fuse
Issue 2
Moneybee Magic Creating a 3D character for SA lotteries began from the strap line, ‘You don’t know how lucky you’d be until you scratch a moneybee’.
Developing a 3D animating character starts with pencil and paper. A style frame was designed, illustrating the look and feel of the money bee. The bee needed to have personality, evoking the feelings of being warm, lovable and cute, but not babyish. “The silhouette of a character is an important consideration, it needs to be strong and clean looking, offering the character a bold personality.” Said Damien Thaller, Fusion’s 3D animator. The client approved the concept image straight away, commenting that he was, “gorgeous”. A 15 second story board was then designed and written for the commercial, detailing shots, character movements, and composition.
To bring money bee into the third dimension he was built using Maya, texturing his skin details, lighting angles and shadows. This work occurred over an intensive week. The animation then began, working on a bone system to map out the animation paths. “It was interesting to explore what movements looked cute. I got a lot of inspiration from my Jack Russel Terrier as he enjoyed a good scratch on his belly. His cute movements were short and small, and not at all babyish. I exaggerated everything on money bee to emphasise expression and tell the story faster. It got tricky with the stinger; I had to be careful what it looked like in this region.” Laughed Damien.
Brand Experiences SA Tourism
Autophoto
A brilliant blend TV commercial
Revving up online
We were engaged to bring to life with animation SA Tourism’s new logo and strap line - “South Australia - A brilliant blend”. The idea was to draw the star in the logo with a sparkler.
Challenge Autophoto engaged us to develop their online business. The business plan was to create an extensive online library of car photographs for purchase by motor vehicle dealers, advertising agencies and media groups.
“We weighed up shooting real footage of a sparkler drawing the star, but we quickly realised we would have greater control and better quality if we created it ourselves using a particle system. The problem was that there was nothing off the shelf to create the look of a sparkler. We ended up creating our own custom 3D particles. For the greatest effect we had to go to a fine level of detail.” said Grant Lovering, Fusion Director. The animation features on all SA Tourism television commercials and has been repurposed for use online.
Autophoto aimed to simplify the process of procuring photographs of exact car models for sale in publications. Autophoto wanted a website that was easy to use, offered secure e-commerce facilities and would launch their new business venture as a successful e-business. Solution Addressing the business goals in the design of the Autophoto website we then developed the business model for this online venture. Getting the customer experience right was essential so website
www.autophoto.com
visitors are immediately immersed in the catalogue. Fusion’s content management system Helium® enables the Autophoto team to add, edit, update, organise and publish images themselves. Helium® also provides a secure e-commerce facility with an intuitively designed shopping cart and photo album. Helium® has limitless scalability ensuring Autophoto can grow extensively into the future. Results • Established a new online business • Currently containing over seventeen thousand images Autophoto is the world’s most comprehensive automotive photographic library • Intuitive website design simplifies search of large library of images
Harkk
SA Tourism
Branding for international sales
Red white and blue TV commercial
Challenge Harkk design and manufacture a range of elegant architectural products including screens, bollards and lights. Harkk had international distributors making their own marketing material to promote their product range. This situation lacked branding and meant sales information was inconsistent and fragmented. With an established and growing international market, Harkk required a unified and consistent branding solution. Solution We examined Harkk’s sales process and product lines. A branded marketing strategy, and system was devised to overcome the mindset that one product was only suited to one application. This mindset was losing the company sales. We implemented the naming of each product by its application, even if that
meant several names for the same product. For example Harkk aqua is a screen for swimming pools and Harkk viva is the same screen for restaurants and cafes. A manual and system to be used as a sales tool was also designed. This system incorporates an electronic presentation with PDFs to distribute promotional materials, ensuring Harkk presents a unified and consistent message. Technical information is now available for builders and architects. Results • Professional sales and marketing strategy implemented • Unified brand, offering international recognition and improving company image • Improved sales • Attracted investment
We were engaged to create a commercial for the Limestone Coast and Fleurieu Peninsula regions for SA Tourism. The brief was, “Great reds, fine whites and brilliant blues.” The commercial was to be compiled from the existing library of SA Tourism footage. “To achieve the right mood we designed a visual language with a weathered feel that evokes the coast and sand between your toes. Using the techniques of layering, weathered typography and framing the scenes, works well to give the viewer a taste of the regions.” Said Grant Lovering, Fusion Director. To breathe fresh life into the existing footage and tie the story back to the theme there was extensive red, white and blue colour grading.
Brand Experiences Electranet
Adelaide Motion Picture Company
Intranet powers communication
Challenge Electranet operates and manages the electricity transmission network throughout South Australia. Electranet wished to implement a new intranet into their organisation. Their old intranet was under utilised and did not offer team members the functionality needed to improve processes and communications across the organisation. Solution To ensure the Electranet team felt a sense of ownership, a competition was run to name the future intranet. With the prize of an iPod the competition was well received and the name Maxwell was chosen. Helium®, Fusion’s content management system was tailored so Maxwell suited Electranet’s specific needs. Helium® offers Electranet many methods to improve communication and processes.
Elephant Tales film titles
Maxwell includes a document management centre, a contacts database, news engine and the ability for users to save their own preferences. Helium® integrates with Electranet’s existing online tools to provide a one stop shop for staff to access their everyday tools. Helium® also gives the Electranet team complete ownership of Maxwell as they easily add, edit and publish content themselves, without reliance on internal or external technical staff. Results • Improved team communication • Document management process saves time and money • Better internal awareness of Electranet’s activities • Improved organisation of team resources • Rise in staff morale and job satisfaction
Challenge With an open brief, we were engaged to produce the opening title sequence for Mario Andreacchio’s feature film ‘Elephant Tales’. Written and directed by Mario Andreacchio (Paradise Found, Napoleon, The Real Macaw), Elephant Tales is a moving and magical tale of two elephant brothers in search of their mother, and the menagerie of wild creatures they encounter along the way. Solution Delving into the world of African artistic endeavour for inspiration, traditional tribal paintings offered the right fit. Further research into African typography and design resulted in the opening sequence being delivered like an African cave painting.
Adelaide City Council Street signage with form following function
“We got in touch with our tribal roots as we digitally painted the title for the main sequence.” Said Grant Lovering Fusion Director. Animating close up to the details of the painted title, animals are introduced as stylised silhouettes. Looking as if they have been stamped, the animal silhouettes cheekily animate. Results • Universal Pictures and Myriad Pictures were amazed with the work we produced as it exceeded all expectations. • This lead to the decision to use the work to brand and promote all aspects of the film including the posters and planned website and DVD. • The film director was thrilled with the end result.
Challenge The Adelaide City Council has had safety issues with ‘A’ frame sandwich board signs placed on footpaths by traders. The council wanted to implement a signage system that would replace sandwich boards. Because traders come and go it was important that the signage system accommodate change and as street architecture, the signs had to be vandal and tamper proof. We collaborated with Designer/Maker Greg Healey on the design. Solution The finished solution is an elegant adaptable design that suits either a wall or a side walk position depending on available space. The design is stylistic, minimal and sleek driven by function. Made from curved stainless steel the sign subtlety incorporates a crop of the council’s logo
to inforce the city’s brand. The sign clearly names the street as well as the traders to be found there. The large rectangular shape is functional accommodating several traders’ names. Made from anodized aluminium the panels listing each shop’s name can be removed and updated in-house. Results The signs were initially installed in the Rundle Mall area as a trial. The council received an overwhelming positive response. Traders particularly loved the signs, and were enquiring when their streets’ signage would be installed. “A big tick for the Adelaide City Council for its new city street signage…the council initiative is a major improvement.” Wrote Rex Jory in The Sunday Mail, April 9 2006
Brand Experiences Savings and Loans Making the most of the internet
Challenge How do you easily update, distribute and archive a strategic plan document within an organisation? Facing this problem Savings and Loans Credit Union engaged us to improve the process for how their strategic plan was documented, distributed, updated and archived. Originally a bundle of word and power point files, the Savings and Loans Strategic plan required readers to scan through its entirety to find relevant information. The strategic plan lacked an archive or versioning process so readers would not know if they were looking at the latest version. It was also not easy to make the plan available to all employees. Solution We custom designed an online application for the strategic plan that has revolutionised the way Savings and Loans manages this fundamental document. Like a website, the strategic plan has a homepage dashboard
www.savingsloans.com.au
that presents the Savings and Loans balanced scorecard. “It was a challenge to design the dashboard to fit elegantly in the 800x600 screen resolution required by Savings and Loans. The dashboard was coded to be scalable to any size screen so now it’s future proofed.” Said Damien Mair, Fusion Principal. From the dashboard, the balanced score card’s objectives for six main areas are listed displaying the KPI’s target and actual results. Pop windows open from tabs that display the organisation’s vision and its core values. Links are provided to the operational plans and key projects associated with the strategic plan. This means that the operational plan or key project is just one mouse click away and can easily be printed for further reference. Using Fusion’s content management system Helium®, enabled the Savings and Loans team to edit and update the strategic plan
on the organisation’s intranet. This firstly avoids reliance on technical teams to update content. Secondly as the strategic plan is on the intranet all employees have easy access to it. Thirdly the design of the strategic plan is such that the reader, in one glance, can gain a view of how the organisation is performing against its key performance indicators. Lastly Helium® enables archiving of each quarters results, providing a historical reference of the organisation’s performance. Results • Improved communication • One page snapshot of company performance • Easy distribution • Historical archive • Easy to navigate • Reduced workload • Most up to date version available to everyone
Shiels
Education Adelaide
Simply irresistible online sales
Marketing Adelaide’s universities globally
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Challenge Established in 1948, Shiels Jewellers has established a reputation for quality value and range. Shiels wanted to update and redesign their limited website. They needed to capture potential online sales, have a full product catalogue that they could update themselves and have a fresh, dynamic website in line with their current advertising campaigns. Solution Fusion’s content management system HeliumŽ, enables Shiels to manage an extensive online product catalogue themselves, adding, removing and editing catalogue items in conjunction with their printed brochure. Shiels products are organised logically into jewellery types with sub navigation providing further selection to enable one click product display. Alternatively customers can
www.shiels.com.au
enter a product identiďŹ cation number from the brochure to quickly ďŹ nd a product that interests them. Each time the Shiels website is refreshed a new look and feel is achieved with different lifestyle images appearing on the homepage. This gives the site a fresh dynamic feel appropriate to the Shiels brand. An interactive store locator lets customers locate and contact their closest store. HeliumŽ’s e-commerce module enables easy online shopping within a secure environment. Results • Website presence is improved from at static website to dynamic e-commerce tool • Increased revenue through online sales • Improved communication as customer can access more information about Shiels’ products, store locations, speciďŹ c gem information and FAQs
Challenge Education Adelaide markets Adelaide as a study destination. They wanted to refresh their promotional materials for the international ‘Study Adelaide’ brand. Solution Initially a brochure was designed with large bright emotive images, targeted copy and gloss paper ďŹ nish to attract readers. The brochure proved a success and further materials have been developed for Asia, Europe, America, and the Middle Eastern markets. A student calendar, display material for tradeshows and point of sale materials for overseas agents have also been developed. Results • Strengthened Education Adelaide’s ‘Study Adelaide’ brand. • Improved perceptions with International agents • Improved communications and market position
News Eight AADC Awards won
DO-DA joins Fusion
Graphic designer, Gavin Klose, and his team from DO-DA, have joined us. DO-DA is a leading Australian graphic design studio that has been successfully creating integrated visual communications strategies for over 12 years. DO-DA pride themselves on their branding solutions that achieve success for clients. Their notable brands include Paracombe Wines, Oliveri and Cibo Espresso. “We now offer clients more capability, and importantly we now provide a whole brand experience across multiple mediums, taking
a holistic approach to brand identity. I am really excited about this change, Gavin and I have been friends in the same industry for years, it seemed like a logical way to expand, providing an exciting future.” Commented David Zhu, Fusion Director. “Joining the team feels like coming home. I have been following Fusion’s growth since it was formed in 1995. I knew the founders when they were still in University. It is exciting to add my branding and business knowledge to the mix. We all agreed it was a case of 1+1=3.” Said Gavin.
We went home with hands full of awards from the 29th Adelaide Advertising and Design Club Awards. Winning eight awards for an assortment of projects showcased our design accomplishment in a wide variety of mediums. We won a silver award in Environment design for the Adelaide Airport cultural panels; silver awards in Compositing and for Multimedia design both for the Leadbetter Interactive DVD, and a Bronze award in Annual reports for the AARNet annual report as well as four finalist awards.
New Appointments
We design brand experiences for forward thinking organisations. We think beyond. Every experience contributes towards how your brand is perceived. People see, learn, value, visit, buy, interact and ultimately tell other people about your brand. Our designed brand experiences get results.
99 Carrington Street Adelaide SA 5000 Australia T+ 618 8235 7900 F+ 618 8235 7977
business@fusion.com.au www.fusion.com.au Subscribe to Fuse online: subscribe.fusion.com.au
©2006 Fusion Enterprises Pty Ltd. The Fusion brand is a trademark of Fusion Enterprises Pty Ltd. All other trademarks and brand names are properties of their respective owners.