BUCK: real-time branding
Global creative company BUCK discusses how rethinking creative technology at our fingertips can solve efficiency and content quality challenges for brands
We learn about the exciting future of brand design with the use of real-time graphics
The classic ‘more for less’ dilemma in brand design has crunched budgets and crushed creative talent for years. It exhausts artists and eats away at the important time needed to actually be creative. At BUCK, we believe we have the solution. We are pioneering the concept of real-time branding.
Designers working with brands have a seemingly impossible task before them: as the number of platforms expand, we have to produce an increasing number of assets in a widening range of formats, ensuring that we maintain high brand identity standards across all channels. We’ve reached an inflection point where real-time technology can enable new forms of production and creative expression while still adhering to rigorous brand demands.
“The future is real-time” may sound like a bumper sticker slogan, but it’s becoming a simple fact in entertainment and, now, advertising and brand marketing. Using existing creative technology in new ways, BUCK has developed a new approach to branded content creation that harnesses a designer’s time to be used more efficiently; a way that focuses on the creative and shifts the volume challenge onto smart systems instead of human designers. The early results of new tools and prototype tests have been encouraging.
THE IDEA: REAL-TIME TO THE RESCUE
Real-time graphics engines like Unity and Unreal, while firmly rooted in gaming, have rapidly matured over the past decade. These real-time platforms have unlocked novel
cinematic narrative forms and dynamic experiences that immerse users in new worlds. In addition, cloud computing and open-source software are allowing for virtually unlimited possibilities at scale.
For example, Amazon’s Lumberyard is an open-source, cloud-based engine currently targeted at game developers but with an eye towards more general content creation. Similarly, Nvidia’s Omniverse project recently announced integration with Blender via Universal Scene Description (USD), an open-source project from Pixar that has quickly gained widespread adoption.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR BRANDS?
There are two requirements for understanding the potential of real-time systems as applied to branding:
• Stop thinking of Unity and Unreal as just game development environments. They are content creation platforms.
• Look beyond the current tech and today’s most popular platforms. Anticipate how the digital ecosystem will evolve in the next ten years and how client needs will change in response.
Two-dimensional generative systems applied to branding have been around for a long time. A prime example is MIT
Media Lab’s generative logo system (bit. ly/3foqryp), which made a big media splash when it debuted in 2011. We wanted to see how 3D generative systems could be applied to branding so we developed three prototypes, which we are using in realworld client projects with different needs:
• Prototype 1: a custom, web-based, highvolume data visualisation tool for products
• Prototype 2: a rapid-creation header graphics generator for use in online marketing campaigns
• Prototype 3: a product beauty shot engine for online stores
PROTOTYPE 1: HIGH-VOLUME DATA VISUALISATIONS
The first prototype is a custom, web-based tool that generates a high volume of data visualisations related to a given product. We designed this tool so that even folks with minimal design experience can produce compelling deliverables that can be used across web, social and retail environments.
With custom font support, it can generate wildly divergent ideas that still adhere to a fundamental set of brand guidelines. The web application exports visual imagery that automatically corresponds to the text, along with ‘good taste bumpers’ so that anyone can tweak it.
The system is a mixture of web, cloud and physical computing with a browser interface controlling a 3D game engine, currently Unreal in our case.
PROTOTYPE 2: GET ‘GRIDDY’ WITH IT
Our second prototype was designed to enable the rapid creation of header graphics for content marketing campaigns. With this rendition, we targeted more senior designers who already have a grasp of graphic design and need a tool to make content creation more efficient.
Combining layers of text, abstract shapes and photography, an interactive grid lets users warp predetermined elements in unexpected but consistent ways – all within the browser. No installations, no headaches.
PROTOTYPE 3: BEAUTY SHOTS
While CG has long been used for product shots, the workflow for creating hundreds of variations is often mind-numbingly tedious and relies heavily on specialised teams.
Working in Unreal, our prototype takes the same creative sandbox approach as the other two prototypes, setting up guardrails to keep everything on brand. The user can choose from preset camera angles, lighting setups, backdrops and cropping options.
Future versions could use presets and an Api-powered workflow to generate thousands of renders based on a set of ‘seed’ shots in just a few minutes.
Camera angles, materials, lighting, and model shape can be customised in the BUCK Style Engine. Renderings for a concept product, Feather Vision, show how fine details are perfectly preserved as creative elements change
“LOOK BEYOND CURRENT TECH AND TODAY’S MOST POPULAR PLATFORMS. ANTICIPATE HOW THE DIGITAL ECOSYSTEM WILL EVOLVE”
STEADY AS SHE GOES: SETTING THE STAGE FOR CHANGE INSIDE AND OUT
Broadly speaking, there are some caveats when it comes to selling the idea of realtime workflows either internally to teams or externally to clients.
Internally, real-time workflows require a new form of collaboration. Artists need to think systematically and procedurally. If, for instance, you’re pairing an expressive illustrator with a real-time developer, make sure they understand each other and are willing to meet halfway.
Externally, clients need to understand that the up-front cost (i.e. CAPEX) might be higher than traditional workflows, but the operating expense (OPEX) can be far lower. Each product is tailored to specific client needs. It takes time to develop a minimally viable product, find the most valuable features and iterate on them.
It makes sense to start small. You might build tools to create assets for social media posts before branching out into assets for e-commerce stores or physical spaces. Over a few years, you’ll build features, styles and emotional tones into your real-time tools that grow with the brand.
ZOOMING OUT: WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN?
Designers are faced with an ever-increasing number of content voids that they need to fill. Given this exponential growth of demand, they are struggling to fill quantity needs while also maintaining quality.
The result? A lot of ‘disposable content’ that takes an inordinate number of resources to craft. In an ideal world, tools like the ones we’re creating could allow a brand designer to meet the wide range of volume demands with a clearer handle on the artistic and creative direction.
Oh, and maybe have some fun along the way, too.