spec.studio: “Curators of Innovation”

“More Hollywood for SMEs” is the slogan on your website. From your perspective, why is it so important for SMEs to communicate in a new, contemporary form?

Richard Pusch: We live in an extremely visual world. Social media and websites have reinforced this in recent years. People expect content to be appealing. If you don't have that as a company, you quickly get lost, especially on social media, because this is where trust and quality are conveyed to customers. If you want to make an impression on your target group, you need a certain visual appearance.

Korbinian Urban: Especially in our globalized world, companies are in competition with global players. The quality label “Made in Germany 2.0” must become decisive for German companies. Communication at the level of a corporation like Apple – and that for German SMEs. We wanted to make this as understandable as possible for our customers: Hollywood means pure emotion, “for SMEs” describes the budget scale that we offer.

What specific approach are you pursuing as a company?

Korbinian: We are revolutionizing the way content is produced. Together with our customers, we develop efficient and sustainable pipelines that cover every area of media production. The basis is often existing CAD data. If this is not available, individual 3D models can also be produced. This makes it easy and cost-effective to create product variations and updates.

Experts for 3D renderings and 3D animations

Can you tell us something about your career? What led you to spec.studio?

Richard: The company used to be called Spektrum Digitale Medien. It was founded in 2007. We were both employed there. We took it over five years ago. At that time, the services mainly consisted of layout creation and image editing. We realized that this area was no longer viable in light of developments. As employees, we started to initiate the development of 3D renderings and 3D animations. After the takeover, we then developed even more in this direction.

Korbinian: In the company, we divide the work up like this: Richard does the project management and customer contacts and I'm responsible for the technology and the creative corner.

What expertise does your team bring to the table?

Richard: We have both worked in marketing for many years and have a lot of experience in communications for large corporations. We can bring a lot of that to smaller companies. Our team consists of media designers, 3D artists and we have an apprentice in the field of immersive media design. This is a completely new apprenticeship. This means we are right up to date. We are driven by the question of how we can make further progress. What is possible now and what will be possible tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.

Korbinian: This also represents the philosophy of how we structure our personnel. We train people ourselves. This means that we always want to have a core team in order to build up the relevant services from within ourselves. If things become more complex at a certain point, we add specialist expertise on a freelance or partnership basis. The important thing is that we remain the point of contact and deliver the finished product.

Technological progress enables results that previously only large studios could deliver

An incredible amount is currently happening in the field of 3D animation and 3D renderings. What makes the moment we are in so exciting from your perspective?

Richard: The new structures, possibilities, tools and programs make it much easier to achieve goals that only large studios could achieve in the past. This threshold is shifting at the moment.

Korbinian: Our philosophy is based on software and technology. We want to offer our customers solutions that fit their budget. Theoretically, you can build a team of ten people who do nothing but motion, but that wouldn't fit the target group we have in mind. How can we deliver a good result with what effort? This question is at the forefront of our minds. Another exciting question is: Where is static content – i.e. images and video – sufficient, and when does it need to be tangible, accessible and changeable as a game engine? When does it make sense to suggest interactivity to a customer?

Interactivity in what form?

Korbinian: It could be VR glasses that make an environment accessible, or a mini-game. What drives us is not just the desire for technology – we absolutely have that – it has to fit the customer's situation.

Richard: In Germany, we tend to be a bit slow and cautious when it comes to adapting new technologies. The big players are moving more strongly into these opportunities. But the question is when the point is reached at which it spills over from the big players to the smaller ones. It doesn't always make sense to do the most technically advanced things.

Korbinian: In this respect, we see ourselves as curators of innovation. For each customer, we ask ourselves specifically: What makes sense and what doesn't make sense?

What role does AI play in your work at the moment?

Korbinian: We communicate the opportunities that AI offers to our customers. For us, it is the biggest opportunity yet to develop further. As things stand, we are not afraid of being replaced by AI. I recently read a nice quote: 'It's not AI that replaces people, but people who use AI replace people who don't use AI'. We started using the first AI tools two years ago. That was before the big hype. At the time, we thought it would take another five or six years for it to catch on. In fact, we now have AI in every one of our work processes.

Richard: AI enables us to match the quality of large studios, as it reduces the need for large numbers of staff.

In which work steps do you use AI?

Korbinian: We started with image interpolation, i.e. extrapolating or qualitatively improving the resolution of images. The next step was when we started using AI tools in post-production. We now also use AI for voice overs. But also in other areas such as target group analysis. We use image generators such as Midjourney and Stable Diffusion to speed up the imaging process for the customer.

What use cases are you currently working on in this area?

Richard: We are currently very busy with a digital out-of-home media topic with BMW, where we are noticing that digital screens are also being used more and more in Germany. It is increasingly being recognized that moving images can be used to communicate in a completely different way than static content.

Another case is Stadtsparkasse Dachau, which is addressing the target group of young trainees with a bold communication concept. Originally, this was a communication concept for a trade fair stand. In the meantime, we have adapted the look more broadly. In future, we want to implement all advertising material aimed at students and young people in this way and communicate in the same style. Everything is based on our initial 3D data.

We are very well networked with the business development department of the city of Dachau and the district. They recently launched a project: the digital shopping city of Dachau. As part of this project, we will be holding a workshop to show what options are available today to attract people into the store and present products better.

Korbinian: We also see ourselves as a benchmark partner. You can bring us in if you as a company feel you need to do something about digital communication.

What future projects are you working on and where do you want to go with spec.studio?

Richard: Together with a young filmmaker from Austria, we have just submitted a project to the FilmFernsehFonds Bayern. She works heavily in the fields of VR, art and education. Our project is about a flood event in Austria. We want to use VR to tell an emotional story that raises people's awareness of environmental issues.

How important is Bavaria as a (media) location for your work?

Richard: We were both lucky enough to have been born and grown up here. For us, there was never any question of having to go anywhere else. Munich and Bavaria are incredibly good business locations. There are many interesting networks that are supported by the state, in which companies are specifically networked with each other. We absolutely benefit from that.

Korbinian: The location is particularly advantageous in terms of skilled workers. It has a real magnetic effect. We benefit from this as a company.