Funding graphics, round by round
The media for the funding announcement, from the first set on October 27 to the finals, with an account of how Kevin directed each round.
How the work was directed
Kevin directed the work through short written reviews of contact sheets, films and approval boards. Agent sessions built each round in parallel lanes, a critic or a verifier who did not build a file checked it, and the sheets went to Kevin. His answers set the next round: what to keep, what to drop, and which rule changes for every file.
The work ran in two parts. The launch set, from October 27 to 29, was the first group of announcement graphics for X, LinkedIn and the blog. The posters, from October 28 on, replaced it with poster images and then films, and ended in the run of show, which lists every file in posting order.
Three habits held through every round. Kevin chose from real renders, never from descriptions. He stated rules that apply to every file at once, such as one investor mark, one lockup and one typeface, and each rule reached every poster and film in the next round. When a direction failed, he named the round to return to, and the work restarted from that round's files.
The pages are in date order. Each page gives the account of how the round was directed, the files the round showed, every other file it produced, and what carried forward. The record holds no messages or prompts; the accounts describe them.
How the media was made
Rounds
October 27
October 28
v2: Light grounds and weight
All 18 graphics re-rendered to a written direction: one focal element per image, a floor for phone screens and light on dark grounds.
v2.1: Seven graphics reworked
Seven graphics reworked, with every open decision built as an alternate on one sheet.
v2.2: Three investors
The investor images cut to three names beside the a16z infra mark, and the founders walls sized by one rule.
sizing: Founders sizing board
Four stronger sizing rules for the founders logos, built on all three walls and set on one board.
shaders: Glyphfield shader grounds
Six Glyphfield shaders tried as grounds behind four graphics, 24 versions on a feed sheet and a phone sheet.
v2.3: Founders sizing applied
The sizing pick applied to every founders wall, with a new LinkedIn 4:5 wall.
r1: Twelve reference posters
Twelve posters, each answering one magazine reference with an abstraction of a General Translation artifact.
strength: Stronger dither
The launch set rebuilt at a stronger dither step, picked by a judge from a four-step ladder.
r2: Six artifact posters
Eight abstract posters on three concepts, with printed text cut from 256 elements to 24.
v3: Round two critique
A critique of round two, stopped when Kevin rejected that round.
v2.4: Matched to final copy
The launch set matched to the final announcement copy, with each post mapped to its file.
v1b: Poster text cut
Round one's posters with their pictures kept and their text cut to the final copy.
October 29
approvals: Approval boards
Twelve boards and a list of 23 items that gathered every decision blocking the posts.
v1c: Kept directions rebuilt
The posters Kevin kept, copied into one kept set, with two of them rebuilt from round one.
v1d: Founders lineup options
Three simpler takes on the founders lineup that print only the founders line and the nine founders.
v1e: Variants and stipple earth
Six to eight variants of each kept poster and 18 new stipple earth graphics.
v1f: Glyph earth and silent films
The stipple earth drawn in glyphs, recoloured and reframed, with founders grids, a16z-only cards and nine silent films.
October 30
v1g: Logo walls and lockup films
Founders names graphics and logo walls in two formats, and the nine films recut with the lockup.
v1h: Names in every script
Three founders graphics, each built from one idea and checked by a critic who did not build it.
v1i: Brands stay, restyled
Brands stay rebuilt in the site redesign's look.
v1j: Three globe films
Three globe films on one layout, with a much smaller earth and a smoother camera.
October 31
v1k: Launch blog set
The full blog set: cover, OG card, founders and investors figures and six product figures.
v1l: Magazine picks
Three magazine picks each for the cover, the investors and the founders, and all twelve blog graphics.
v1m: Posters set in Katagami
The nine kept posters and three glyph posters retyped in Katagami, with the films carrying the round under the name.