Float

Nomination

Images

Videos

Direct link: https://vimeo.com/935008687/1a69e3f72d?share=copy

Direct link: https://vimeo.com/879852586?share=copy

Company

Float

Summary

FLOAT is a multi-award-winning Glasgow-based architectural visualisation studio that specialises in bringing future spaces and places to life through powerful visual media. In fewer than three years, the Float team has ascended to the top of the visualisation scene in Scotland. We’ve grown from one to six people, tripling our turnover have expanded our client base to include some of the world's top designers and brands such as AECOM, Atkins Realis, Brewdog, Bacardi, Chivas Regal, Keppie and Contagious to name a few. We have been featured in the press for our international work notably on the New Murabba in KSA but also on projects in Puerto Rico, the US, Europe and Australia. Our work has also been widely shared within visualisation communities.

Float specialises in collaborating closely with clients to portray the unbuilt; crafting emotive CGIs, compelling animations and immersive virtual reality experiences that play a crucial role in winning bids, securing planning consent and delivering high-impact property marketing campaigns. Our creative energy and pursuit of excellence help to portray complex ideas and transform the nature of visual engagement with important audiences, taking them to places that don’t yet exist. We add value for our clients at every stage of production from early feasibility studies, design competitions and planning right through to marketing collateral. We utilise highly collaborative platforms that allow us to work closely with our clients, leveraging the maximum value possible from our process, and have implemented numerous AI systems into our workflow to assist us in delivering better quality work for our clients and collaborators.

As an agency, we have publicly and privately championed accreditation for artists and studios across Scotland, taking our cause directly to the press and local democracy report schemes to raise awareness of this important issue. We are also in the early stages of applying for B-Corp certification which, if successful, would mean we are the only visualisation agency in Scotland (possibly the UK) that’s certified.

What sets your practice/agency apart from others?

At the earliest stages of Float's journey, we spent time with specialists to help us develop our values - Curiosity, Integrity and Collaboration. While these are familiar words might be familiar to anyone in creative circles, we didn't arrive at them flippantly. We went through an intensive exploration to understand not only what we do, but why we do it. These values permeate everything that we do, from our rigorous hiring processes and internal quality review standards to our outstanding personal and collaborative approach with our clients. Our vision is to provide a really enjoyable and personal experience for our clients when they work with us, one that helps them achieve their goals and surpass expectations. We always do what is right over what is easy, and are prepared to step outside our comfort zone wherever necessary to deliver what is right for the project and for the client. We also try where we can to help others in our sector where possible, often outsourcing work to our competitors when we are overloaded in the studio. We have also been championing the issue of accreditation, not just for Float but for ALL visualisation studios and artists in Scotland, by taking the issue to the press and local democratic press agencies. Our studio has also started the process of B-Corp certification, which if successful, will mean we are the only visualisation studio in Scotland with certification. Having previously won the visualisation category of the Scottish Design Awards the last two years, we have been featured heavily in the press for our domestic and international work, and our unflinching approach to quality and delivery has seen our client portfolio expand rapidly in the last year.

How do you go 'the extra mile' for clients and employees?

We have always believed that there is as much to be gained from the process of visualisation as the product itself. Many of us have come from an in-house design environment and so understand the pressures and complexity of design-led projects. We know how helpful it can be to offer clients additional material to help them on their journey - we frequently provide additional renders, light studies, detail vignettes etc out with that agreed scope, simply because we know it helps. We also have what we consider to be a truly collaborative approach, using central live platforms for our clients to work with us in real time. This means that clients comment not on drafts, but every update as if they were sitting beside our artists. This gives them a real feeling of control over the outcome, and also a sense of our commitment to their project outcome.

What innovations have you introduced in the past year?

This last year has seen a deep integration of AI into our process. We use AI to assist is in narration and concept development - the storyboarding of each of our renders and animations and as part of a detail enhancement process, with advanced human face replacement and detail refinement. This year we also saw our first project delivered fully using AI, in a purely conceptual pre-design capacity. We now use Miro, Pure Ref and teams to ensure a really close collaboration experience for our clients, and employ GPU based real-time render technology to allow us to explore lighting and materials in real time with our clients over screenshare platforms. This means we can work with our clients in a very deep design-led workflow and allow them to use visualisation effectively throughout the process, rather than being locked into a draft based workflow.