Sling TV
DIGITAL PRODUCTION
Digital Marketing Production Systems
When I first arrived at OneTen in 2021, all of our digital ad production was being done using a bunch of different Photoshop and/or Illustrator templates. Considering we regularly supplied upwards of 60 different ad specs across device (smart TV UIs), display, paid social, and web, keeping track of a all these different working files was cumbersome. I was initially able to streamline this into a single 'Master' PSD template with all specs and leverage smart objects for more uniform editing of similar elements (CTAs, headlines, key art, etc). This solved for multiple files, but made the master file beefy once all the imagery was added. Then the company got with the program (literally) and issued enterprise Figma licenses to the product and design teams. As a long-time Figma fanboy, I was all too happy to migrate the PSD template into a Figma structure that utilized the power of components much in the same way as smart objects, except better in every way because it's Figma. Instead of writing about how I set up the workspace and implemented a new production flow for our team and clients, check out the onboarding demo below to see it in action.
Production Demo Walkthrough
A few of the thousands of assets the Master template has been used to deliver to date
Expansion
After getting the team onboarded to the Master template system, I looked for other ways to integrate it into our workflow; brainstorming, concept ideation, campaign look & feel, email, and in-app messaging were areas that could benefit. By the end of the first year Figma had become the central hub of our creative activity, with Adobe products playing more of a supporting role.
Brainstorming
Campaign Look and Feel
Landing Pages
Results
Integrating Figma into our workflow increased efficiencies exponentially - designers can lay out an entire set of ads in a couple hours while still retaining control over nuanced spec guidelines, clients can comment directly on proofs, and the cloud-based hub at the heart of Figma allows the team to converge and collaborate seamlessly. Though AI-driven automated ad creation is rapidly scaling to replace many of the repetitive tasks of traditional production, and may work for many business cases (especially in the CPG space), I've yet to demo a suite that offers the same level of granular properties and shared workspaces that are so important to many teams. Until that changes, I will continue to evangelize, advocate for, and build bespoke systems that make sense to teams, not just the bottom line.