When Creativity Found Its Flow: Rediscovering Vision and Emotion with VISBOOM

Wiki Article

What began as a creative journey for us in the studio soon became a very large business challenge. There was a long period of time where we had the ability to explore creativity, to dream, and have our stories develop naturally. That feeling of freedom faded quickly. In the past few months, with the company rapidly growing internationally, the everyday tension of delivering to deadlines, logistics, and deliverables took precedence over the excitement of developing our concepts through experiential learning and discovery. Our daily focus turned into simply meeting our schedules and scaling our outputs, instead of developing meaningful narratives. The ideation process, experimentation process, and taking risks—the three major drivers of our various campaigns—were lost due to our need to quickly scale up and grow the business.

One of the campaigns that epitomized this is the global outerwear launch. There are various adaptations to take into account regionally and seasonally, as well as dozens of product photoshoots to get completed. With every photoshoot, we are forced to coordinate locations, models, stylists, and lighting preparations for everything to come together for the shoot. When the shoot schedules need to be set, there’s very little time left for creative exploration. I have felt completely restricted, unable to experiment and be pushed beyond my current limitations; therefore, I have been increasingly frustrated with myself and the dimming of the creative spark that once drove me to create.

I first became aware of VISBOOM within the scope of everything above. At first, I was quite skeptical about it. My experience with AI and other creative automation products hasn't been all that great in the past. I had used several products that claimed to be revolutionary, but they produced very bland, sterile-looking images. However, like all professional creatives, I have a little bit of natural curiosity; therefore, I wanted to give this a shot.

I uploaded a collection of nighttime product and lifestyle photos to VISBOOM without knowing what to expect. A few minutes later, VISBOOM had helped me create a collection of dynamic, layered stories out of those images. From that point on, what had previously been flat, uninteresting images were transformed into stunning, layered storytelling images that used natural light interactively with surface materials, integrated shadows to introduce dimensionality, communicated the different textures and colours of the surface materials, and projected different emotional feelings to the viewer. The AI had not taken away my creativity at all; rather it was an enhancer of my creativity because it allowed me to quickly and visually present the ideas I had in my mind so that I could simultaneously explore, iterate, and refine them.

The outcome was immediate and dramatic. Junior designers were able to develop complete and finished visual stories without waiting for a physical prototype.  Stylists experimented with texture, colour, and mood in a virtual space. Marketing, E-Commerce and Retail all had access to a complete visual story before beginning production or photoshoots, allowing for all departments to use the same visual language. VISBOOM became so much more than just a tool, but it served as a bridge for collaboration where ideas could seamlessly flow, free from operational limitations.

A defining moment for me was when we were planning our "Movement" campaign. In the past, we would have had to shoot multiple times over a period of weeks to achieve harmony, and then conduct extensive post-production on each editorial shoot. However, VISBOOM provided us with an opportunity to produce a unified visual universe for our campaign within one day. We had images, frames, colours, feelings, narratives and movement flowing together seamlessly. The final campaign was not only visually cohesive, but it was emotionally impactful, allowing our audience to experience something greater than the individual pieces of content.

The way VISBOOM has freed us from constraints of logistics was it’s most profound effect on us. We were once again able to centre our attention on the core elements of our creations—vision, emotion and storytelling. By managing areas of our process that previously devoured so much of our time—lighting experiments, fabric interaction and colour combination—the tool has enabled us to refocus our efforts on the things that genuinely matter. As a result, our creative workflow became much more intentional and deliberate, and we also gained greater freedom regarding where we could take our work. Today we can develop, iterate and improve ideas without being hindered or detained by operational obstacles.

This transformation was not only in efficiency—meetings that had been previously centred around scheduling and solving problems, now were about exploration and generating ideas together as a group. Designers started to present concepts earlier during the process which allowed for rapid iteration and collaborative development. Confidence was restored as the basis for the work was no longer based on tasks being made easier for them but rather by having a clear purpose and a shared vision to work toward instead of being unknown. The creativity that had been stifled by deadlines during the past began to flow again.

The VISBOOM experience taught us another lesson: that the intersection of operational and creative roles produces the most effective creative work. By bringing these together, we streamlined our process, increased the flow of work, and developed campaigns that were holistically connected while maintaining the humanistic aspects of artistry. The merging of operational and creative aspects also gives us the ability to expand our potential as creatives, while maintaining the intuition, emotion, and vision that makes our brand unique.

I feel like I am back to feeling completely connected to my creative process after many years. When the vision leads, the ideas inspire the work, and when each piece that we produce tells our story clearly, with purpose, and with feeling. The technical demands that used to dictate our days no longer dictate the rhythm of creativity, allowing us to focus on what makes our work special.

Ultimately, VISBOOM has done much more than just provide more efficient workflows and quicker production times. It has reignited the passion that initially drew me to visual storytelling, as it has allowed me to explore and dream and feel joy in creating again. Our campaigns are now the perfect balance between operational efficiency and emotional impact. Our audiences can now experience not only our products, but the stories and emotions behind them.

The experience of developing VISBOOM has led to an understanding that creativity is enhanced, not eliminated, if the tools and methods used to create are appropriately aligned with a creative vision. VISBOOM provides a way to facilitate the flow of creativity, intent, and stories, while changing the routine nature of most forms of production into enjoyable experiences, exploration, and utilizing deadlines as an opportunity to have a meaningful impact through the telling of one's story.

As a result of VISBOOM, our team is now focused on producing experiences and not merely products. The barriers that previously limited us have been removed; we now have our creative license while we continue to create experiences that resonate with the audience, inspire us all, and act as a lasting reminder of our collective imagination.