TikTok has partnered with creative platform It’s Nice That to provide much-needed support to the creative industry, significantly affected by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, through a series called 'Creative Canvas'.

We've commissioned 12 designers from across Europe to create a series of TikTok idents that showcase their own individual style and aesthetic. Over a period of 12 weeks, the idents will be run in TikTok’s ‘TopView’ Ad format across 5 markets – a highly immersive and engaging ad placement which is shown to viewers immediately on opening the app, in full-screen, full-sound. Viewers will also be able to click through to the designers personal TikTok profile. 

What's the 'Creative Canvas' brief?

Each of the designers have been tasked with expressing a different emotion associated with the creative process in their designs – from excitement and triumph to awkwardness and entrancement. A completely open brief for style will also bring exciting and new disciplines to the platform and to users’ feeds, such as 2D and 3D animation, set design, typography, photography and film.

The designers - turned TikTok creators - will also share behind the scenes insight into their creative process, producing three additional videos that capture how their work was made on their own TikTok profiles.

For the audio, we commissioned Sounds like These to honour the important marriage of sound and vision on TikTok. We tasked them with making something catchy, energetic and smooth; recognisable as the common thread tying all 12 campaign creatives together, but still neutral enough to allow designers to approach the brief in their own way.

Who are the 12 designers?

The series begins with Lucas Zanotto - an animator, designer, director and the founder of Yatatoy, which makes playful tools for kids. Set with the task of exploring the emotion of excitement, Zanotto brought the TikTok musical quaver logo to life and set it on an adventure across a monkey-bar style obstacle.


@lucas_zanotto

I was honoured to be asked to make an ident for @tiktok !Thank you @itsnicethat! ##animation ##abstract ##design ##art ##3d ##cgi ##digitalart ##cinema4d

♬ original sound - lucas_zanotto


Besides exposure to the app via his eldest daughter, TikTok was totally new to him. “I have a stunning following of eight!” he joked at the start of the campaign. In just one day, Lucas' ident achieved 62 million impressions, 600,000 likes and 8,000 comments. He now has 70,000 followers.  

Take a peek behind Zanotto’s creative process here:


@lucas_zanotto

Go behind the scenes for my @TikTok ##CreativeCanvas ident and see me playing around with colours in ##arnold ...

♬ Be Kind - Rival Consoles


@lucas_zanotto

Look behind the scenes to see how I used soft bodies in ##Cinema4d to get the inflated @TikTok logo for my ##CreativeCanvas ident

♬ Teenage Birdsong - Four Tet


@lucas_zanotto

I was honoured to be asked to make an ident for @tiktok that captured the emotion excitement. Some behind the scenes in ##cinema4d ##CreateCanvas

♬ In a Beautiful Place out in the Country - Boards Of Canada

With the creative process being such an integral part of the TikTok community, we’re excited to see what the remaining 11 artists come up with and are proud to support the creative industry through this uncertain time. These commissions will provide much-needed commercial opportunities, by raising awareness and driving new audiences towards relevant work.

Keep your eyes peeled as you open up the app and be sure to check out their profiles to dig into the creative process behind each visual. 

At TikTok, we have always thrived to inspire creativity and bring joy. Don’t miss out on this very special series. New to TikTok? Simply download the app for free via the Apple App Store, Google Play or Amazon and sign up, it couldn’t be simpler!