Motion graphics in midair

Ovation hired Backbeat to design the visual environment for a Benchmark Gensuite event. The answer was not a bigger screen. It was no screen at all.

The build

Fabric panels were suspended throughout the venue and used as projection surfaces. Because the fabric was semi-transparent, motion graphics projected onto the panels could be seen from both sides of the room at once, which meant the content could hang in the middle of the space instead of being pinned to a stage wall.

That is the unusual part of this job. A double-sided surface breaks most of the assumptions projection design usually leans on. Content had to read correctly in both directions, hold up through the material, and behave as an object in the room rather than an image on a wall.

The result was a floating visual environment: motion graphics that appeared to exist in the space itself, with attendees moving around and among them rather than facing them.

What happened

The installation ran as the spatial identity of the event. It is a small proof of a larger point: the surface is a design decision, and Backbeat treats it as one.