Sean Wang
Carlos López Estrada
Josh Peters
Valerie Bush
Sean Wang
Chris Quintos Cathcart
Tyler Boehm
Robina Riccitiello
Joan Chen
Chris Columbus
Eleanor Columbus
Issac Wang
Shirley Chen
Chang Li Hua
Joan Chen
Sam Davis
Arielle Zakowski
Giosuè Greco
Hanrui Wang
Toko Nagata
Brianna Murphy
Natalie Lin
Nafisa Kaptownwala
Audience Award – U.S. Dramatic
Special Jury Award for Best Ensemble
Best First Feature
Best First Screenplay
Dìdi 弟弟
Film Titles & Graphics
2024For our second collaboration, Sean and I worked closely to develop a unique design direction for his feature film, Dìdi (弟弟).
Dìdi (弟弟) is a nostalgic journey set in the distinct year of 2008, brimming with iconic UI moments from MySpace to Motorola flip phones and AOL. My role involved designing the titles, credits and various UI elements, including the MySpace pages for the main characters.
The film made its world premiere at Sundance Film Festival in 2024, picking up the "Dramatic Audience Award" and "Dramatic Special Jury Award" for Best Ensemble Cast. Dìdi (弟弟) went on to win two Independent Spirit Awards for "Best First Feature" and "Best First Screenplay".
My challenge was creating something that reflected the 2000's without feeling too Y2K, which could risk a dated feel in the future. My goal was to ensure the design remained timeless for future viewers, while still fitting the story.
The emotional touchpoints for "Dìdi (弟弟)" were youthfulness and the nostalgia of Y2K. Balancing these elements was crucial, especially in the title design.
The final typography for the film was both bold and youthful, with just a hint of Y2K. The typefaces we landed on had a visual connection to the bubble letters that were ubiquitous in the 2000s, without being too on-the-nose.
I had so much fun designing Myspace profiles for the main characters, with design support from the wonderful Emily Suvanvej.
Sean sent me detailed character profiles that included the characters' favourite books, music, colors, and a glimpse into their backstories and personality traits. It was our job to design their Myspace profiles as they would have looked when they were 13.
Fahad is too cool for school, using way too many GIFs. Chris (aka Wang-Wang) is a skateboarder with a utilitarian profile. And finally, Madi—a girly-girl who loves anime, ☆‧° emojis °‧☆, and Hayley Williams.
We even made sure to down-res our designs to achieve the perfect level of compression. And yes, that "wassup?" gif was designed specifically. My greatest achievement.
As part of the post team, I developed an AE toolkit that allowed the editors to change the screen texture dynamically, depending on the screen resolution and the camera's zoom level. This was utilised across all UI shots and allowed the team to easily adjust the levels of chromatic aberration, pixelation, and blur.
On the right are the texting shots I designed, which also utilised the screen texture toolkit.
Custom end credits through End Crawl – they had to add code in extra functionality for us.
Fun fact: the end title design features Sean's mum's handwriting that had been used throughout production materials – a small, yet meaningful detail.
Layout and typography design for the film's world premiere in Sundance. Poster illustration by Felicia Chiao.
Some alternative designs I explored in development.
The first one drew inspiration from skateboarding culture, incorporating graffiti and handwritten elements to reflect the Wang-Wang's love for skateboarding.
This skewed a little more toward the Y2K aesthetic, basing it upon bubble writing which was ubiquitous and I remember doodling a lot in my school books when I was a kid.
And the third was an offshoot of the second direction, skewing it slightly less playful and a little more serious. Ultimately, we opted for this third direction that eventually evolved into the final design.
Alternative end credit ideas we unfortunately didn’t have time for, but thought would be fun to share! One idea centered around featuring middle school I.D. cards from the cast and crew, and the other featured Myspace display pictures.