Who Messed With Texas
An Internet Show By Mutuals Media
Mutuals brought me in to update the graphics for their series, with one major note: make it feel Gen Z. They gave me a lot of trust and creative freedom, letting me experiment with making wacky memes, motion graphics, GIFs, soundscapes, and more.
The first episodes landed well and from there I began building even more elements from scratch, eventually taking the edits from start to finish.
My approach was a simple mix-and-match method that relied on relevant memes, opportunities for unexpected humor, and engaging animations.
A quick before and after to exemplify my point:
I implemented two relevant memes. The image from “all my boys” meme, which our host alludes to. Followed by the Drake No/Yes Meme from hotline bling. In half a second, a meme-fluent audience instantly gets the message: we do not mess with Ken Paxton.
Before
Previously, the editor added some emojis to express “hate.” Not only is this dull, but the dreaded android emojis were used - killing any cultural relevance.
After
Before
The previous editor emphasized the phrase “beck and call” by showing a man on the phone. Just a tad boring.
After
“Beck” is an iconic character from Victorious, a Nickelodeon show that was incredibly popular with Gen Z
Interpretting the phrase “beck and call” literally adds unexpected humor to an otherwise dull phrase and using Beck from Victorious makes this joke culturally relevant to a Gen Z audience
One large shift incorporated across the board was using PNGs instead of images inside a border. PNGs allow for transparent and clean graphics, which makes every element feel more intentional and polished. Helping the visuals pop against backgrounds and drawing in the viewer.
