Wayward is about resisting the forces that try to flatten who you are. It’s about generational pain, institutional pressure, the raw chaos of adolescence. For a story that honors the complexity of being human, the most authentic thing we could do was create the titles the same way—with our hands, through experimentation, embracing outcomes we couldn’t fully control, and sculpting those outcomes into something that served the story.
Manipulating Polaroid photo emulsion with chemicals mirrors the psychological manipulation that the teens endure at Tall Pines Academy. Both take something raw—a captured memory or a developing mind—and distort it under external pressure. The vibrant image becomes blurred and broken, just as individuality is shattered and reshaped into something unrecognizable.
Netflix and the show creators supported an unusual analog approach when they could have asked for something safer. That trust made the difference. We’re immensely proud of the craftsmanship that went into this project.
Full Case Study - iamstatic.com
Bleach. Household chemicals. Heat. Fire. These aren’t typical tools for a title designer but for Wayward, they became the perfect instruments to visualize psychological manipulation and the destruction of identity.
At a moment when content creation increasingly leans toward digital efficiency, these titles argue for the irreplaceable value of work made by hand—with intention, experimentation, and care.
We wanted something hand-crafted, something that carried the marks of human hands. We reflected back on the chaos and DIY spirit of teenage art-making in the late ’90s and early 2000s—perfectly aligned with Wayward’s 2001-2003 setting—and unearthed old photography techniques: Polaroid emulsion lifts, pigment transfers, aggressive analog experiments.
For more BTS check out the case study on iamstatic.com
In early 2025, we designed the main titles for Wayward, Netflix’s psychological thriller that became the #1 globally streamed show in its first two weeks.
The series follows two teenagers, a local police officer, and the sinister head of Tall Pines Academy—a school for “troubled teens”—that explores themes of trauma, generational issues, and institutional abuse.
Wayward launches each episode with an intense cold open that grabs the audience instantly. We needed titles that could interrupt that momentum without breaking it—or rather, that could be an interruption in a way that felt intentional and unsettling.
What started as a far-reaching creative exploration evolved into something unexpected: eight unique title cards, each running less than five seconds, created by destroying Polaroid photographs with household chemicals, heat, and fire. Keep an eye out for our BTS.
Credits
Creative Director: Julia Deakin
Design + Animation: Julia Deakin
Production Company: IAMSTATIC
Executive Creative Directors: Ron Gervais, Dave Greene
Senior Producer: Nicole Labbe
Client: Netflix
Executive Producer, Creator & Showrunner: Mae Martin, Ryan Scott
Executive Producer: Euros Lynn
Post Production Executive Producer: Andrea Glinski
Waiting for approval to share some behind the scenes of my work on the main titles for #wayward 🔜 … in the meantime, peep the cute love note from my 8 year old son 🥰 (written while I was in the midst of production… He did eventually watch the show when it came out, and yes he fast-forwarded a bunch of episode 5 🌶️🥵😜 IYKYK)
I was thrilled to attend TIFF tonight for the world premiere of WAYWARD — a show that is near and dear to my heart!
Over the past year I’ve had the honour and pleasure of designing the main titles for this incredible show — a thriller that also somehow manages to be acutely funny, in a way that is so original and unexpected and smart. Wayward is created by the brilliant Mae Martin, who stars in the show alongside the legendary Toni Colette, Sarah Gadon, and so many other wildly talented people.
I’m super proud of the results and I cannnnn’tt waaaait to share them with you soon!
Wayward premieres on @netflixca September 25th. Mark your calendars and get ready to binge — if the standing ovation from tonight’s screening was any indication, you won’t want to miss this show 🔥
#wayward #netflix
As part of our early pitch-level exploration, we shared this crow silhouette design. It resonated with several producers, and although the general hunch was that it wasn’t quite right for this show, we were asked to try to to keep it alive. We whipped up a few super rough animation tests, and a little conceptual mood board.
In the end, despite the preliminary nature of these tests, we knew it just wasn’t the right fit for the show and we let it go—but that didn’t stop us from turning this design into an art print and gifting it to the team as a special memento.
A massive amount of exploration went into this project—testing various directions to find the right tone and balance for the wordmark, while also shaping ideas for how it might move and what story we were trying to tell.
Given the passion and extensive effort our team poured into this work, we couldn’t bear to simply close the book without sharing more of the story.
Here’s a peek behind the curtain, and at the scraps on the cutting-room floor.
A co-production with Hulu and Disney+, The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox “centers on Amanda Knox’s harrowing journey after being wrongfully imprisoned for her roommate’s murder, her battle to prove her innocence and regain her freedom” (IMDb).
After several rounds of exploration, iterations, roads travelled, possibilities explored... we landed on this simple typographic treatment. Serious enough to hold the weight of the story, with tonal currents that quietly steer the audience toward the ‘twisted’ truth.
Credits
Executive Creative Directors: Ron Gervais & Dave Greene
Creative Director, Designer, Animator: Julia Deakin
Senior Producer: Nicole Labbe
NICE TO SEE YOU! That was the sentiment in 2022, after two years of COVID pandemic distancing and social isolation. And so it became the greeting at the entrance to our laneway, emblazoned on the side of our dear neighbour and friend Richard’s house— a welcome greeting to neighbours, newcomers, visitors, seasons, pollinators, LIFE!
We are lucky to be part of our beautiful @cosmosnaturelane community. What I didn’t realize until I started painting these murals, is just how fulfilling it would be to create a space that gives people a feeling of belonging. The encouragement and appreciation from friends and strangers really lifted me up! And, even though I felt like I was winging it most of the time, and that there was definitely a more efficient way to do things, I really got a kick out feeling the edges soften around that uncomfortable feeling that comes from putting yourself out there and doing something new.
This was only my second-ever mural; my first-ever mural lives directly across the road. I’ll share that one some other time.
Swipe for some process pics 👉🏻 shout out to my love @jaygordon for the unwavering support and measuring skillz (and occasional kick in the pants), my kiddos for the cute hugs and cookie deliveries (and what the HECK how is his face so young and chubby only 3 years ago 😭 ) @larajacobnd for the Thanksgiving pumpkin pie (TOLD YOU!)... and to @lanewayproject for their support and material hookups, and countless other appreciations for countless wonderful people 🩷 You know who you are!
