Sports Interstitials
A Scalable Motion Graphics System
A modular system built for Atmosphere TV to generate branded sports interstitials across MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL, MLS, and WNBA. One master system powers thousands of dynamic variations — built for scalability, automation, and efficiency.
Role: Graphic Design · Motion Graphics · Art Direction
Tools: After Effects · Illustrator · Premiere · MOGRT Template · Advanced Expressions
Deliverables: Single Team Wipes · Matchups (NHL, MLB, NFL, NBA, WNBA, MLS)
Client: atmosphere.tv
The Challenge
When Atmosphere TV acquired rights to Major League Sports highlights, they needed a flexible, scalable solution to produce hundreds of branded sports interstitials across six different leagues.
Each league presented its own challenges:
6 major leagues and 150+ teams
Thousands of potential matchups to cover
Team names with highly variable character lengths — Ex. Heat (4 characters) to Mavericks (9 characters)
The system needed to be “foolproof” for non-design teams to update and render
Tight turnaround times for seasonal programming
Planning for Scalability
Good design systems start with good organization. Structure makes scalability possible. To make the system scalable, I began by defining key variables.
Variables (Example: Dallas Mavericks):
Team logo – primary & secondary outlined versions
Team colors – primary, secondary & tertiary for accessibility
Primary: Royal Blue (#00538C)
Secondary: Navy Blue (#00285E)
Tertiary: Silver (#B8C4CA)
Tri code – DAL
Team name – MAVERICKS
City name – DALLAS
Organization & Planning:
Organized all team logos into layered Illustrator files for clean, modular After Effects imports
Created outlined logo versions for contrast and design flexibility
Scaled and aligned all assets for consistent visual weight and balance
Used strict naming conventions and folder structures to streamline automation
Developed a unified look & feel that automatically adjusts per league
Building the System
I built a procedural system in After Effects that automated graphics through rule-based expressions.
Technical Approach:
Dropdown Menu Controls: Instantly select any team or league
Expression-Driven Styling: Assets update automatically
Source Text + Index Values: Dynamically populate team, city and tricodes
Responsive Layouts: Text scales automatically to fit composition bounds
Automated Logo Swap: Primary/secondary logos swap based on team index
League-Specific Textures: Unique backgrounds and elements per league
Procedural Animations: Faux 3D type and motion effects defined based on rules and parameters rather than keyframed manually
Result:
One master template → thousands of potential variations.
Matchup Generator
The system dynamically pairs matchup graphics between any two teams across all leagues. Each matchup automatically updates visuals with no manual rework.
MLB: 30 teams → (30 × 29) ÷ 2 = 435 Variations
NFL: 32 teams → (32 × 31) ÷ 2 = 496 Variations
NHL: 32 teams → (32 × 31) ÷ 2 = 496 Variations
NBA: 30 teams → (30 × 29) ÷ 2 = 435 Variations
MLS: 30 teams → (30 × 29) ÷ 2 = 435 Variations
WNBA: 13 teams → (13 × 12) ÷ 2 = 78 Variations
Total: Over 2,375 total unique matchups — all from one scalable system!
Results & Impact
Production Efficiency
Streamlined workflow from design team to producers
Enabled non-design teams to render graphics on demand
Reduced production time and manual errors
Design Consistency
Unified look & feel across six major leagues
Created a strong foundation for future sports programming templates
Flexible system for updates, playoffs, championships and seasonal variations
Summary
Built on procedural techniques and expressions, this system allows a single adjustment — such as changing layout, typeface or motion parameter — to automatically update across all 150+ team compositions. This approach ensures consistency while dramatically reducing production time for future updates and refinements.
This project demonstrates my ability to think big picture and combine design systems thinking with advanced technical execution in After Effects. Through careful planning, organized workflows, and strategic use of variables and controls, I developed a scalable system that reliably drives thousands of branded graphics for Atmosphere TV’s sports programming.