Case study: 
‍Interactive Videowall for Spin Master

Creating an interactive "WOW" moment for Spin Masters
headquarters

SUMMARY

  • ‍Background: The world's most innovative toy company was re-envisioning it's headquarters
  • ‍Problem: With only a concept sketch to go on, an interactive videowall needed to be created to impress and inform visitors
  • Solution: A research process identified use cases and constraints that informed the design exploration and technology solutions
  • Results: A richly entertaining, and accessible experience that solved for the use cases while reflecting Spin Masters playful and innovative identity
Photo Credits: Samuel Cheng, Spin Master
Overview
Spin Master, the world's most innovative toy and entertainment company – creator of hits such as PAW Patrol, Bakugan and Hatchimals – were envisioning their new international headquarters in Toronto, Canada.
Problem
While in the early interior design stages, the team was excited about a concept drawing for an interactive videowall, but it was unclear:
– what it would look like
– what information it would present users
– what the interactions would be
Users

Spin Master operates in many verticals from toys to robotics to entertainment (TV), to videogames and apps, and so they welcome a wide range of visitors:

  • Investors
  • Inventors, writers, producers, creators, actors
  • Global partners
  • Retail partners
  • ~500 employees in this location
  • Kids and families visiting for playtests
Roles & Responsibilities
I was the overall lead, responsible for research, experience design, and final production.

My role was to drive it from a single concept drawing into a contextually appropriate interactive experience that would impress visitors.
‍
Production involved dozens of stakeholders including vendors; see the Credits section below for the complete list, but core contributors included: 
  • Holly Peacock, Global Director, Facilities, Spin Master
  • Mike Arnott, Creative Director, Spin Master
  • Dylan Belyck-Seymour Interactive & Art Director, Spin Master‍
  • John Bolton, CTO, Globacore
  • Armando Hernandez, Lead Developer, Globacore
Constraints
  • Reception is a temporary experience: we might only have 1-5 minutes with visitors.
  • Different audiences needed different content. The company has a range of content from TV episodes and commercials to social media posts, to corporate information, to videos and presentations on their global culture, HR, and philanthropic initiatives.
  • Content needed to be updated often.
  • Needed to be widely accessible including by visitors in wheelchairs, as well as factor in audio issues.
  • Audio: research revealed that audio playing all day everyday would not be appropriate, and so we needed to design a system that would only present audio when a user requested media.
  • Needed to also act as a presentation display for press conferences and presentations.

PROCESS

Research

I led a series of workshops with groups of stakeholders at the company to understand what they thought was important for this experience to convey.

Synthesized insights: 

  • It must be interactive & playful: Spin Master makes richly interactive products, a static videowall would not suffice. Further, it was important that it be FUN, that it elicit an emotional response, and that it represented their identity.
  • It must be informative: Spin Master has a wide range of videos, photos, social activity and text-based information for products, company culture, and corporate overviews, meaning there would need to be clear information architecture and an easy to use menu.
  • Different stakeholders had different use cases: An investor relations executive might use the wall to walk VIP visitors through their most recent stock performance and corporate videos, while the creative teams might show off their most recent inventions. The system needed to support many use cases.  
  • It must be updated often: It was important to Spin Master that content never feel stale – it needed to be designed such that assets could be added easily at any time.
Shaping the UX

Spin Master is a creative company, and it was a joy to work with their internal teams as we shaped the experience:

Refining the UI
It was important for the system to reflect Spin Masters visual identity, so it made sense to use their internal design team for the look and feel.

Credit for the UI and menu UX goes to designer Dylan Belyck-Seymour. Dylan provided exceptional UX/UI support through the entire process as we refined the concept into a final product; you can find his breakdown of the design system, style guides and motion concepts he created here.
Refining the Interactions
The massive scale of the screen posed serious interactional challenges. Interface scale was a consideration; it needed to be a human-friendly size (inside a 20' wide screen), while also being movable to any area of the screen to support users in wheelchairs vs standing adults.

Highlights: 

We embedded playfulness into the menu interaction itself, so that users could pass the menu from one person to another.
Below: the UI will follow you anywhere based on where you touch (supporting any height of user). Using the screen grid, we created 3 media dimensions so content could be viewed up close, enlarged for small groups, and expanded to full screen.
Final Case Study Video

Outcomes

  • Significantly increased visitor engagement.
  • Staff members have an easy-to-use custom CMS so they can add content to the wall from their computers any time without needing help from IT or external vendors.
  • Supports many use cases.
  • We created a special 'take over' mode so that it could be themed or taken over for conferences or community events all from the CMS, including being able to write special messages. This has a big impact when VIP clients come in and see "Welcome [VIP Client]" on the screen!
  • Inclusively designed.
Credits: 

This project would not have been possible without the following individuals:

  • The Spin Master Executive Team
  • Holly Peacock, Global Director of Facilities, Spin Master
  • Mike Arnott, Creative Director, Spin Master
  • Dylan Belyck-Seymour, Interactive & Art Director, Spin Master
  • The Entertainment and Content Production teams at Spin Master
  • Glenn Wong, Producer / Director, Spin Master
  • Adam Rathwell, Studio Director, Spin Master
  • Mark Pelland, Interactive Director, Spin Master
  • John Bolton, CTO, Globacore
  • Armando Hernandez, Lead Developer, Globacore
  • Morgan Carlson, Globacore
  • John Grant, Devleoper, Globacore
  • Ece Inan, Product Owner, Globacore
  • Globacore

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