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How we went from Vision to Toolkit ↗
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There’s a big problem with 3D x Branding:
When thinking about implementing 3D for Brands, people can often sense the potential. But the real value only becomes obvious once you actually see it.
Stakeholders start to see the transformation and the change in perception.
It becomes obvious that the brand is different. The visual can do the heavy lifting of telling the brand’s story. Explaining the product. The visual appeal is helping to position the brand.
But without it, there’s no budget the client will allocate to it. It’s a nice-to-have.
That was our situation with FOHHN last year.
The Agency (Joussen+Karlezik) knew there would be room to explore 3D with this Branding. They had the instinct. But before building out a system, we needed a visual idea that could hold everything together. Something that made the technology easier to grasp and a visual idea that could connect back to the brand.
That is what made the Vision Sprint a great fit for them. It gave us the space to define the direction first — before investing more deeply in execution.
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Core Idea
The sprint reduces risk by separating discovery from execution.
Before committing to a larger 3D production, we work out the vision first:
- What should the audience understand instantly?
- What should they feel?
- What visual metaphor can hold the product, the brand, and the story together?
- What are the existing brand elements that need to be respected?
Those questions sound simple. But once they are answered, the rest of the project becomes aligned and much easier to execute. You can start building with intent and hold design decisions against a rationale. Everything follows the same direction.
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Framework
For FOHHN, I started by really looking at three things: the product, the brand, and how sound usually gets shown. I wanted one idea that could tie all of that together and still hold up wherever it needed to go. A specific demand for this project was that FOHHN wanted to show the tech in action to help their sales team tie the products back to the brand.
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Exploration
We looked at sound, audio patterns, dots, and waves. We needed something that would work. I think it’s best to take inspiration from the very thing you are working on. So technical drawings by the audio engineering team helped shape the vision.
Every iteration and test helps me better understand what works for this project and what doesn’t. Some of the earlier tests were trying to mimic an actual audio wave or frequency, but that didn’t feel like the audio had enough power.
Some other experiments played with the idea of immersing people when the sound is hitting them. Highlighting the atmosphere and immersion of sound.
When I tried to reproduce the diagram of the sound engineer, I knew there was something in there, and I followed my gut feeling. Iterating on shapes, colors, and arrangement.
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The Vision
After a bit of exploration, it clicked. Drop-shaped sound waves. From a single origin, radiating outwards, aimed at a specific direction. It feels directed to a specific point, yet able to create an atmosphere in the room. With the ability to manipulate the distance, spread, and wave multiplier, that hit the right notes: precise, controllable, atmospheric.
Once we had that, everything got easier.
We had a direction and vision before going into full production. So now our pitch was much stronger and all our visions were aligned. That’s how we got approval for more applications.
And that’s taking off a lot of pressure. For the Client. The Agency. And myself.
Because no one has to commit blindly. You see the direction before you invest in the full production.
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The Application
Fast Forward:
The client loved the direction, unlocked the budget, and we continued the project.
I built out a bunch of applications showing how the beam worked in real scenarios.
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Scaling the Vision
The thing that really made this project special is the Toolkit:
I prepared a C4D rig for the client that their internal marketing team could use to produce more visuals on the fly. Without the need to hire me again. That might seem counterintuitive, but I think it’s a win-win. They save time and money, and I get to reserve my time for more exciting things than creating yet another version of the visual.
Overall the key visual was a great vehicle for the brand to tie things together visually. It can be applied anywhere and subtly says, “this is FOHHN.” And that would not have been possible without the Vision Sprint.
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What did the Client say?!
Just last week, I spoke to the marketing team at FOHHN, and they loved the toolkit and keep using it. It’s a great head start and enables them to do so much more!
In my eyes, Tobias isn't just an outstanding, passionate, and well-organized 3D designer — he's someone who thinks along with you, inspires, brings ideas to the table, and thinks entirely in terms of the brand. That makes the collaboration and the whole process really "flow" ;) Working with him is simply a joy and a pleasure, both professionally and personally! If you want to see how that looked in practice, the FOHHN project shows the result, and the Vision Sprint page explains the entry point.
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Your low-risk way into 3D for Brands:
The Vision Sprint
Got a brand that needs to stand out? Let’s see if the Vision Sprint is a fit. Share a few details about your project and we’ll jump on a quick call.
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PS:
We went to the Berlin Zoo the other day. And although the concept of zoos can be argued with, I really enjoyed strolling through. It was actually quite nice. Especially if you have smaller kids, as they have playgrounds for just about every age group.
Be early for the rob feading, that's filling up 40 minutes before the show.
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tobias-anderssohn.com ↗
Elevating Brand Design
with 3D Visuals & Animation
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