Social motion series
TBS · FRIENDS marathon timelines
A motion timeline for one season of FRIENDS. Then they wanted all ten.
TBS (FRIENDS marathon), via STN Digital
TBS was running a FRIENDS marathon and wanted fans to relive the show's biggest storylines, in order, as it played. STN Digital brought CrispFX in to design a motion timeline for Instagram Stories and Twitter.
The brief
Ten seasons is a lot of story. The format had to be quick to read in a Story, unmistakably FRIENDS, and repeatable for every season without starting from scratch each time.
The approach
I designed the timeline as a system: show clips dropped into Polaroid-style frames on the purple FRIENDS backdrop, with hand-drawn doodles, icons and quotes guiding you from one moment to the next.
Because it was built as a set of reusable pieces from day one, each new season was a matter of choosing the moments, not redesigning the look.
What was delivered
- Season 1 as ten Instagram Story chapters, 1080x1920, up to 15 seconds each
- A square cut for Twitter, about 60 seconds
How it landed
TBS liked Season 1 so much they wanted every season. Designing a system rather than a one-off is what made ten seasons doable.
Dating app profiles for Joey and Monica, made for the FRIENDS Reunion.
Design and animation by Greg Stewart, CrispFX, for TBS via STN Digital.