Studio Insight Series: Key Strategies for Designing Your Ecommerce Content Creation Studio
Part 3 in our Studio Insight Series
Introduction: Planning a new ecommerce Studio for Content Creation is a real challenge and good preparation is the key to a studio that will grow as content demands change.
In Part 2 of our Studio Insight series, we looked at reasons to develop in-house content creation workflows, moving away from outsourced or third party content. In this post on ecommerce studios we look at the discovery stages for developing an In-House Content Creation studio.
Building a studio space, for small curated brands and multi-brand assets is a real journey, and whilst there isn’t a one size fits all approach there is a common thread. Our goal in these posts are to bring clarity, reduce the risk of a space becoming unsuited for brand requirements, and prepare conversations that allow any studio to meet expectations. It can be a long route from discussion to final launch and it pays to be prepared.
Lets look at the foundation steps for making the right choices for content creation spaces.
Todays topic areas : Considerations for a New Site
Identifying Key Requirements (Team and Scope)
Site Considerations (Attributes / Transport Hub )
Content Types
Growth Plan
Deep Dive Spaces
Power and Data part 1
Key Requirements
With many factors to consider, a restrictive timeline and aggressive budget, its important to prioritise objectives. The early role of the Stakeholders is to decide which elements are Dealbreakers and which are Nice To Have’s. This can be a challenge finding the shared goals between Creative and Operations.
Project Team
Lets kick off with the PT, establish who represents Creative (especially Photography technical input) and Operations. Depending on the scope, it may be useful that those views are communicated mainly by a single source, a Project Manager representing the Studio. Its a cliche to say avoid design by committee, but there is a reason for this also.
For a big move, consider what other daily tasks the involved studio team have, even the best planned project can get derailed because the Lead Photographer is on set for a few days or the Ops Manager is focused on Peak. Its vital that everyone is onboard with the plan and has space for the responsibilities and the tasks ahead of them.
The Scope Document
Will provide structure for the Project, acting as single point of reference for Stakeholders and team, bringing clarity for milestones, deliverables etc. Its vital for fast paced Content Creation studios, because as a project grows, content expectations will change. Flexibility can be built into the scope but document (and agree) changes. Working with Creatives (especially when excitement builds) can lead to constantly changing outcomes.
The Scope Document conversation is the ideal time to identify the driving factor of the new studio,
is it Ops based ie growth in Product Intake / additional sets
is it Creative such as new content types, elevated deliverables?
All studios have a definite lean in one direction or the other and its great to be honest about this at the outset.
Knowledge Base
To initiate the scope document the Project team need to gather data for input.
Consider
how has data been turned into search/build or design criteria?
how old is the info gather? (Aged info can really limit a project and studio build timelines can be long).
who has input and signed off on this proposal?
It pays to be rigorous in detail.
Consider a Consultant
This isn’t a sales pitch but its a great time to take on consultancy advice when establishing the Scope Document and the knowledge base. It can be hard (and political) to rule on the Dealbreakers vs Nice to Haves. Discussions often hinge on historic decisions or internal dynamics. A consultant wont have those issues and can cut through the noise, as well as provide technical insight into the impact on certain red lines.
Top Tip - decide early on between the Dealbreakers vs Nice to Haves.
Site Considerations
At a basic level how much space is needed in total, and ideally where would the studio be located? At this early stage its not essential to consider layout but instead have a percentage floorplan for key planning categories.
A top level view based on square meter proposal may be a simple split between
Content Creation areas,
Product Areas,
People areas,
basic assumptions for Facilities/Services.
Location considerations might be,
does the studio need Head Office direct contact (shared samples for example),
does it need to be near a transport hub (Talent),
and how does Product arrive ?
Existing Brand Space (part of portfolio) or standalone site.
A separate set of considerations come into play if looking at space already occupied by a brand. Many studios have grown out of repurposed head office or warehouse spaces. The note of caution is temporary quick fix spaces often become permanent studios. Be sure to have agreement on the goal and purpose of content creation spaces and the spatial requirements to deliver creative goals.
Note : A Property team will have clear objectives around rental, lease contracts etc, our insight posts are focused on what the Studio Project Team can bring to the conversation.
Key Site Attributes
This isn't the time for the full deep dive, but for stakeholders to inform what are the dealbreakers. For example it might include,
Creative spaces minimum ceiling height. Consider also this should be the ‘clear’ ceiling height ie without services such as HVAC. They can be moved but it is costly and should be avoided when possible.
A Photo Lead may have a hard line that 4.5m minimum ceiling is required for OnModel Studio sets but is this tested? Most likely the true cutoff point will be less, (ie the limit where content quality is impacted ).
These choices can make a surprising difference between type of building available and locations.
Pillars or other building structural components. What is the minimum set width by category and how many potential sets does a building structure impact?
For Operations this may be to establish Product red lines.
Inbound and Outbound -
what floor is this on ?
where is the Goods Access ?
is access shared or time restricted ?
is it secure ?
what physical barriers exist between intake and creative spaces ie lifts vs stairs vs same floor
is product intake mixed with access of people to the site or can distinct flows be created.
Transport Hub (People / Product / Talent)
Talent - the in-house team, questions to consider
can they park,
is there a good transport hub,
areas for secure bike storage
is the area high risk for theft in general.
Freelance talent,
how remote is the studio,
a Model cancels how easy is it to bring another model to site,
will talent want to travel to you
all will impact the creative content output and team engagement.
Other outside elements, if you dont provide food on-site canteen etc, consider also where can team and talent get lunch. As Studios tend to arrive and break set at the same time, this can be large numbers of people who need to get lunch and back on set in 45mins. Its a very different issue to solve than most office situations.
Content Types
Studios that deal with diverse content outcomes require additional early stage planning.
In principle the easiest space to plan is a 20 Set PDP studio that needs 15 On Model bays and 5 Still Life sets, a space with predicted outcomes and consistent product flow. But as content moves forward most studios become more varied in output.
The more creative elements to consider, the greater the impact on Product flow and Studio Layout. (The exception to this may be using fully automated systems that can shoot multiple content outcomes).
Appointing a Process team can be great to create change in the new space, so product moves quickly from intake to upload and there is less need for product overflow spaces.
The route to success is supporting data, a mix of accurate historic insight and forecast.
what does Peak look like for Product intake and storage.
how many sets (of all kinds) run on a daily basis?
how long is product held on site after being shot?
This can convert easily into space requests, ie Operations need 25% of total useable floor plan for Product. The aim is to reach general alignment on the Total Floorspace and the mix.
A software workflow tool will bring real value here to building confidence in the data. You can read more about those tools here.
Top Tip - A new Studio build is also a great time to examine Product flow and establish a Process Team.
Planning for Growth
Consult the scope document for the studio timeline, is it a stop gap, or 2-5 yr plan? It will be almost impossible to predict Content growth in 5 years (especially as Virtual, AI and 3d generation builds), but a solid foundation of Product growth should be known.
If a brand is volatile in terms of product mix or volume this may impact the design approach and floorplan for example a flexible series of modular sets would be a great solution for a brand with unpredictable growth. A brand with solid data and known growth and expected content outcomes may benefit instead with dry wall and defined spaces.
Both approaches can impact development and build costs as layout and wall/set types impact elements such as Power and Data installation and distribution.
Deep Dive the Space Requirements
With the above considerations taken care off it would be time to really dial in the detail on floorplan space. Without a building in place a layout can’t be made but a drill down into the original sq meter percentage split would be the next step for example
OnFigureStudios (this can include all PDP, Elevated) ,
Still Life Studios, (tabletop, mannequin, flat lay etc)
Product Storage (this can include Inbound / Outbound / Style Library / Shoot rails),
Prop + Set storage / Eqpt storage,
Breakout space,
Facilities + Services.
Top Tip - Dont forget Breakout space. Its easy to discard but this is content creation, people need space to interact, to breathe, to be inspired. Team engagement will benefit from real care in planning of breakout space.
Power and Data
Upgrades can be prohibitively expensive to implement so with basic knowledge of content types, set numbers and supporting services establish
what is functional equipment per set type,
power usage of each set,
supporting power elements such as hair and makeup stations, product steamers,
and the high value unknowns such as Video for editorial or elevated.
This is normally a layered calculation that needs to be completed by professionals and may impact conversations with Property or landlords.
To a lesser extent (because most brands have in-house IT experts) consider the Data installation plan, location of servers, distance of high users to servers (for example Video editors) to avoid lag issues.
Summary
There are a lot of factors to consider when planning the location and specific building requirements for a new studio site. But preparation is key. All of these challenges can be met with clarity when supported with good data and a knowledge of creative outcomes.
We hope this series continues to build insight into Studio Builds and of course if you have any questions about your own project please do get in touch.