Stick Your Face In It!
JibJab’s hilarious eCards and enchanting children’s books take a lot of thought, time and planning. Not only do we have brainstorming meetings, draw storyboards and research for inspiration, we also have a weekly production meeting to keep the team up to speed on what is going on. We share breakfast, motivation and a few laughs. Our production team is so creative that even our agendas are decorated with cartoons and jokes. Check out the outline from last week.
Today is the last day of Movember, a month dedicated to growing mustaches and raising money for men’s health. If you haven’t already donated, take this final opportunity before December begins!
The guys here at JibJab did an awesome job spreading the word and fundraising for a great cause! Check out their progress from the beginning, middle and now the end:
We are so proud of their selflessness and ability to grow mustaches that match the likes of our JibJab guys and JibJab Jr. kids!
We have been very busy at JibJab over the last few months getting ready for the holidays!
We have been rockin around the office with our party hop version of Rockin Around the Christmas Tree.
We hit up the north pole and found out that penguins love punk rock versions of Winter Wonderland.
And lastly, we will toot our own horn at The Buttcracker, our gaseous version of a certain famous Christmas ballet.
So spread some holiday cheer this season with one of our many fun Starring You e-Cards that are sure to warm-up any winter day! Also, stay tuned to the blog for more on how we created these NEW fun videos.
Our Movemeber men are looking quite dashing mid-way through Movember. Their mustaches have grown and so has the support for men’s cancer research and education! These guys are serious about awareness:
Our new Starring You video for Thanksgiving is a wacky rendition of the story of how the Pilgrims first discovered America. We were really impressed by some of the funny concept art that was used so we decided to check in with one of our artists, Romney, the director of the video, to see some of his early designs:
Pretty cool right? So what are you waiting for; make like a PILGRIM & cast yourself and four friends in this hearty tale!
Doesn’t it seem like just yesterday that Bennett and Anthony completed the month of Movember? Well, it’s that time again! A time when the men are separated from the boys and grow mustaches to raise funds and awareness for men’s health, specifically for prostate cancer & other cancers that affect men.
This year some of the men of JibJab came together to form a team. Want to support them? Click here to donate & make a difference.
Take a look at all of these faces ready to grow some fabulous mustaches & raise some money for a great cause. Soon they will be rocking ‘staches just like our JibJab guys and JibJab Jr. kids!
Donate today and check back here to see the fellas’ progress!
With Halloween quickly approaching many of us have found ourselves scrambling to find the perfect costume. Whether you go old school as a ghost or something topical like Charlie Sheen, thinking of something to impress fellow trick-or-treaters is sometimes a terrifying haunt. If you find yourself in a fright, here are a few ideas from JibJab that we have used in various videos shoots. See if any speak to the ghoul within!
The backgrounds that Justin painted for our Super Freak video gave it that extra spooky feeling we needed to tie everything together. Now we’d like to share them with you! Get your computer in the Halloween spirit with these one-of-a-kind wallpapers. Just click on the image and it will take you to a new window. There, you can right click and save the image as your desktop background. We have three horrifyingly awesome wallpapers to choose from:
The Problem: You’re tired of typing the same old “Happy Birthday!” message on Facebook all the time when friends have birthdays. You wish you had something unique and original to share but let’s face it, who has the time?
The Solution: Introducing Birthday Wishes, a new Facebook application we’ve created that’s filled with Facebook-only birthday greetings that you can pick and post in a jiff. From sweet to silly, you’ll find the perfect birthday greetings for every type of friend and family member. It’s the best way to say “Happy Birthday!” on Facebook…without having to use those exact words over and over and over again. Click Here to Check out Birthday Wishes.
While filming Super Freak, we had to get super creative! The storyboards called for a lot of scenes involving specific movements, such as walking up a flight of stairs or falling down a trap door chute. At first this was a bit of a challenge, but once we got our creative juices flowing, the solutions kept rolling in! Check out some of the crafty ways we created music video magic!
To simulate falling down a chute, we had each actor balance on a stool while waving their arms and legs. This was easier said than done!
To make it seem like our trick-or-treaters were climbing a bunch of stairs, we used a large wood plank. Throw in a bit of pantomiming skills and you’ve got a pretty believable scene!
One day, five actors and ten costume changes later, we had what we needed to create our Halloween-themed music video.
Want more behind-the-scenes scoop? Check out our Facebook album!
Back in May, we participated in a 2-day intensive creativity and innovation fest we call the JIBJAB:LAB! It was wild to see the range of skills we had and what we were able to accomplish over just a few days.
It turned out to be one of the most inspiring (and FUN!) couple days in the company’s nearly 12 year history…so why not do it again? Last week the executive team gave us two more days to find something we’re passionate about and build something small (or big), tangible and excellent!
Taking ourselves out of our comfort zones and day-to-day work, we created browser games, personalized iPad games, new methods for presenting data, paintings, illustrations, music, music videos, and animations! Cullie reupholstered and painted a chair, while Amy, who practices magic in her spare time, put on a show at the Venice Boardwalk (she made $3!).
Francisco, Mike and Kevin meshing the two sides of our business, art and technology, worked on animitronic puppet that actually works:
Nate took a really awesome illustration done by Ashlyn and made a maquette out of it:
Josh even built a scale model of the great harbor of Carthage. Don’t know what that is? No worries, not many of us did either, but Josh explained it all!
Each of us discovered a ton of new skills, challenged ourselves, and let innovation flow. It was another successful JIBJAB: LAB!
Whenever there is a major holiday or seasonal shift, our production team takes the opportunity to do a little more of something we all love: eat! But we don’t just do it for one day, we spend an entire week devoting ourselves to this fun pastime. In fact, we created a secret space to house all of our goodies – we call it The Nook.
This dark corner of the office might seem useless and neglected at any other time of the year, but during Nook season it turns into a magical cave of foodie wonders! We bring in treats that compliment the occasion we are celebrating. Some highlights from this year’s Autumn Nook include chocolate pumpkin cookies and homemade fudge!
As you can see, there isn’t much left in there now. But no doubt the morning will bring a new batch of deliciousness that will keep us happily snacking all day long – with a short break for lunch, of course!
As much as our team loves to dress up in costume and dance in front of the camera, for our new German Polka video we knew we had to hire the real deal. At first the task was a bit daunting. How would we find genuine German Polka dancers here in Los Angeles? Luckily after just a few hours of Google searching and networking, we found our solution: The Gypsy Folk Ensemble!
This Los Angeles-based group has been performing traditional ethnic folk dances for the last 33 years. We were so excited to work with them and experience firsthand the traditional folk dance, music and clothing of Germany.
Here are Steve, Christina, Stepan, Julie and David in their German threads – ready for a day of dancing and stein-raising in our studio:
Now it’s your turn to join in on the fun!
The forecast for today: new content! We hope you’ve got an umbrella handy, because it’s going to be pouring eCards all day!
The storm has been brewing all summer. Artists have been working around the clock to get funny stuff made, and now we’re left with buckets and buckets of new videos for your viewing pleasure! We’ve got Birthday cards, Anniversary cards, Wedding cards and even a Get Well card for those summer colds!
Take a moment to browse the site, splash in the puddles of our fresh content and have some fun. This is one storm that won’t leave you feeling gloomy!
Last week we finally got to show the world our brand new baby – the JibJab Jr. storybook app for kids! We hope your kids are enjoying it as much as our kids!
When we built JibJab Jr. Books, we really wanted it to be about reading stories together with your kids, so they’re not hyper-clickable toys. As parents, we know the goal is to wind the kids down- not wind them up!
We were so happy to hear all of the great feedback and stoked to be featured in USA Today!
One thing we have heard in the feedback is that you want sound. So do we! We are working on it right now and will keep you updated with regards to when we expect to release it.
We currently have three JibJab Jr. Books available:
1. The Biggest Pizza Ever (it comes included when you download the app for free)
2. Alphabet Wrangler
3. Ocean Commotion
Every month, we’ll have a new book available. If you sign up for the monthly book, you’ll get it automatically for $3.99 a month. As a subscriber, you also get to buy any additional titles you want for $3.99, which is 50% off the non-subscriber price of $7.99.
Thanks for all of the feedback and support for the launch of JibJab Jr. We are looking forward to serving you, your kids, and our kids great tales in the months and years ahead.
Happy Reading!
The JibJab Blog 