Background

JLABS are the research and innovation labs of Johnson & Johnson, spread globally across 12 locations. The space not only serves as a coworking location and an incubator for the innovators in Shanghai but also hosts hundreds of visitors from the Johnson & Johnson’s global network. The brief was to create two permanent installations that beautifully, and informatively showcases the cutting-edge work JLABS are doing around the world in life-sciences. With a limited budget of 200,000 USD, we custom-built an interactive LED-based unity experience using over half a million particles, with a CMS on the backend that enables content updates in the future. We also created a 3D volumetric light installation featuring moving objects as a tribute to life science.

Describe the creative idea (40% of vote)

The first installation is an immersive floor-to-ceiling LED wall that is intended to connect with, inspire and inform the visitors through visually stunning animations and in-depth content from JLABS offices around the world. We implemented motion-sensing and tracking cameras to detect people’s presence across the entire wall. Once we detect that a person is engaged with the screen, we present them with curated JLabs global office information and latest developments happening within the companies. When the installation is in an idle state, with no interactions triggered, the screen switches between states showing either vivid organic animations, or bite-sized content. The second installation we created is a volumetric light installation featuring 3D sculptures moving through a three-dimensional space of LEDs. The core of JLABs work surrounds the field of life-science, and so both installations are inspired to reflect this rich world of life and organisms.

Describe the execution (40% of vote)

The goal of the visuals is to show the nature of the work within JLabs, through beautiful, organic animations. Because the installation is permanent, we created an ever-changing real-time rendered animation with a generative approach - making each moment unique. We can also dynamically transition into different shapes or ‘presets’. For the animations, we use a mix of abstract visuals, combined with organic subjects such as the DNA double helix and cellular division. The colors of the visualizations take inspiration from Johnson & Johnson’s brand guidelines, but we adjusted the saturation and the color spectrum based on on-site testing on the LED screen so that the colors are reproduced accurately and beautifully to the maximum extent. The colors then are randomized through code to create unique hues within certain timeframes, surprising and delighting the visitors and their everyday residents.

List the results (20% of vote)

The client liked the bespoke installations so much that they asked us to recreate the visualization for their grand opening party. We lit up the walls of the venue at the iconic Shanghai Tower with a massive 360-degree projection. We also scaled down the interactive experience and adapted it to smaller screens so that the opening party guests could also get a taste of the JLABS space. As the two installations are permanent, we are now looking into creating new content for the space through the CMS.