Who we are

We like to look at Living Blueprint as a meeting place for like-minded individuals who happen to enjoy strategic branding and communication. When a project requires collaboration, it’s an opportunity to track down someone with complementary skills and a similar mindset. This was how we connected with animator / documentary filmmaker Jeff Chiba Stearns.

Depicting Living Blueprint’s idea development process has always been a challenge. The nature of our work is not easily captured through video (within a reasonable budget), doesn’t typically lend itself to concise descriptions, and is hard to capture in still images. Then Jeff entered the picture.

Jeff Chiba Stearns is the Vancouver-based animator and documentary filmmaker behind Meditating Bunny Studio Inc. His work has won multiple awards and has been broadcast on Discovery Latin America, Sundance Channel, Movie Central, CBC, Movieola, Shaw, and Encore Ave. Living Blueprint’s first exposure to his work was his Yellow Sticky Notes animation, which immediately resonated with the entire LBP team.

Overheard in the room after we watched the video:
“It’s rare that I’ll get through a six-minute Youtube clip, but this held my attention. I even wanted to see more.”
“Vancouver is full of people who can do 3-D animation, but this guy is different. He’s an artist who uses traditional frame-by-frame animation as his medium.”

In the ensuing discussion, we decided that animation would be an excellent way to illustrate the intangible process of strategic development and that Jeff Chiba Stearns was the man for the job. Aside from his skill and creativity, we were attracted to the sense of honesty in his work – the viewer gets the feeling that they’re being given a clear look inside his personality. Jeff doesn’t animate because it’s a good way to make money, he’s doing it because he’s a natural animator.

So we reached out to Jeff. We met, talked, scripted, storyboarded, reviewed our notes, and talked more. Once the ideas were developed Jeff set up his camera, got in front of his whiteboard and a mountain of dry-erase markers, and started drawing.

Living Blueprint Whiteboard Animation – Full-Length

We’re very happy with both versions of the video and feel that they capture the essence of Living Blueprint concisely and accurately. The LBP team is eagerly looking forward to our next opportunity to collaborate with Jeff Chiba Stearns.