April 27 marked World Design Day, but every day, we like to celebrate the graphic design process. Why? Because, like a fine wine or a good cup of coffee, great design work takes time.

Instant gratification carries great weight in today’s society. You don’t have to go far to find a web service or two pumping out cheap and cheerful designs for single-digit prices. But, fast and cheap does not necessarily mean you will receive something that is unique, conceptual and evergreen. In fact, it is proven that strategic iteration is the key to perfection.

Neil, our head of design, is an industry-trained professional with deep respect for and loyalty to the design process.

We often get asked by clients about the process and what the benefits are versus an informal approach. To this question, we respond that unless you put rigor and structure into the design process, it’s easy to lose your way and spin your wheels in the creative soup. This is a scenario that neither client or designer want to get into. Nobody wins when the project isn’t moving forward.

The design process is a gradual progression from minimum viable product to polished masterpiece. Here are the major steps along the way.

The Brief

It’s absolutely critical that the project kicks off with both the client and designer on the same page. Understanding the brand, target audience and overall objectives, as well as any preferences to certain designs styles, is essential to moving forward efficiently and effectively. Even with a brief, projects can go off the rails if there is a miscommunication about the direction at the early stages.

Designers find it helpful when you share share moodboards and samples of what you like – after all they speak in visual language.

Research

As the old saying goes: design is 70% research and only 30% execution. When a designer takes the time to understand your industry, your competitors and like-minded brands, he or she will become entrenched in the project. This also helps the designer get a sense of what already exists in your space so they don’t create anything too similar.

Research will likely lead to creative work that is well thought out, steeped in insight and aligned with your business goals. Mostly importantly, it will be original work.

Sketching

You know a true designer when you see them clutching a sketchbook and pencil. Neil has his Field Notes positioned within reach: on the bed table, in the car, at his desk, even in the shower (they’re waterproof).

Sketching is a quick and efficient way to jot ideas down at scale. At first, no idea is a bad idea. This technique is all about birthing concepts and exploring various directions. And, just when we think we’ve exhausted every angle, we’ll extract a few more from the deep recesses of our minds. We’ve found that those last sketches are often some of the strongest.

In the first round of feedback, you’ll receive your design options in sketch format. This is the most efficient way for us to gauge your first reactions before spending time to perfect them. If we are off base completely, we will be able to course correct without ever touching an Adobe program.

Digitizing

Once a client has landed on a short list of sketches, they’ll be scanned in and used as reference to create a digital version. During this phase, the concept is refined and tweaked.

Neil will often duplicate the designs over and over, while he plays with colour ways, typefaces, line treatments and angles. During this process, sometimes fresh ideas may come to life. However, even though we may have dozens of variations, our clients will only see the top selects at the next round of feedback.

As a final checkpoint, the logo is looked at from every possible angle to ensure that it looks good when viewed from any perspective – and to make sure no inappropriate symbols are revealed unknowingly.

At this stage of the process, it will be clear whether we’re on the right track and we should be nearing a final version of the logo with only small tweaks to type, colour and line.

Feedback

When we’re working with clients, we see the process as very collaborative. We’re up front at the beginning about how many stages of feedback the client has, but open to refinements as we go.

In return, we hope our clients provide us with clear, concise and very specific feedback. Here are some questions to help guide you on the way:  

1. Is the design reflective of the original ask? Why or why not?
2. Do you feel this design represents your brand effectively? Why or why not?
3. Can this design stand the test of time (outside of today’s latest trends)?
4. Can you see the design or variations of it on different mediums? Why or why not)?
5. What about the type/font do you like/dislike?
6. What about the graphic treatment do you like/dislike?
7. Is there anything in the design you would prefer to remove/take out or change (please be as specific as possible)?

Here’s a recent example of some work we did with our good friend, Ann Marie McKenzie. She’s a Desire Map workshop facilitator and was looking for a logo that reflected her own personal style and approach. As you can see, a lot can happen between the first sketch and the final product.

And there you have it: a design process that is rigorous, but leaves room for course correction and iteration.  It’s not as simple as opening up Adobe Illustrator and playing around for a little bit. There is much more research, concepting and evolution required  behind the scenes to make beautiful design that stands the test of time.

Have a design challenge for us? Get in touch and let’s chat! 

360 video and virtual reality are slated for explosive growth in 2018 as technologies become more accessible to the mainstream user. If you have a unique and visually appealing offering that could be turned into a virtual experience, immersive content is worth a closer look.

We recently reached out to our clients at Immersive Explorers – a 360 content creation and media company based in Whistler, BC – to learn more about how businesses can leverage 360 content. Here’s what they had to say:

Q1: Tell us a little bit about the current 360 video landscape (what are the trends, what’s the technology like, and who are the players)

A1: This is a very broad question since VR is growing across so many industries – we might have to write a book! Right now though, we would say that the growth of VR as a marketing tool has been evolving quickly. At first it was kind of a gimmick – think McDonald’s activation in March of 2016 in Sweden where they created a Happy Meal box that could be folded into a cardboard VR headset ( or Happy Goggles!) to play a VR game called Slope Stars.

With steep growth in users, organizations are embracing the opportunities that immersive content presents. The technology for both cameras and headsets is evolving and becoming more accessible, resulting in more content and broader adoption of the technology outside of the core user groups of “geeks and gamers”.

The main players right now are Google, Samsung, Facebook / Oculus, Microsoft, and Intel.

In the travel sector, the last two years has seen an increase in VR usage – Tourism Australia, Destination BC, and or Qantas have all made significant investments in virtual reality / 360 video content and reaped the rewards of being among the first to bring travel experiences in 360 to market.

Q2: How does the 360 experience compare to regular video content?

A2: We have found 360 assets to be way more engaging, providing double the average view times and a higher click thru rate than conventional assets. Recently, Destination BC posted a 360 video that we shot at Superfly Ziplines in Whistler. They had also posted a conventional video of dogs playing in the snow, taken at Silverstar Resort in that same week.

Just as background, after capturing content and working in Whistler Blackcomb’s PR department for many years we consider dogs playing in snow to be the holy grail of social content – it is super engaging – people love it.

Both videos were about one-minute long. The 360 video content outperformed the conventional video by receiving 175% more likes, 459% more shares and 159% more video views on the Destination BC page. To us, this is an incredible illustration of the strength that immersive content has to be super engaging and rise above conventional content assets.

Google partnered with or Columbia Sportswear to create an ad campaign using 360 Labs. Two campaigns were created using TrueView – one featured the 360-degree video format, whilst the other was a standard video format. The 360 in-stream video advertising underperformed for view-through rates across mobile and desktop.

However, click-through rates on 360-degree ads were higher compared to standard video. Interaction rates which includes tilting and scrolling, were also higher for the 60-second 360 ad. This led Google to conclude that 360 video formats drive engagement through interaction.

Indeed, the format attracted more views, shares and subscribers than traditional ads. Overall, the 360-degree video ad drove 41% more actions. Overall, the video had a 46% higher view count compared to the standard ad. That’s likely due to 360 being a more engaging and immersive format.

Q3.  How are consumers using 360 video in 2018?

A3: Well, first of all there is a lot of really terrible user generated 360 content on Facebook!

But seriously, the number of people engaging with immersive content is growing. NBC was showing the Olympics in 360 format, you can view news stories on the New York Times VR app, CNN has a channel and many brands are using immersive experiences to share stories and content about their products and experiences.  

As the price comes down for VR headsets and more content creators master the skills needed to create immersive content we can eventually see the VR headset becoming as ubiquitous as mobile phones.

Q4: What are some of the use cases for brands who want to leverage 360 video?

A4: The interest that we are seeing is coming mainly from hotels, destinations and adventure experiences.

Since 360 video allows for realistic spatial representation the inclusion of immersive content is a great balance to conventional photo and video assets. We can create utility-based content that can orientate people in spaces and show them the “lay of the land” without having to visit in person.  

Aspirational content drives that dreaming phase and engages people by putting them in the driver’s seat in the middle of the action so they can experience something as if they are really there. Since the content that is created can be used as 360 assets on websites and social channels (Facebook, Youtube and Vimeo) as well put in a headset for sales and demo purposes the ways you can leverage a project are almost limitless.

Q5: What are the most common distribution channels for 360 video?

A5: YouTube (they have a Virtual Reality channel with 2.8 million subscribers), Vimeo, Facebook, veer.tv, Kuula.com, apps that host collections of content such as the Oculus store or New York Times. We plan to have an app for in headset distribution in the future and our website features 360 video and photographs in 4K.

Q6: What should businesses keep in mind when considering 360 video?

A6: Finding the right team to produce the content. Since this technology is emerging and is just starting to get more traction there are a lot of video teams out there getting into immersive content creation.

The problem is, filming immersive content the same way you film conventional content will result in footage that will literally make people sick when viewed in a headset. So, it is important to look for a team that  has years of VR experience and can prove that they can capture immersive content free of sensory conflict.

A lot of immersive content relies solely on the “gimmick” that you can pan around and get the 360 view. The next layer that we are hoping to delve into with our clients is the storytelling aspect. Just because the content is super cool and immersive doesn’t mean we can’t layer in story to inspire the viewer.

Q7: What’s the best way for brands to get started with 360 video?

A7: My simple answer would be to give us a call! The price of capturing a short experience isn’t as much as people assume and working on a short experience is a great way to see the increased engagement that immersive content provides on website and mobile platforms.

Q8: Anything to add that we haven’t covered off?

A8: Immersive content is recalled in the brain in the same way as a memory is. Creating VR/360 content also separates you from your competitors, making you look like a forward thinking company.

About Immersive Explorers

Immersive Explorers is driven to create and widely share 360 content that allows past, present and future travellers to have deeper connections with destinations and experiences. Anyone, anywhere can explore a new place or revisit a beloved location; this is the richness of experience VR and 360 content enables. Immersive Explorers and its social channels feature and amplify editorially-driven virtual reality and 360 video or photo stories created in partnership with destinations, activity operators, and experiences.

This custom VR content is featured on both Immersive Explorers’ platforms, as well as those belonging to the partner.

We know content marketing is a crucial component of the marketing mix for brands in the tourism sector. Immersive Explorers provides VR and 360 custom content solutions for both headset technology and digital platforms. As VR technology becomes more accessible and consumer uptake increases, this is the time to invest in these exciting digital marketing assets. Besides full-service content development, Immersive Explorers offers distribution to ensure the asset is easily discovered, as well as the technical expertise and support partners require to maximize the opportunity immersive content presents.

Visit them online at immersiveexplorers.com Facebook, Twitter.  or Instagram.