Radical Face

Web Design for Radical Face's “A Light in the Woods”

A Light in the Woods is a project by musician Radical Face (a.k.a.) Ben Cooper that combines music, storytelling, digital painting, video and an interactive website to tell the story of a character named Vagus and his journey as he leaves his home and ventures into the woods. New installments of the story are released over time and the finished project will include 28 songs, over 50 pieces of score, and around a thousand paintings. I worked with Radical Face and Rogue Studio to design a website where you can explore the world and uncover characters and lore.

alightinthewoods.net

Team:

Rogue Studio
Britton Stipetic - CD
Nathan Tokyo - Development
Calvin Smith - Motion Design
Cierra Larkin - Design Apprentice
Jackie Kao - Illustration Support

My role:

Lead Design and Illustration

Web Design

Radical Face envisioned A Light in the Woods as a modern fairytale. Drawing inspiration from decorative title pages and book covers, my goal was to capture the aesthetic reminiscent of a storybook and a field guide. I wanted to create an experience that felt whimsical and fantastic but had the ability to have a light or dark tone.

A main component of the project is illustrated videos chronicling Vagus’s adventure with accompanying music all written, illustrated and voiced by Radical Face. We created a section of the website inspired by book cover and spine design to feature these videos or “books” where users can watch books and sign up to get notified about the next book release.

We created an explore section that allows users to navigate through scenes depicting the world and setting of the story. Users can uncover characters, lore, and secrets hidden throughout the site. An interactive map lets users track their progress, highlighting visited locations and undiscovered areas. As new books are added to the project, the map and landscape expand.

We created a bestiary that allows users to view and learn about the various characters and creatures that they discover throughout the story. Each entry in the bestiary is complemented by detailed character descriptions and backgrounds.