crash course
We were the branding and graphics team for the popular YouTube education channel Crash Course from its inception in 2011 to early 2025, spanning almost 15 years of production. Covering over 60 subjects in the sciences, humanities, and beyond in 40+ episode series, every episode was based on US curriculum content for high school or college levels, and served as an invaluable aid for students and teachers.
Our original creation and inception of the Crash Course brand and art style was applied across each series in a way that brought a new flavour and aesthetic each time, while remaining true to the overarching look. Episodes carried a strong and unique sense of branding through elements such as colour, type sequences, and stylized photographic references, all adhering to a crafted list of segment types we created and applied across the board.
Illustrations were created with the utmost accuracy with the approval of Crash Course's subject matter experts with whom we worked closely and regularly. In almost 15 years we delivered weekly episodes without fail, ranging from 10-15 minutes in length with an average of 30-60% animation coverage.
Crash Course has garnered more than 16 million subscribers and 2 billion+ views and counting, is the recipient of various awards including YouTube Diamond Play Button, and has allowed us to amass an enormous library of proprietary art assets we still use today.
in addition we CREATED:
Beautiful informative merchandise like posters, mugs, stickers, buttons & more
Specialized art for series supporters via Patreon and Subbable
Branded assets & promotional art for sponsor websites, streaming platforms, fundraisers, events & festivals (such as Nerdcon)
Interactive products like the Crash Course app which utilizes study cards to solidify series learnings
Real-world application materials like curriculum workbooks for teachers and students
Curated Crash Course series for various organizations like The Broad Institute and Arizona State University
Special episode features for popular series like Ryan Reynold’s Disney+ series Welcome to Wrexham
Kids version of Crash Course for YouTube Kids, Crash Course Kids: Science
Asset library of over 50,000+ vector illustrated assets
Automations and tools to fast-track and create more efficient post-production processes
MERCHANDISE
Merchandise of all kinds was created to invoke a love for the show, but also to visualize deeper dives, such as the anatomy of a cell, or gaming console history. Fun, insider elements were created for superfans and supporters of the show through platforms like Subbable and Patreon.
CRASH COURSE BIOLOGY
CRASH COURSE GAMES - HISTORY OF CONSOLES
CRASH COURSE - AUGMENTED REALITY POSTER
CRASH COURSE ANATOMY & PHYSIOLOGY
PATREON REWARDS - PAPERDOLL SHEETS
CRASH COURSE COMPUTER SCIENCE - T-SHIRTS
SUBBABLE REWARDS - THEMED WALLPAPER CALENDARS
PATREON REWARDS - GIFS
“Crash Course is a prolific educational YouTube series which garners over 16 million subscribers, and over 2 billion views. Since its launch in 2012, Thought Café has worked to brand, establish and maintain the series aesthetic, while providing animated content for upwards of 50 different series and secondary visual elements: merchandise, crowdfunding perks, and branding for additional venues. Our team has been pleased to work with such a committed, talented company. Their dedication to, and passion for the series has contributed significantly to its success, relevance and longevity. We’ve enjoyed an efficient, rewarding and ever-growing relationship and continue to find ways to improve our processes and adapt to the changing landscape of YouTube and online content, together.”
Intro Sequences
Unique and bespoke intro sequences were conceived of and executed for every single series opener, holding true to the classic structure of the Crash Course intro with a twist to envelop each series’ theme and subject matter.
CRASH COURSE CLIMATE CHANGE - INTRO SEQUENCE
CRASH COURSE BOTANY - INTRO SEQUENCE BTS
Show Packages
Series segments were developed and followed for each course that built repetitive familiarity for audiences, and carried each course brand. Examples of segments included type moments, on-screen graphics, historical figures, and so on.
Branding & Website Assets
Branding assets were created for lateral spaces like the Crash Course website, and streaming platforms featuring the show, as well as fundraisers, livestreams, festivals and other events.
WEBSITE, PLATFORM ASSETS & BANNERS
We designed the original Crash Course logo & brand, and successfully applied that logo across more than 50 iterations for different series.
LOGO CREATION & BRAND IDENTITY
Course Curriculum Materials
Crash Course embarked on a pilot curriculum series for World History I and US History that we adapted into student and teacher workbooks spanning thousands of pages of printable educational content.
Mobile App
The Crash Course App design included page layouts adhering to the Crash Course brand, UI elements and supporting graphic assets, and the creation of thousands of educational flash cards for Crash Course Anatomy & Physiology, Chemistry, Organic Chemistry and Physics.
