Skin & Bones
Digital Experience

Skin & Bones is a Toronto-based production company representing a premier roster of award-winning directors. Following a rebrand by designer Rebecca Wilkinson, No Replica created the company’s new digital home.

Skin & Bones’ prior branding featured a distinct aesthetic that clashed with the individual styles of their roster of directors. For the new brand and website, our goal was to establish a cohesive system that would center and support the agency’s filmic output without overpowering it. On the other hand, this system would need to serve as a sort of glue, uniting all the directors under one clear umbrella and helping the agency stand out amongst its peers.

After an exploratory process, our final approach was to take direct inspiration from physical film. This transpired in two ways: first, through the creation of a grid-based site resembling film cells; second, by implementing a wholly unique scrolling experience in which content moved abruptly down the page, instead of the typical behavior of scrolling smoothly. This scrolling experience mirrors the frame-by-frame progression of a film projector, transforming the user experience into a direct embodiment of filmmaking.

The entire site utilizes the same core components of a multi-column grid structure and monospace typeface set in a singular size and weight. These consistent design elements anchor the user experience, enabling us to explore more adventurous design choices in other places.

Beyond the user experience, No Replica developed a custom CMS solution for Skin & Bones’ in-house team. To optimize for speed, we hosted all site videos on the external platform Simian. We then built a connection between Simian and the site’s CMS that dynamically fetched this content to populate the site’s homepage and portfolio.