A new visual language for AI
IBM
watsonx ORCHESTRATE “PRODUCT LAUNCH FILM”
IBM
watsonx ORCHESTRATE “PRODUCT LAUNCH FILM”
A new visual language for AI
IBM
watsonx ORCHESTRATE “PRODUCT LAUNCH FILM”
(CLIENT)
(CLIENT)
IBM
IBM
(SERVICES)
(SERVICES)
Creative Direction, Design, Animation
Creative Direction, Design, Animation
The Brief
The Brief
IBM needed a launch film for watsonx Orchestrate that could do double duty — a sales tool for reps on the road and promotional material out in the world. The ask was straightforward on paper: show the product, show what it does, show why it matters. The hard part was everything underneath that. This is a product that lives at the intersection of data, AI, software, and tooling — abstract, interconnected systems that don’t have an obvious visual language. We had to build one from scratch.
IBM needed a launch film for watsonx Orchestrate that could do double duty — a sales tool for reps on the road and promotional material out in the world. The ask was straightforward on paper: show the product, show what it does, show why it matters. The hard part was everything underneath that. This is a product that lives at the intersection of data, AI, software, and tooling — abstract, interconnected systems that don’t have an obvious visual language. We had to build one from scratch.
Watch the Film
The Challenge
The Challenge
There were two problems stacked on top of each other.
First: how do you make invisible things feel tangible? Data, AI, and software aren’t objects — they’re processes. We needed a way to personify each of these elements distinctly enough that an audience could tell them apart at a glance, while still feeling like they belonged in the same world.
Second: the product itself. watsonx Orchestrate has a real UI, and it needed to look like itself — not a fantasy version of the software. But dropped straight into an animated environment, a literal UI read as flat and out of place. We had to find a way to stay faithful to the actual product while giving it room to breathe inside a more stylized, kinetic world.
And underneath both of those was a bigger mandate: this couldn’t look like anything else in the AI space. Every competitor launch video right now leans on the same handful of visual tropes — glowing neural networks, particle swarms, blue-on-black gradients. Our job wasn’t just to visualize the product, it was to help define what IBM looks and feels like in a category that’s actively drowning in sameness.
There were two problems stacked on top of each other.
First: how do you make invisible things feel tangible? Data, AI, and software aren’t objects — they’re processes. We needed a way to personify each of these elements distinctly enough that an audience could tell them apart at a glance, while still feeling like they belonged in the same world.
Second: the product itself. watsonx Orchestrate has a real UI, and it needed to look like itself — not a fantasy version of the software. But dropped straight into an animated environment, a literal UI read as flat and out of place. We had to find a way to stay faithful to the actual product while giving it room to breathe inside a more stylized, kinetic world.
And underneath both of those was a bigger mandate: this couldn’t look like anything else in the AI space. Every competitor launch video right now leans on the same handful of visual tropes — glowing neural networks, particle swarms, blue-on-black gradients. Our job wasn’t just to visualize the product, it was to help define what IBM looks and feels like in a category that’s actively drowning in sameness.
The Approach
The Approach
We built the visual system around texture, form, and color — using those three levers to give each element (data, AI, software, tools) its own distinct identity, keeping them visually related enough while creating a coherent vocabulary of shapes and materials that could flex across the whole product story.
For the UI itself, we treated it less like a screen recording and more like a set piece — reconstructing key product moments so they stayed true to the real interface, but rebuilt to move, light, and sit naturally inside the animated world around it.
We built the visual system around texture, form, and color — using those three levers to give each element (data, AI, software, tools) its own distinct identity, keeping them visually related enough while creating a coherent vocabulary of shapes and materials that could flex across the whole product story.
For the UI itself, we treated it less like a screen recording and more like a set piece — reconstructing key product moments so they stayed true to the real interface, but rebuilt to move, light, and sit naturally inside the animated world around it.
The OUTCOME
The OUTCOME
The result is a hero film that’s fast, upbeat, and slick – energetic enough to hold attention but not too fast to miss the details. All built on net new visual guidelines specific enough that it couldn’t be mistaken for anyone else’s AI product. The visual vocabulary generated for this project has become the standard across the IBM brand for an emerging AI technology.
Celebrated across the organization, closing the gap between Art Directors and Engineers – which is no small feat.
The result is a hero film that’s fast, upbeat, and slick – energetic enough to hold attention but not too fast to miss the details. All built on net new visual guidelines specific enough that it couldn’t be mistaken for anyone else’s AI product. The visual vocabulary generated for this project has become the standard across the IBM brand for an emerging AI technology.
Celebrated across the organization, closing the gap between Art Directors and Engineers – which is no small feat.
ARE YOU GONNA FINISH THAT?
ARE YOU GONNA FINISH THAT?