(Note: the below was translated from the original German, a blog post from EyeLoveYou, a creative agency in Basel, Switzerland.)
The campaign to find the look for the Colourkey Leisure Card began with a close dialog with the target group: young people ages 14-25. Several workshops were set up to establish trends, needs, and preferences in young people in the Basel, Switzerland area.
With an understanding of the needs of the target group, we began to search for design trends that would fit the campaign. On Kickstarter.com we came across and invested in the development of pixelstick, the long exposure photography tool being made by Bitbanger Labs in Brooklyn. The project met its funding goal and we were among the first people in the world have a pixelstick in our hands.
Pixelstick consists of 200 full color LEDs, neatly arranged and attached to a 180cm long stick. The integrated controller can transfer images to the stick and play on the LEDs. By moving the pixelsstick in front of a camera taking a long exposure, you can now paint the image in the air. The technology allows practically anything that can be processed as an image to now be realized as light art.
In short, pixelstick is a luminous machine with plenty of room for creative experimentation.
It was the perfect tool to implement the new identity for Colourkey. On one hand, a colorful and dynamic world is presented. On the other, pixelstick’s in-camera effect corresponded to the “realness” desired by the target group. Images that look assembled digitally, but are created in and interacting with the real environment. Armed with pixelstick, therefore, we made our excursions night after night, creating colorful bands through the city. Not everything was perfect – there was an element of practicing and trial and error required before we had something that was presentable on screen.
In the end, it was all worth it. Working with pixelstick is a blast. For us, the investment in this new technology was worth it fourfold in these ways:
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By supporting a crowd funding project, we succeeded together with many others in this world, and helped realize the idea that pixelstick arrived as a market-ready product.
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Zeitgeist: The pixelstick provided the perfect basis for the imagery of our customers colourkey.
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In-house solution: With an interdisciplinary team consisting of design, creative, and photography, we were able to offer a complete package for the campaign to our customers.
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Trends: Finally, we were strengthened in our conviction with open eyes and ears to go through the world bo online and offline.
The campaign has been launched and can be seen in the Basel region, including billboards, online banners, and festivals.