In 2019, the world was captivated by the news of the first photograph of a black hole ever taken. This achievement was made possible by creating a “virtual telescope” the size of Earth, known as the Event Horizon Telescope. It was formed by eight telescopes positioned in various locations across the planet, working in incredible coordination. The enormous amount of collected data resulted in one historic image.
Why are we reaching for such cosmic scales here? This story serves as a profoundly inspiring – and globally exceptional – example of collaboration. It is also undeniable proof of our core belief: collaboration means seeing the same thing from different perspectives.
Collaboration is our way of working
As the UX/UI team, we were pleased to explore the “Collaboration” theme as part of the Admind ThemeMonth™ initiative. Interestingly, this task was somewhat self-referential, as collaboration defines how we operate daily.
As a close-knit, highly cooperative team, we believe the best ideas are born in discussion. We aimed to convey this not only through the visual concept of the Admind ThemeMonth™ poster but also through the design process itself.
So, here is how we quickly developed our concept together:
Collaboration is the collision of ideas
Even though we are one team, each of us draws inspiration from different sources and has unique strengths. Our backgrounds span various fields: graphic design, industrial design, typesetting, print, and editing. Therefore, at the ideation stage, we worked separately, allowing each of us to present our interpretation of the theme. Only later, based on mutual feedback, did we arrive at a common understanding.
This is how we strive to work on all our projects as well; in this way, everyone brings their best to the process.
Collaboration is a powerful metaphor
The diverse ideas we brought to the discussion revolved around collaboration-related metaphors. Among the concepts that emerged were: the aforementioned telescope, a notebook full of notes and corrections, a chain, a handshake, Instagram AR filters, and a relay race (after all, it is an Olympic year, right?).
Ultimately, we decided to explore the “&” glyph – both universal and closely connected to our graphic roots. (But a picture is worth a thousand words – so we encourage you to check out our inspirations on the interactive mood board.)
Collaboration is iteration
As a UX/UI team, we wouldn’t be ourselves if we didn’t work iteratively. Therefore, the next step after ideation was creating quick sketches that brought us closer to the final concept.
Choosing the basic shape opened up an entire universe of possibilities. Do we want to use a flat shape or 3D? Should we stick to realism or abstraction? And are we limited by print format?
Collaboration is an experience
We immediately answered the last of these questions – since we work primarily with digital products, we wanted to reflect this in our poster and give users a more complete, interactive experience. That is why the printed poster includes a QR code and NFC tag linking to a responsive website where we briefly outlined our design process.
There is also a surprise waiting for users there – thanks to the Spline tool we used, the “&” from the printed poster comes to life, allowing viewers to explore the shape more closely by rotating and zooming in.
Collaboration is integration with technology
In today’s world, the collaboration also means human-machine interaction. That is why we incorporated AI and new technologies into our design process as our partners.
Since we can’t imagine our daily work without Figma (collaborative by nature), it was our primary tool. However, each of us used programs in which we felt most comfortable or wanted to explore further. We shared experiences and tips throughout the process.
Tools like Adobe Firefly allowed us to quickly test ideas, which was crucial given the short timeline. Interactive 3D renders were prepared in Spline. Rapid website creation was made possible by the no-code tool Framer.
Collaboration is also a learning curve
Joining Admind ThemeMonth™ was more than just a creative sprint for our team – it was a playground where learning and fun went hand in hand. We dabbled with new tools, stretched our imaginations to their limits (quite literally, the only thing holding us back was our own creativity), and discovered the art of compromise in a world without client constraints. Our relay team crossed the finish line, and the route of the race is recorded in the form of a website: our team’s closest expertise.
*
Team: Gabriela Baka, Joanna Trela, Igor Gierałt, Anna Niklewicz
Link to website: https://admind-collaboration.framer.website/