Sustainability: Through the Lens of CGI

If you ever talked CGI with someone on the KP team, you likely got a breakdown of when you typically use computer-generated imagery over photography. And visa-versa. Our clients reap many benefits by choosing CGI as the creative avenue for their visual communication projects such as:

• being able to produce images that don’t yet tangibly exist, or
• creating massive rooms scenes that have infinite longevity but take up zero physical space,
• or even cheating physics to showcase products that a camera can’t successfully achieve. 

No matter the end-use of a computer-generated project, one main benefit tends to be a common denominator: positively impacting our clients’ bottom line.

Let’s pop that macro lens off for a moment and look at the bigger picture. CGI doesn’t just benefit our clients by helping get the most out of their marketing dollars. It can also benefit the environment. With sustainability at the forefront of many businesses these days, we want to shift our focus to the unmistakable impact CGI may or may not have on the environment.

Here are three different ways CGI can help creative businesses become even more socially & sustainably responsible while delivering what their clients need.

1. GOODBYE, PHYSICAL PROTOTYPES

Prototyping isn’t cheap, especially if the product offered comes in many different shapes, sizes, and colors. By rendering a 3D model of a product using CGI (instead of the physical manufacturing of one), it allows for the reduction in materials needed to create a tangible product for an intangible purpose, say a digital ad. 

Imagine needing prototypes of a single model of a blender offered in 50 colors. The number of materials and resources necessary to achieve this large-scale production would ultimately generate more waste than rendering the blenders digitally.

2. SIGN, SEALED, DELIVERED

With online orders and next-day shipping status quo these days, it’s often easy to forget the massive carbon footprint this logistically creates. CGI projects can save on delivery costs along with the carbon emissions associated with said shipping. For example, you need creative assets showcasing large-scale product offerings (such as refrigerators, casement windows, cars, etc.). Providing your product’s CAD files digitally for the use of CGI instead of shipping the physical products allows the elimination of the packaging, fuel, and all other carbon emissions associated with organizing the delivery of the products.

And speaking of carbon footprint, there are also the negative impacts the need for traveling creates into being on location for photoshoots. Whether driving or flying a short or long distance, environmental impacts are always at play.

3. REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE

Computer-generated assets have longevity, essentially living forever in the digital world. Physical assets? Not so much. For example, take a newly constructed kitchen set created for a photoshoot showcasing a new line of small appliances. Shoot day comes, the set looks great, and you get the perfect shots. Now what? Either remodel the set for a different purpose or demolish it to make room for the next project. In either scenario, inevitable waste is in the future.

Now take the example of building that same set kitchen, but digitally using CGI. “Shoot” day comes, the digital set looks phenomenal, and you get the perfect renders. Now what? Anything you want! You can choose to change out the products within the set kitchen, maybe transform the current farmhouse aesthetic into a mid-century modern kitchen, or you can choose to do nothing with it until the following year when your brand releases new product offerings. No demolition is necessary!

Technological advancements continue to develop, become wiser, and more efficient. With sustainability being woven into top consideration as these evolutions are happening, the gap between the necessary creation of visual assets and the negative impact by which it has on the environment will continue to get smaller and smaller. 

As always, KP is focused on continuously providing not only inspired solutions for our clients but also developing operational processes allowing us to help contribute to this positive, sustainable change. To learn more about our team & how we operate connect with us today!