On designing user interfaces for ‘The Avengers’

Matthew Panzarino for The Next Web:

Jayse is a freelance visual artist working remotely from Las Vegas, NV for film and television. He has built a solid reputation in the industry as a creative-art director for print, web and motion design with clients ranging from Symantec to MTV and Fox. His latest work has been in the niche area of fictional UI and data design for feature films like 2012, Rise of the Planet of the Apes and The Avengers. For The Avengers, Jayse worked on the heads up display, or HUD, that you see any time actor Robert Downey Jr’s face is inside the Iron Man helmet. He also worked on the various computers used on the bridge of the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, its mobile command post.

There’s a method to Jayse Hansen’s designs in The Avengers involving research, consultation with an A-10 fighter pilot, and understanding the director’s intent and what the script says. Hansen also discusses his tools of the trade, which include software like Illustrator, Cinema 4D and After Effects, and hardware like a Wacom Cintiq tablet.