Project Overview
Key Performance Indicators
- 5+ Average minutes on the trend edition
- 13% Average bounce rate
- 89% Arrived directly, not via search
Project Details
- Duration
- 5 Months
- Tools
Every year, BASF Coatings reveals its global Automotive Color Trends. A future-focused showcase where designers and industry leaders explore color directions grounded in cultural shifts, emerging aesthetics and evolving social behaviors. To bring this vision to life digitally, Dinghy crafted a visually rich and technically robust platform that included interactive 3D color previews and animated visual storytelling protected behind secure authentication optimized for fast global access.
Objective & Solution
The goal was to create an online space where innovations in color, texture and effect could be explored through stories and movement. Dinghy developed a website that blends high-level UX with immersive interactivity and visual depth. We did this by defining clear user journeys that allowed designers to navigate the expansiveness of worlds and trend signals.
Since the audience was visually-sophisticated designers, aesthetic execution and interaction quality were paramount, we engineered smooth scroll-driven state transitions, and atmospheric background effects that responded to user position and behavior.
Some pages featured up to 50 detailed and interactive renderings showcasing dynamic lighting, reflectivity and effect layers. To ensure fast loading times of these high-fidelity 3d renderings we implemented a sprite-sheet technique weighing trade-offs between compression quality, loading times and browser performance.
Privacy and controlled access were another critical requirement. The Trendsite launch content is confidential, so we implemented an authentication layer that prevented the experience from being discoverable publicly. To maintain secrecy while ensuring seamless user access, we deployed an invite-only entry flow with token-based gating and strict access policies.
Additionally, the platform needed to be accessible globally, including in regions with network restrictions and heightened security requirements, such as China. This introduced architectural trade-offs between content protection and delivery performance, requiring meticulous configuration of caching rules and edge-delivery configurations.
Project Outcomes Link to this headline
Secure & Controlled Access Launch
Implemented a token-based authentication system that protected content and maintained secrecy pre-launch, allowing BASF Coatings to reveal trends to select partners while preventing public exposure or unintended leaks.
Progressive Performance Optimization
Delivered rich 3D experiences using progressive enhancement ensuring accessibility across device tiers while preserving high-fidelity visuals.
Reusable Platform Architecture
Established a modular and scalable data warehouse that allows BASF Coatings to update and extend trend content annually without rebuilding the platform — ensuring long-term efficiency and lower maintenance overhead.
Testimonial
For a platform with a highly specialized audience and exceptionally high standards for design and user experience, Dinghy was the ideal partner.
Project Deliverables Link to this headline
The following are some of the deliverables that were created for this project.
3D renderings and audiovisual design
ImplementationWe designed an immersive 3D and audiovisual environment where motion and texture respond seamlessly to user interaction. As users scroll, dynamic backgrounds shift in depth and tone, guiding them through evolving color worlds. High-fidelity 3D objects react to cursor position, creating a tactile, almost cinematic experience that blends digital materiality with narrative storytelling
Invitation-Only Login
ImplementationA secure, invite-only entry screen that combines confidentiality with a premium brand experience, setting the tone for an exclusive digital reveal.
Dynamic Sprite-Rendered Color Objects
ImplementationWe engineered lightweight 3D assets built from compressed sprite sheets, enabling real-time motion and light-responsive behavior across devices. These shapes behave like sculptural pigments—bending light, revealing texture, and fluidly reacting to user input. This approach delivers high-end visual fidelity without sacrificing performance or load speed.
Guided Exploratory User Journeys
User ExperienceTo support deep immersion without confusion, we built a journey system that visually anchored users within the experience. Subtle indicators and contextual navigation revealed the current world, adjacent worlds, and available trend paths to explore.
UX Workshops
User ExperienceWorkshops with the trend team to pin down who actually uses the trendsite after the roadshow — and how. Personas, user journeys, and access rules that shaped every decision that followed.
Wireframes
User ExperienceComplete wireframes for the whole site, defining structure, flows, and a content inventory before any visual design — so trend team, visual artists, and developers could work in parallel.
Content Warehouse
ImplementationA structured, localized content platform that collects the collection’s colors, signals, trend worlds, media, and invited customers — and serves them through an API. Built once, designed to power every future edition.
Email Campaign
DesignDesign of the accompanying email campaign that invites roadshow attendees to the trendsite and keeps them coming back — including their personal top colors.
Interactive Color Explorer
InteractionAll 45 colors as turning color domes in a filterable grid — by category, color space, effect, coarseness, surface, feasibility, and region.
