Behind the Scenes on Capsule CEO!
Posted by Matthew Pulling | Filed under Anthem, Projects
Last week, Anthem released it’s very first completely independent smartphone app: Capsule CEO! Capsule CEO is a loving parody of every fast-talking, buzzword-happy, cluelessly verbose corporate type who’s ever walked the face of the Earth. It revolves around the character Capsule CEO, a friendly middle-aged executive type who dispenses randomly-generated business ‘advice’ whenever you give him a tap. Capsule CEO is a free app for iPhone and Android. Here’s a little bit about how Capsule CEO was born:
The idea for Capsule CEO was spawned out of the years Anthem has spent developing websites and apps for large companies, and the hundreds of encounters with dozens of company representatives and business owners we experienced in doing so. It was common to feel that they were speaking in code; all the words were big and impressive, and pleasant-sounding, but also confusing, almost like a secret language. The people who spoke this language always talked to you in the friendliest way, like they assumed you would understand exactly what they meant, and that these words would help you answer some impossible-to-solve question. In beginning the design process for Capsule CEO, this sunny helpfulness was the most important thing to capture. Capsule CEO speaks in nonsense, but he does it with the sole intention of providing clarity.
It was also important that he be short.
With these thoughts regarding his personality in mind, the process of determining his look was begun. First of all, Capsule CEO would not be young. He was not an upstart, eager to prove himself. He was established, experienced, self-assured; these indecipherable nuggets of wisdom he would be offering you would be the same golden principles that had rocketed him to the top of the corporate ladder. To illustrate this, a silver streak was added to his hair; his slightly unkempt hair and wide-eyed, clear smile would project a casual but together attitude. His jacket was left hanging open, and his shoes made loafers instead of the typical polished, gleaming wingtips. The majority of our time was then spent finding exactly the right facial expression to make Capsule CEO seem personable, trustworthy, and slightly unhinged. Here’s a full page of concept work by character designer Darius Scott Hill:
Around the bottom right corner there is where his character really began to shine through. His eyes seem warm, reflecting hope and excitement at the prospect of the continual new adventures finance brings his way. Business is a sport for him, and his face reflects the wholesome craving for the prize at the end of game well played.
Darius took the previous design, simplified it, cleaned it up, and posed him so that his body language shouted “Have I got an idea for you! This time, we’re really gonna knock ‘em dead!”
Capsule CEO was initially dressed in a dark gray sweater. It fit his personality, but said “motivational speaker” more than “business maverick”, so an unbuttoned dress shirt was substituted. The app’s programmer, Dan Sandland, added a sunny, bright background to the design to amplify Capsule CEO’s radiant enthusiasm. Now that the CEO himself was complete, the task of filling his tiny virtual mind with words of pure genius was put upon Anthem’s programming team.
We scoured our contracts and proposals for every vague, obfuscating piece of legal jargon we could find. We pored through speeches, press releases, interviews, and blog posts by the most luminary figures of the business community. We nearly wore out our thesauruses and dictionaries seeking out every last scrap of arcane boilerplate to plug into our tiny tycoon’s database of entrepreneurial excellence. Once it was all there, magic took care of the rest.
So don’t let our efforts go to waste! Capsule CEO exists to strategize dynamic new approaches for maximizing YOUR profit influx! New business owner? Fledgling entrepreneur? Not sure what your first steps should be in this confusing world of high risk and high finance? Need someone to help you economize your commercial paradigm perception management?
Don’t spend another minute waiting for success to find YOU… let Capsule CEO help you achieve your ultimate transactional potential today!
To get the app.
Check out the website: http://capsuleceo.com/
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