3D in hours, not days

How the “Ivi” design team puts together storefronts, curations, and promotions on Phygital+: from rights holders’ posters to title treatments and game mechanics

client

"Ivi"

https://www.ivi.tv/

Industry

Streaming Media / OTT

Team

In-house design (creative, editorial, promotional, motion graphics)

Example of use

3D illustrations, compilations, characters, alternative posters, adaptations

Results

Time saving

2–3 days → a couple of hours

for the creation of a 3D illustration in the company’s corporate style

Increased Efficiency

~1 week

on tailoring the workflow to thematic collections

Challenge

“Ivi” is an online movie theater: on a single screen, it features content licensed from rights holders, its own series with promotional packaging, sports, and even audio series. The streaming service has its own large design team that works on the product, the user interface, communications, promotions, and motion graphics. There are many tasks, and the deadlines are tight. It’s not always possible to create a full-fledged 3D image “from scratch” for every image or spend hours on retouching. We needed to speed things up without compromising the service’s style.

There isn't always time to work with 3D in depth

You have to come up with a new illustration, find a metaphor, and figure out the angle. There’s often no time for that—the banner is needed today.

The display depends on the materials provided by the copyright holder

Materials provided by the copyright holder for niche content often require extensive retouching in Photoshop.

The style of the shelves and the mechanism should be recognizable

Themed collections, Audio Identica, communications, and game mechanics with prizes—all of this should feel like “Ivi,” not like a collection of random outputs from different neural networks.

"AI can't think yet and can't look at a problem from a different angle. But it can take over routine tasks and speed up processes."

— Leo Buravlev, Head of Creative Design at “Ivi”

Decision

One Window: Processes You Can Share with Your Team

At Phygital+, the “Ivi” design tool assembles workflows tailored to the needs of an online movie theater: it loads a reference style, generates the desired angle, makes minor adjustments in Photoshop, and exports the result to Figma. A successful process is documented in a design guide—which is used by other designers, including new hires with expertise in neural networks.

Phygital+ functions as a “one-stop shop”: you can set up a pipeline, share it within your team, without having to switch VPNs between services, and easily forward all supporting documents to the accounting department.

3D illustrations: style guidelines from 3D designers → Nano Banana Pro (sometimes GPT Image) → minor tweaks → banners
Themed collections in the showcase: horror, rom-coms, and other sections; backgrounds, characters, and elements in a predefined style; a separate Audio Identica section for audio series
Characters for game mechanics: poses and emotions are created in a continuous stream, with a full 3D cycle completed in less than a month
Sports on the service: they’re tightening up the broadcast feed, muzzling the commentary, and tailoring the format to specific matches as part of the broadcast license
Editing and Adaptations: upscaling and careful refinement of materials provided by copyright holders; alternative posters for the same title tailored to different users
Adaptation into English: title treatment from Russian posters in the same style for international markets, without redrawing them by hand from scratch
Pre-shoot creative: they take a quick look at what the promotional concept looks like; the Originals themselves are still filmed using standard production methods

Nano Banana Pro

GPT Image

Figma

Phygital+ Innovation Pipelines

Photoshop

"Visualizing our ideas allows us to test concepts before moving into production. This yields more relevant results than using sketches."

— Leo Buravlev, Head of Creative Design at “Ivi”

Result

Neural networks at “Ivi” help speed up the completion of everyday tasks: banners, curated product shelves, showcase cards, title treatment adaptations, and characters for game mechanics. Consistency is maintained through style guides and standardized processes. A human always reviews the generated output. Images of actors and characters are used only where the rights holder has granted permission.

1. 3D work has become faster. It used to take two or three days just to create an illustration. Now it takes a couple of hours in the pipeline, followed by the usual finishing touches in Photoshop.

2. Playlist collections are curated in a consistent style. Horror, rom-coms, audio series—I don’t start from scratch every time, but rather follow a streamlined process and guides. It takes about a week to set up the curation pipeline, provided I can work on it without distractions.

3. Game mechanics and the in-game showcase don’t wait for months. By generating the character Zhuzhu using neural networks, the team was able to create her for the game mechanics faster than they could have by following a full 3D production cycle. The editorial team can improve the quality of assets more quickly and create alternative posters. For English-speaking markets, the title treatment is designed in the same style as the Russian versions.

4. The role of the designer is changing, not disappearing. A new type of specialist is emerging who combines traditional design with expertise in neural networks.

Learn more in this presentation by the Creative Director at “Ivi”

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