Introduction
The Blue Desert is an R&D project developed to experiment new ways of conveying information usually confined to pdfs like Global Impact Reports and corporate press releases. We strongly believe in the power of storytelling to convey otherwise forgettable - but literally future-defining - data, and wanted to show it to the world.
The Story
The experience showcases two narratives:
- A sci-fi overarching narrative recounting a wanderer’s journey through his ravished world, forever changed by a catastrophic desertification phenomenon.
- A data-driven narrative told through pins scattered around the experience that compare the Climate Change Goals set by COP21 and the current progress (and shortcomings) we achieved towards them as a species.
Style & Details
While creating The Blue Desert, we strived to maintain an enveloping yet sand-y finish to complement the narrative and setting, from the color Palette to the font choice and design elements – a continuity that can be noticed from the smallest icons to the more noticeable transitions and glaringly through the brushed, soft and warming style of the 3D models that characterize the whole experience.
The smooth camera movements that take the user through the various scenes were studied meticulously and often reworked throughout the process.
Focusing on the tiniest details – which we’re convinced to be the dealbreakers in any immersive experience, there are many we’re fond of. Each of the scenes presents a custom interaction, like a fast flow of a waterfall, the flourishing of flowers on tree crowns, or the rejuvenation of the blue desert when touched by the “Komai” (blobs).
In terms of overall navigation, we’re always taken aback by the profound, AI-generated (and human-tweaked over and over) voice-over paired with the original soundtrack and variety of sound effects for each specific scene.
One last element we particularly enjoy is breaking through the clouds at the start of the experience, finding ourselves in the wanderer’s campsite. It really sets a different degree of immersion from the get-go.
Challenges & Learnings
“The more we know, the more we realize we don’t know.”
The wanderer’s aforism at the beginning of the experience highlights the project's learning journey. And that’s indeed what we painstakingly confronted ourselves with while working on this unique digital experience.
The main challenges faced included:
- 3D challenges: Coordinating multiple scenes in a continuous flow, ensuring smooth navigation and optimizing exported assets. Additionally, managing the vast size of the project, especially with cameras, backgrounds, and high-quality textures close to the point of view.
- Development challenges: Ensuring a consistent frame rate for users, achieved by implementing a double optimization process for both desktop and mobile, along with Three.js' frustum culling. The team also worked closely between 3D and Dev departments, experimenting with and implementing aspects of InstancedMesh, particularly focusing on Shader Materials and Vertex Shaders.
The tech stack for The Blue Desert was: Vue.js, Three.js, GSAP, Howler.js, Blender.
Reception
We were taken aback by the appreciation this experience received. Not only from the design community, who enjoyed the story as well as the imaginative world it takes place in, the curated 3D models and the original themes we produced for the experience – but also unexpectedly by many Brands who took notice and reached out, finding the approach fresh and engaging to highlight years of efforts in achieving higher sustainability standards.
Closing Thoughts
In terms of R&D, The Blue Desert was definitely the most challenging project we engaged with in recent memory. This isn’t only true in terms of (heavily) expanding our understanding and knowledge of optimization and 3D / WebGL, but also in polishing (and in the beginning, often reworking) the art direction, camera movements, and not falling for the pitfall of “wanting every random idea to make to the final experience”.
Given that the project was pretty much carried out in parallel between the 3D and Dev departments, the first phase of both teams consisted in a wide variety of specific experimentations that lasted from a few days to a week in order to fully master, and then be able to customise to our needs, a variety of technical specifics from texturing, UV-map creation, modeling and understanding the shortcomings of optimisation tools like Gltf-Trasform to specific tests on shaders and animations.
The biggest lesson and achievement was definitely structuring (not without hardships) a smoother, more natural collaboration and hand-over process between the two teams.
Company Info
Adoratorio Studio is a Creative Agency based in Brescia and Amsterdam shaping visually compelling, thought-provoking narratives that move people by blending strategy, design, technology and culture – proving that creative and effective aren't mutually exclusive.