Kevin Hoegger created hand lettering-style illustrations to help us show how simply using words, letters and design could effectively get across a strategy.

He started by suggesting inspirations from which we could choose – in this case architecture – and built the visual from there.

Of all of the Forum case study sketches, participants related to these with the fewest questions. Maybe as business people, we easily “get” words and linear organization.

Kevin also brought examples of how to expand on the visual with hand-out template variations. Practical and pragmatic.

Here, his resulting “taster” put movement into the growth.

One word, designed. A visualized reminder of the full conversation.

About the artist

Kevin Hoegger, represented during the Forum through Visualeyes International, has worked globally with clients such as Nike and RedBull, especially for promotional designs and exhibits. His passion for typography ranges from three-dimensional concrete letters to ancient calligrapy and digitally-generated forms.

Business leaders suggested transforming one of Silvan Borer’s energetic Forum case study visuals into an interactive, explorable digital tool.

We also wanted to find and test an accessible format that businesses can quickly create and use.

So Silvan created a “taster” with online presentation platform Prezi. Click here to explore – ignore the slide mover bar at the bottom and instead use your mouse to click and zoom / or the arrows to the right on your mobile device.

We looked at it as adapting an original strategy presentation into a follow-up tool. Was quick to build from the artwork, if limited in custom visual options.

For a cleanly-aligned visual, we simplified the original illustration into an overview page with five points in a journey – and given it is a taster – included only one detail zoom for each. Maximum would have been two.

An interesting use. Could be evolved…

About the artist
Silvan Borer is an award-winning children’s book illustrator, represented during the Forum by Visualeyes International. In 2018, Silvan won the e.O. Plauen Award for young and upcoming illustrators.

For more thoughts about the possibilities of Prezi, see this post

Employing his distinctive style, Till Lauer created variations on a single icon to visualize the Forum case study. Business leaders selected from his collection of black and white sketches and added their own ideas.

The result: a “taster” GIF to remind us of the in-person conversation.

We increasingly use simple animations to gain and keep attention. Such icons –  similar to stickers, emoticons, and emojis – help us create and share meaning.

Have you noticed that Millennials often plaster their laptops with stickers? There’s a good reason why.

Both static and moving images reinforce our stories, make it easier to bring a human touch to our communication – and become iconic in our cultures.

About the artist
Till Lauer specializes in editorial illustration. His work has appeared in a wide range of international publications including The Economist, The New Yorker and the Neue Zuercher Zeitung.

In our zeal to demonstrate that internal strategy communication can be implemented quickly at a high, attractive standard, we asked Patrick Baumann and his motion graphics team to create a simple teaser animatic (20 seconds) about growth – using words from the Forum case study .

To situate the story in a strong, audience-relevant context, we asked photographer Justin Hession to provide shots of the Kraftwerk event venue.

The audience referred to this piece as a “movie trailer” which builds anticipation for a wider story.

It was quickly produced because we bounded the key creative elements and brought together specialized experts who have worked previously on strategy narratives.

About the artists
Artist Patrick Baumann co-founded motion graphics company Cloudscape, which specializes in product visualization and visual effects for film and TV. Their services include 2D and 3D motion graphics, plus augmented / virtual reality for a wide range of businesses.

Justin Hession Photography works with some of Europe’s largest international corporations. Justin especially focuses on portraits and architecture. He also pursues his own travel and sustainability projects as part of Planet Visible.