it. Select the Triggers nav item on the left. We'll need to create two different triggers for the two respective scripts. In the bottom right of the Triggers section, select Add Trigger. You'll leave most of the options alone, but we'll want to change the execution time. If we trigger our script every hour, Gmail will think we're trying to spam the system and block our script. Select the function you want to trigger, 'autoDelete', and change Select type of time-based trigger to 'Daily'. Repeat these steps with 'autoArchive'. Additionally, if you'd like to set up error reporting, you can do so in the right pane. I left my time as the default 'midnight to 1 am'.

## Step 05: Testing and Deployment

We're almost done! All that's left is to do a test run to make sure everything is working correctly. Double-check your inbox to make sure there are a few test emails that have both labels 'archive me' and 'delete me' applied to them. Navigate back to the code editor and hit Run. If all goes according to plan, a new dialogue pane should pop up at the bottom of your window and output a ton of data. Do this one more time, but select the function autoArchive from the dropdown instead. Feel free to hit the run time a few more times if it times out due to the number of emails it needs to process. After your first run, double-check your trash folder to make sure your auto-filters aren't deleting anything they're not supposed to.

## Conclusion

That's it! We've successfully written a script to automatically delete and/or archive emails after a certain amount of days. It'll most likely take a few days for the script to process the entirety of your Gmail inbox, especially if you're like me and have 10,000+ emails archived. Enjoy new, your less-cluttered life =]


Writing a Google Script to help keep your work email sane

Gmail: How to Automatically Delete or Archive Emails After A Certain Number of Days

Last, but certainly not least, in our 3-part Black History Month series - a history in Black cinematography. While the rest of the year will be focused on highlighting modern creatives, we're wrapping up BHM with another look into the past.

The cinema, like the theater, is where people go to spread messages and tell stories. However, shortly after their creation, movies became the more widely-accessible means to enjoy a theatrical performance. The development of cinematography meant that peoples' stories could finally be heard in every corner of the world. While the [first ever film](<https://headsup.scoutlife.org/what-was-the-first-movie-ever-made/#:~:text=Roundhay%20Garden%20Scene%20(1888)&text=It's%20a%20short%20film%20directed,oldest%20surviving%20film%20in%20existence.>) was created in 1888 by French director Louis Le Prince, it wasn't for another three decades in 1919 that Oscar Micheaux, child of former slaves in Kansas, became the world's first Black filmmaker.

The Producers Guild of America called him "The most prolific black - if not most prolific independent - filmmaker in American cinema."

In response to the racist stereotypes depicted in D.W. Griffith's infamous film, The Birth of a Nation, Oscar actively worked to attack the racist societal view of the African-American community through his films such as [Within Our Gates](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1E0NrcnwAE). On top of it all, he was the first Black filmmaker to have his films shown in "white" movie theaters. While researching Oscar's story, I stumbled across this [short video](https://youtu.be/SwfDPc3a2PI) summarizing the achievements of Oscar Micheaux, created by University of Nebraska-Lincoln's graduate professor of film studies, Wheeler Winston Dixon.

Micheaux argued that realism, and not some false idyll, was the key to the progress of the race: "I am too much imbued with the spirit of Booker T. Washington to engraft false virtues upon ourselves, to make ourselves that which we are not. Nothing could be a greater blow to our own progress. The recognition of our true situation will react in itself as a stimulus for self-advancement." The cinema gave race filmmakers an opportunity for self-representation and the ability to assert an identity for African Americans that was multifaceted while also defying the racist caricatures so prevalent in Hollywood.

It isn't until decades later that we see a true resurgence of Black filmmakers in the popular media. Films are a direct representation of social climate, and in the 1970s Hollywood began exploiting Black culture in an era of "Blaxploitation Films". These were "Black" stories written and produced by white men, most often depicting Black characters as drug dealers, gang members, pimps, antiheroes, and distorted champions. Spike Lee's 1989 filmmaking debut of [Do The Right Thing ](https://www.google.com/search?q=watch+do+the+right+thing+online&oq=watch+do+the+right+thing+online&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l7.3334j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8)depicted the true reality of Black life, with themes of police brutality that still ring deafeningly loud 32 years later today.

![](https://media.pixelbakery.co/PB/2021/02/021816_do-the-right-thing-2-590x320-1.jpg)

In 1991, Julie Dash paves the way as the first Black woman to have a full-length film released for public viewing in the United States. [Daughters in the Dust](https://www.amazon.com/Daughters-Dust-Cheryl-Lynn-Bruce/dp/B084DKNGF6) is so distinguished, that the film has been officially preserved and protected as a National Treasure. To be so accomplished in such a white male-dominated industry is no small feat, and Julie is truly an inspiration to us all.

![](https://media.pixelbakery.co/PB/2021/02/julie-dash-queen-sugar-800x450.jpg)

It's saddeningly clear that there are two versions of history - and it's thanks to pioneering Black creatives that we are able to escape from the whitewashed retelling and finally hear the silenced narrative. Jordan Peele, Barry Jenkins, and Ryan Coogler have given us some of the most groundbreaking films of the past decade (Get Out, Us, Moonlight, Black Panther, etc.), but it's harrowing to think how recently these industry barriers have been broken by Oscar, Spike, Julie, and other historic Black filmmakers.

They don't teach you this stuff in school - and I'm no history professor, but I hope you've been able to learn a bit alongside me this month. The information is out there at our fingertips - all you've gotta do is being willing to take it in. Thank you to all of the Black creatives who have shaped the industry that we're a part of. Your contributions are invaluable, and no number of blog posts could do you justice.

And thank you to all of you for stopping by. Until next time.

Love,

–PB

A history in Black cinematography

Black History Month: A History in Black Cinematography

Today after critique in my Typography II class I asked my students to turn in PDF deliverables. One of my students asked me what the proper way of exporting to PDF from Illustrator was. I rambled off some passed-down knowledge of long-forgotten origin that a design professor from a different life must have maybe told me: PDF/X-1a:2001. As I was driving home I had a realization. I've been both professionally using AND teaching x-1a:2001 as a standard for almost a decade and I have no idea why, what it means, and if it's still even relevant.

Design Research is a fundamental principle that I try to instill into my students. Understanding the inner-workings of the tools and methodologies we use is the natural Great Filter of the design industry. That being, the most successful are those who have a deep comprehension and command of visual language. Then there are those who never wade deeper than regurgitating Instagram trends and putting random borders around their work because they just "thought it looked empty without it". I start every semester off with the same lengthy soapbox about how hard drives and pixels work, and blah blah blah. Today I felt like a total hypocrite.

## Turns out, there really isn't a lot of easily digestible information on the internet.

Apparently, people don't find PDF export standards sexy enough to write about. Who knew?

I'll save you a ton of research and time. While I'm not overly technical in this article, I know a lot of people want to get to the meat and potatoes. Scroll down if you just care about my findings and not the journey I took to get there.

For me, I hold three big things super important. This may not be what computer scientists care about or what your printer will necessarily want, so take it with a grain of salt.

## Too Long, Didn't Read:

Key takeaways:

- X-1a:2001 if you're sending it to Moo, Sticker Mule, or a printer that cares about file size
- Use Press Quality if you're sending it to a commercial printer
- Use High-Quality Print if you're sending it to the printer in your bathroom
- X-4:2008 if you're sending it to a client. Or if you intend on printing but you don't use any weird transparency-altering effects like drop shadows etc. This is still the best choice overall, but be sure to flatten transparency yourself if you're sending it to print.
- X-3:2002 if you're too lazy to flatten your transparency yourself.
- If it's non-interactive and you have a plan for accessibility, outline your type before exporting.

## Auto outline Illustrator text upon PDF export

![You can create a Adobe Illustrator PDF custom export option that outlines text automatically upon export](/img/blog/PixelBakery.com_Outline-text-export-pdf-preset-edited.png)
_You can create a Adobe Illustrator PDF custom export option that outlines text automatically upon export_

Creating a custom PDF export preset that automatically outlines all of your text

Generally speaking, it's a good idea to outline all of your text when you export PDFs in Illustrator. This is a huge pain for dynamic content. You essentially have to have two copies -- one that you've outlined and one that you can keep as a working version.

Example: We print our business cards through [Moo](https://moo.com/). Moo doesn't have our primary brand typefaces, Big John Pro and Gilroy, on their press computers because it's a licensed font. They need to receive a press-ready PDF that outlines text containing those fonts, otherwise, it'll default to a system font. It doesn't know how to render it.

You can't edit text after it's been outlined. The problem: we hire new employees. This means we create a lot of different business cards and update the working file every time we onboard someone new.

This leaves us with two copies, as mentioned above. The solution: build a custom export profile that automatically does this for us. We get the best of both worlds -- print-compliant files and editability.

** Edit > Adobe PDF Presets... > **

then create a new preset by hitting the + button, choose an initial format that supports transparency flattening such as X-1a:2001

Then, under the advanced tab, hit 'custom' to the right of 'Preset'. This will open your 'Custom Transparency Flattener Options' tab. This is where you'll select 'Convert All Text to Outlines'. I always select 'Convert All Strokes to Outlines' to be on the safe side as well.

Set any other settings you want and save it. Out of sight, out of mind.

In case you're feeling lazy, I've created the preset for you that you can [download here](https://media.pixelbakery.com/pb/Adobe_PDF_Export_Preset_Outline_Text.joboptions).

## Here's what I care about in no particular order:

- File Sizes
- Not having to outline all my text in the working file (discussed above)
- Compression Quality
- Color accuracy
- Accessibility and standardization

### File Size

There's really nothing worse than having an upset client call you because you unknowingly sent them a link to an 85Mb PDF and they tried to download it on their phone. This is, after a lot of reflection, the primary reason I've always stuck with X-1a:2001. It takes very very large files and makes them very very small. I never questioned it. DISCLAIMER: We're just talking digital, non-mission-critical files here. Your printer is 100% going to want those 85Mb files.

### Compression Quality

Yeah, small files are great. But what good are small files if they look like dog shit? We need them to be small AND retain a level of quality.

### Color Accuracy

Color science is already a fickle mistress and adding the pain of color management into our PDF workflow sounds excruciatingly terrible. I want my PDFs to be as color-accurate to my original specs as humanly possible, regardless of which screen it's viewed on, the position of the sun, or if we forgot [to turn Night Shift off](https://www.colorduels.com/what-is-simultaneous-contrast/) while we were grading. Is it print? Sweet, CMYK. Is it digital? Dope, [sRGB, or rec709](https://www.richardlackey.com/choosing-video-color-space/).

### Accessibility and standardization

Correction: Nothing sucks more than a client thinking you're an incompetent designer because you only used Calibri. But you didn't. You sent a PDF with a typeface that they don't have locally installed on their computer so it did the best it could. RIP.

## Things I Don't Give A Shit About (But Maybe Should? Idk, man, life is too short)

After doing a few passes through the settings, these are some things I concluded that I don't really care about. What I care about is determined solely off of use-cases in the past five years of my professional career. i.e little to none.

- Acrobat and Adobe versions. All of the presets are compatible with Acrobat 7, which was released in 2004. I don't want to work with the type of client that is using Acrobat 6. Additionally, I'd be shocked if there's a respectable printer anywhere in the world using a program old enough to go off to war.
- Create Acrobat Layers from Top-Level Layers. First of all, what a terribly un-user-friendly description. I had to look it up on [Adobe's Illustrator documentation](https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/kb/optimize-native-pdf-file-sizes.html): "This option saves the Illustrator top-level layers as Acrobat layers in the PDF file. It allows users to generate multiple versions of the document from a single file. For example, if you plan to publish a document in multiple languages, you can place the text for each language in a different layer." I understand how that might be useful in rare circumstances, but I've never remotely come across a use case for that. If we did, we would most likely create separate documents for version control. Thusly, I don't care.
- Optimize for Fast Web View. This option is great for users who need to host their PDFs on their website for viewing and downloading but that's not us. I've always had mixed results and don't trust it. I don't care if do -- fight me.
- Embed Page Thumbnails. Smells like file size bloat and is something almost every native PDF viewer does automatically upon open.
- Security. This is Adobe Illustrator, not the nuclear launch codes. We don't have a lot of HIPPA compliance passing through our shop, so I don't really care.
- Compression. Just.... leave it be. Illustrator does a good job with the default settings and you'll go down an "ADHD Optimization Rabbit Hole", as I like to call it.
- Smallest File Size. Seems like a bad idea. We sent a drone to Mars the other day, I think we can splurge on a little bit of bandwidth and put some Regular Unleaded in our PDFs.

[![Adobe Illustrator default PDF export compression settings ](/img/blog/Illustrator_Default_Compression_Options-1346x1080.png)](/img/blog/Illustrator_Default_Compression_Options.png)

## High-Quality Print Vs. Press Quality

Again, this seems like sloppy user design on Adobe's part. The names are almost identical and it's extremely pedantic. Simply put, the High-Quality Print option is great if you're printing from your home-office printer or at a Kinkos. Whereas the Press Quality option is for a professional printer's production pipeline (alliteration, hot). This would be something you send off to have someone more experienced than you do the printing. There are actually a few really important differentials between the two:

- The High-Quality Print option will downsample any grayscale and color image to 300 pixels per inch for any images set at a higher resolution than 300px. Press Quality does this too but is....reversible by a printer? We'll chalk that up for "info we don't care about right now"
- Press Quality will automatically convert RGB color images to CMYK whereas High-Quality will not. This shouldn't matter, because you passed GD101 and know better than to design in the wrong color profile.

My two cents: Just use Press Quality. Remember, this is only in regards to printing. We're after them meat and potatoes -- digital PDFS.

## The Main Illustrator PDF Presets

Once we decide we're not going to press and we get past all the bullshit, we're left with three primary options. PDF:X-1a:2001, PDF:X-3:2004, and PDF:X-4:2008. I spent hours scouring over [technical documents](https://www.loc.gov/preservation/digital/formats/fdd/fdd000124.shtml) with misleading titles such as "[PDFs in a Nutshell](https://www.pdfa.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/PDFX-in-a-Nutshell.pdf)" (Spoiler: That's a really big and boring nut). The first draft of this post droned on and on about ISO standards, [SWOPs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Specifications_for_Web_Offset_Publications), [Raster Image Processors](https://www.globalgraphics.com/products/harlequin), and a ton of other factoids that were beyond our scope. But then I remembered the second ingredient to being a good designer: knowing when to stop. There's a limit to how deep we need to go. Here's what I learned:

NOTE: Every PDF/X version builds upon the last and retains the same compliance policies as its mom and dad. PDF/X can be viewed, essentially, as a bunch of rules that PDFs have to comply to.

## PDF:X-1a:2001

- PDF/X-1A requires all fonts to be embedded and images to be designated as CMYK or spot colors. This means IF WE'RE NOT PRINTING, WE DON'T WANT TO USE THIS.  I lied to my students and was wrong. Egg on my face.
- RGB images will convert to CMYK
- This is the best choice if you're uploading your work to an online printing service such as [Moo](https://www.moo.com/us/) or [Sticker Mule](https://stickermule.com/).

## PDF:X-3:2002

- Hooray, we now have Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the No Child Left Behind act, and the first native PDF/X support for RGB colors.
- Flattens transparency.
- Needs a color management-aware workflow. (tricky business)
- Europe is more into it than the US
- For the kindred spirits out there: [CEILAB is also supported](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIELAB_color_space#Where_CIELAB_is_used)

## PDF:X-4:2008

- The use of transparency is allowed. This allows for non-destructive PDF creation. When we flatten a PDF, we lose a lot of data. Which is great for file size, bad for editing. The biggest issue that comes with not flattening transparency is an unintentional end product. Some effects such as drop shadows might not render correctly if you do not flatten your transparency. It may not look like we want it to. I recommend flattening your PDFs, but with caution and taking care to do a side-by-side comparison of the working file and the export.
- Device-independent color spaces. COLOR PROFILES! This satisfies one of my important factors, color accuracy.
- Support for content layers. This means you can boot up Illustrator, open a PDF, and edit the gunk inside of it. You can also save your AI files as PDFs and open them back up as AI files. This is confusing.
- All fonts and images are embedded in the file

## Checking File Sizes

I took one of my student's gargantuan Illustrator files and ran every PDF preset option to compare results. All of the PDF/X results were pretty comparable. Here are the results:

[![Folder of exported PDFs](/img/blog/Illustrator_PDF_Preset_Comparison.png)](/img/blog/Illustrator_PDF_Preset_Comparison.png)

Folder of exported PDFs

## Family Trivia Night

A few other random factoids that I learned along the way. None of these are really super important, but your mom will think you're cool if you know them.

- PDF stands for Portable Document Format
- They must have been a little distracted at the end of 2001 (for some reason), because they named this version wrong and accidentally never published PDF/X-2. Oops.
- PDF/X Standards versions are referred to as 'flavors'. How spunky and fun.

## Huge Takeaway: Outline your Text

Don't let some standards department that you've never heard of control your destiny. Outline all of your text before you export it as a PDF and send it off. This ensures maximum readability. However, there is a downside. This isn't compliant with modern accessibility standards. Consider sending two deliverables: a primary pdf and a version that contains a common typeface such as Arial for accessibility.

[![Illustrator error Font embed failure when exporting a pdf](/img/blog/Illustrator_PDF_Font_Embed_Fail.png)](/img/blog/Illustrator_PDF_Font_Embed_Fail.png) _Illustrator error Font embed failure when exporting a pdf_

Error that appears when someone tries to open a PDF that contains a font that they do not have a license for.

Other References:

- <https://graphicdesign.stackexchange.com/questions/77073/what-is-transparency-flattening>
- <https://creativepro.com/for-position-only-the-pdf-x-files/>
- <https://www.pdfa.org/whats-the-difference-between-pdf-x-1a-and-pdf-x-4/>
- <https://creativepro.com/choosing-the-right-pdf-preset/>
- <https://www.prepressure.com/pdf/basics/pdfx-4>
- <https://community.adobe.com/t5/illustrator/auto-outline-illustrator-text-on-pdf-save/m-p/8402578>

who the heck

We build beautifully immersive worlds

And we're great at what we do.

See Everything We Create

our best hits

Lincoln Council for International Visitors