Cinema-Sonic
Cinema-Sonic is a Seattle-based music and audio production company, specializing in creating high quality orchestral recordings for film, games, commercials, and TV.
Problem: Cinema-Sonic found out they got an unexpected hook up for a booth in Game-Sound Conference (LA). The Hitch, it was only 6 weeks away and they had no web presence, and no digital or print assets.
Duration: 5 weeks
Role: UX design and research, prototyping, usability testing, visual design, logo and brand development, style guide creation, digital and print assets, website development.
Tools: Photoshop, Illustrator, Squarespace
Stakeholder Goals
Create a website and visual design branding in a short time frame.
Create a streaming portfolio of past work in both audio and video formats.
Focus placed highly on orchestral services.
Highlight the various services offered.
Process
Target Audience
Independent game developers, movie producers as well as producers of TV & commercials.
User Interviews
Conducted several informal interviews with local film producers and directors.
User goals for the website:
Easily navigable, and easy to find information about the services provided.
Need to be able to listen to sample audio and video.
Need a quickly accessible point of contact with quick response time to inquiries.
Competitive Research
Most of the other high end audio production company websites I researched had huge lists of Gear: microphones, mixing boards, outboard gear, instruments and down to the tiniest minutia of gear. This is definitely the driving distinction that Cinema-Sonic wanted to divert from. They offer the same services, but as the stakeholders said "We can record anywhere, borrow any gear we might not have, but it's not the gear that makes the music. It's the musicianship and the ears."
Take away: Website should provide a personalized approach with a focus on musicality, while still educating and describing the services offered.
Ideation
Website Features
1- Streaming video portfolio
Easily updatable by simply adding to the Cinema-Sonic Vimeo playlist it syncs to the website.
2- Streaming audio portfolio
Easily updatable by simply adding songs to the Cinema-Sonic Soundcloud playlist.
3- Service pages
Describe all services provided, with links to audio examples as well as the inquiry page.
4- Team Page
Bio pages for each member on the Cinema-Sonic team, highlight their individual projects.
User Flow
The focus of Cinema-Sonic’s service flow provides education about each available service offering, with each page providing an opportunity for the user to make contact with the company via the "Tell us about your Project" page.
Visual Design
Cinema-Sonic wanted imagery and visual design to invokes a vintage audio / cinematic feel.
I develop the logo.
Created social media pages and associated digital banners and profile imagery.
Printed material for GameSoundCon: business cards, 3x5 card advertisements, letterhead, and promotional banners.
Creation of all digital assets for the website.
photo: Dai Ross Photography