Adobe Reel Ideas Studio

I have been planning on writing a post for this epic experience that was the Adobe Reel Ideas studio. Some from the team may refer to this project as hell, or the ‘yeah right, 15 hours more a week..” project, which clearly exceeded such numbers. I will try and start at the beginning.

At the start of term 2, our flash teacher Brett Forsyth, mentioned to our class that there was an opportunity to join a team made up of teachers and students from VFS to put together a project for Adobe. He explained that it was to be for the Cannes film festival this year, and that we could email him to see about getting into some of the open spots on the team. At first, I didn’t take much interest in this project, as I was pretty overwhelmed from the first term, and figured I didn’t want to over do it by taking on more work for myself.

After some talking with another student in my class, Aaron, he had said that I should try for one of the design team positions, as Junior designer. He was going to interview for it as well. It really didn’t take much to make me budge, but I was still a little weary of the idea. I did, however, take the time to plan out my interview questions, about my interest in the project and my expectations, etc. When the time came to interview, I was nervous when they asked about my personal life, and how willing I would be to sacrifice some of that time to work for this project. I knew I’d have to do whatever it took to help make sure the project was finished. All in all, I seemed to be fairly comfortable with the questions they asked me, and ended up becoming anxious to hear if I had made the team. I knew a few other people had also interviewed, so I was playing the waiting game for a few days.

When we finally got the results, Aaron and I had been chosen from our DD08 class to join the design team as junior designers. We were working under the Art direction of Stefan Belavy. After the first big group meeting, we knew that the VFS team had pretty much free reign on the project, and we talked about the possibilities for directions we could take this. We basically were creating an online community for Adobe where they could promote their participation with the Cannes festival.. this part was what got us right from the beginning. It was crucial to nail down the exact purpose for this site we were creating, and what it was about.. who it was for.. User research!

The user research side went quick.. too quick, and we ended up bringing in some Film production alumni to the table to get a real look inside their heads. After long meetings, sketches, mind maps.. everything, we came up with this.

Shared. Indie. Glory.

We had to keep this in mind at all times to make sure we weren’t going off track with our ideas, and implementations. Everything needed a strong enough reason to be there, or it had to go.. such was the nature of our deadline as well! We ended up doing a ton of mock ups, look frames, storyboards, scanning, research and mini meetings. At times, the teams were so busy and spread out we really didn’t get the chances we needed to work together and really agree on core elements of the site.

An early moodboard

Early mock ups

Early Banner idea

Time was tight and we weren’t making all the progress we needed..The design team then had to focous on the brand for the Reel ideas studio.. Adobe wanted to make tshirts, and a large banner to go up in the booth at Cannes.. we needed something right away! We had been struggling with nailing the brand because we had only recently decided on the shared, indie, glory. We went ahead and took out some equipment from resources, and took photos on an idea that seemed to come out of thin air. We used silohettes to illustrate the idea of the team..almost like superheros holding their equipment, ready to go at a moment’s notice.

When the brand was approved, the print materials were made.. we needed to put our attention back on the website. From the big things, to the small elements that were going to make the site seem polished.. it needed to be established right away, and following the brand made it a little more straightforward.

The teams still seemed to be hitting walls in terms of navigation and interaction for the site. There were many meetings about wire frames, and documentation and deadlines.. In the end we had to make teams that were dedicated to each section of the site. This is after most of the site direction was decided upon.

More meeting notes

Term 2 was just wrapping up, so we were spending our break still in school to finish this project. I was put on a team with Eva, from DD06, and we were in charge of the ‘At the Theater’ section. We worked together on the concept, pitched it, and made it happen. Then we were moved on to help out with the rest of the site. We spent many hours a day in the Orange room, sharing frustrations, happiness..writing flash in feelings..and sharing some bodily functions that were not particularly welcomed, but came up anyways..

The site is finally coming together at this stage..

Back to the story.. we ended up working our butts off in the end, with everyone pitching in like crazy, and even bringing aboard some extra people to help get the job done. It was such a great opportunity to work with everyone on the team, and a crazy experience to go through. I have learned so much from being a part of this project, and only hope I can be a part of more to come. I would definitely suggest not letting fear get in the way of taking chances that could lead to great successes.

I realize I am cutting this a bit short, as there was so much more involved in this project.. blood, sweat, tears.. and lots of sushi. I am getting tired..but I will hope to add more to this post later on as I find my files and the time to round out the story a little better..But for now..

Please, go visit the Reel Ideas Studio. I want to thank everyone on the Adobe team.. it was amazing working with you all! Thank you! Also, check out more of the process on the VFS website here

Screens from the current site..