For the past couple years of professional life, I worked on this project in conjunction with an incredible group of talented people from Unity and the New York Stock Exchange.
For the NYSE, Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) are kind of a big deal. When a company goes public (it happens a lot, sometimes twice a day), their leaders and employees descend upon the iconic trading floor to open up trading for the day by ringing the bell, leave their mark on the exchange by signing their names on the wall, and fly their company's banner for the world to see. It's a whole thing. Unfortunately, so was COVID. Live events weren't really happening for a while there. So we figured out how to do it all virtually.
Live in 3D.
Usually at 6am PST. Totally worth it though.
Obviously it wasn't enough to just to build a web app for livestreaming. We also built an entire 1-to-1 replica of the iconic and historic trading floor at the New York Stock Exchange. Though the credit for that ultimately goes to my scary-talented colleagues Ege and Damir, I certainly spent my fair share of time living in and helping build and re-build this virtual space on a weekly basis. I'd create texture packs of stills and animations which would be plugged into the scene to display everything you see on the screens and monitors. I'd hop into Blender and help build the giant company-specific 3D logo sitting in the middle of the trading floor. I'd hop into the scene to create and render 3D assets and animations to be shared on social media. I'd throw everything into After Effects and painstakingly colour-correct every scene to perfectly match each brand's colours. Then for each new client I'd do it all again.
On the morning of each IPO, employees from the participating company would log into our live experience and count-down to the event together. In the waiting room, they'd be able to watch video messages from their colleagues, and download social assets to share on social media. During the event, they'd watch the live stream from New York, chat, react with dynamic 3D emojis, virtually ring the bell to open trading, and add their own personal signature to the virtual wall. All in real time, in sync with the broadcast. At the end they'd be able to use our photobooth to take a snapshot of themselves on the trading floor balcony, and after the event they'd be sent a virtual flag with their company's logo and everyone's signature.
It was just like being there.
From the initial pitch, to presentation decks, to design files for the experience, to assets for the virtual scene and beyond, every experience needed to be custom-made for each new client. This usually had to be done in tight time-frames, with deadlines that could change on a whim and couldn't be missed, all to support a live experience that you only got one shot at and couldn't go wrong. The biggest challenge was setting up everything to be as repeatable as possible. Figma files had to be flawlessly set up with styles and components to minimize manual editing. Blender and After Effects workflows had to be endlessly optimized. Naming and file structures had to be flawless. Not attention to detail could be overlooked. You know, unless you really just loved working overtime.
The New York Stock Exchange was only the beginning. I was given the opportunity to dream big and conceptualize how else our product could be applied to and utilized by other clients and platforms. I dabbled in concept art, 3D scene design and took some unique approaches to conceptualize new features and experiences from everywhere to sport, traditional broadcast, and retail.
