Let Our Powers Combine.. To Make a Website!
What does it take to create an award-winning website? Just ask Culture Pilot – they’ve done it. And you’re on it. That’s right, THIS VERY WEBSITE has been awarded with a Gold Addy in Houston and a Silver Addy at the 10th District level. We’ve always been pretty proud of it, and we’re excited to see that its creators are reveling in the accolades they deserve.
From start to finish, we’ve worked in concert with the CP peeps to make sure the site achieved the functionality and innovative experience that truly defines our company. Here are some insights from both sides of the creative equation.
Collaboration
BS: Black Sheep has a unique point of view, and most designers don’t understand what that is at first. We’d spent a lot of time trying to explain our perspective, and nearly everyone missed the mark. During the brainstorming process, we basically gave Culture Pilot a green light to go big and bold – to really capture our energy and imagination. We wanted a visitor to our website to actually experience something, and we wanted something that was as interactive as our campaigns and ideas. Something totally unexpected and off the wall. And when they showed us their inspiration collection packed with other beautiful and amazing and interfaces, we couldn’t stop saying YES! YES! EXACTLY! You know when you’re on a first date and you find yourself falling in love before dessert? That was us.
CP: Collaboration was of the utmost importance in creating this website. We would not have been able to push ourselves in the way we did without the creative inspiration provided by Black Sheep. We also have to give a golden shout out to our mutual friends at Greenlight Advertising for their wonderful work with the branding. They provided the perfect jumping off point, and it truly was a combination of these three creative forces that made the excellent interactive aspect of this website possible.
Our creative process typically begins with sketches and brainstorming sessions. We were lucky to be working with a new client who was willing to give us complete creative freedom and present ideas without borders. We’re pretty sure Aimee said “Just go crazy.” at one point – and for us, this is the ideal.
After our first brainstorming session with Black Sheep, we regrouped at Culture Pilot and pulled together a few ideas that felt most fitting for their persona and presented them as early prototypes. We knew Black Sheep had a relatively wide range of clientele so one of the biggest challenges was developing something that fit the “crazy” expectations for engaging users, and still allowed for ease-of-use, administration and a lot of content generation. Thankfully our ideas were well received and we continued forward with the chosen concept you’re seeing now – a two-part world for both readers and explorers.
Process
BS: We have to be honest – for the most part, we just got to show up and watch the amazing progress. We’re opinionated creatures, and while we had some tweaks here and there, it was pretty easy on our end. We could say “How about another flying sheep?” or “What if that Airstream opens up?” and they never said they couldn’t do it. And while they were making things look fantastic, we were writing, re-writing… and rewriting the content again to make sure we set the right tone as well.
CP: The main difference between this and other projects was the awesome, jam-packed power of the Black Sheep/Culture Pilot brainstorming sessions. Inspiration came directly from these collective efforts. A tiny suggestion would spark a landslide of ideas and before you knew it a sheep would have a shotgun in its hand. The Black Sheep Agency provided creative writing while we worked simultaneously on design and development at Culture Pilot. The great content consistently published by Black Sheep kept us coming back for more and helped the project stay fresh and inspiring for us.
Outcome
BS: Of course, we’re thrilled about the awards. You’ll be hard-pressed to find a piece of work this amazing anywhere, and we (collectively) put a lot of effort into it. Getting recognized for something you’re proud of rocks. We hope this is merely the beginning!
CP: The Black Sheep Agency website became a project that we couldn’t wait to work on each day. It was really fun to see it evolve over the course of the process. A lot of love went into the project and winning awards is just icing on the cake – it goes to show what can happen when great creative minds come together. We don’t go into projects thinking “Hey, let’s win awards.” The ultimate goal for us is creating brands and experiences that we would enjoy ourselves. What’s next…? Creative world domination, of course. It’s amazing to meet creative minds that are so in sync with one another – we’re looking forward to more collaboration with Black Sheep in the future.
All in all, this experience was as fun as it was exhausting, and it’s proof that there is power in collaboration. Each person on the project brought their own unique strengths to the table, and it’s apparent in every blade of grass and hidden Easter egg. And yes, it’s true – your life will not be complete until you find all of the flags.