December 12, 2014

Free project days unleash our creativity

We held our first free project day in November, and everyone in the team embraced the idea. The projects varied widely in subject matter, but all proved to be interesting and useful to both the company and the individuals involved. Some great examples include development of a lightweight e-commerce tool, streamlined code for image sliders and an automated colour picker for design.

Free project days give us the chance to create the beautiful things that live in our imaginations.

Being a digital artist and open source software enthusiast, I chose to design a holiday-themed banner image for our company website using the Blender open source software package. My objective was to create a photorealistic image using the Blender Cycles render engine that would serve as a proof of concept for digital assets that could potentially be mixed seamlessly with actual photographic elements.

In the image, I tried to incorporate as many visual metaphors as I could. The six stockings between two trees worked well with the “6-2” concept, and it felt visually balanced. The photograph is from our fourth anniversary party, and the five candles represent our bright expectations as we enter into our fifth year of business. The posters on the wall are the two office posters that define our company values. Initially, I was concerned that the table beneath the stockings felt too bare, but ultimately I decided this was a great visual metaphor for the blank slate that each new year offers to all of us. It’s an invitation to add one’s own personal touch to the unfolding story of 2015.

I had a great time working on this mini-project, and I learned many things that will prove useful on future projects. Overall, the free project day was an overwhelming success, stimulating our creativity and problem-solving skills, and I can’t wait to see what everyone develops on the next one.