Designing 'Impact' : human stories, legendary safety — the Mercedes-Benz way

The Impact campaign tells stories of survival and newfound perspective that resonate with existing and aspiring Mercedes-Benz drivers and virtually all consumers. It consisted of seven unscripted video testimonials(all shot by the documentary filmmaker Henry Corra ) of Mercedes-Benz drivers who survived life-threatening accidents.

Mercedes-Benz / Razorfish

New York
2009

RoleArt direction and Web design;

TeamFrederic Bonn, Derek Harms, Tina Divino Morgan, Reid Armbruster, Holly Mason, Justin Wallace

Mercedes-Benz / Razorfish

New York
2009

RoleArt direction and Web design;

TeamFrederic Bonn, Derek Harms, Tina Divino Morgan, Reid Armbruster, Holly Mason, Justin Wallace

Mercedes-Benz / Razorfish

New York
2009

RoleArt direction and Web design;

TeamFrederic Bonn, Derek Harms, Tina Divino Morgan, Reid Armbruster, Holly Mason, Justin Wallace

Mercedes-Benz / Razorfish

New York
2009

RoleArt direction and Web design;

TeamFrederic Bonn, Derek Harms, Tina Divino Morgan, Reid Armbruster, Holly Mason, Justin Wallace

Razorfish
New York
2009

Role
Art direction
Web design

Team
Frederic Bonn
Derek Harms
Tina Divino Morgan
Reid Armbruster
Holly Mason
Justin Wallace

Interactive.Web design.
Campaign.

As an Art director, I was part of the ideation process, developing the creative brief, outlining the story-telling aspect, and handling the design part. I worked closely with the dev team to ensure site interaction enhanced the powerful narrative. Visitors to the site can easily roll over images to learn about the owners and click to view their extraordinary stories, which are brought to life with additional content. Therefore, we kept the design minimal to ensure that emotional narratives can effectively showcase Mercedes-Benz's ability to protect its occupants when they are most vulnerable.

Interactive.Web design.
Campaign.

Intro_2

Site's preloader's suspenseful build-up relies on emotional phrases from the stories: "I can't believe we walked away"; "The car absorbed all the force. It saved our lives."; and "The police told me I would have been dead in any other car."

Intro_001
Intro_002
Intro_003
Intro_004

Site's preloader's suspenseful build-up relies on emotional phrases from the stories: "I can't believe we walked away"; "The car absorbed all the force. It saved our lives."; and "The police told me I would have been dead in any other car."

5_2

Landing page. Each story thumbnail subtly responds to the cursor, creating a sense of depth and perspective.

( The campaign was originally titled 'Perspectives' before being renamed 'Impact').

8
7
6
StoryEndCard

Subtle animations and intuitive UX elements guided users through the video narratives—enhancing flow without disrupting the emotional impact.

Although Mercedes-Benz's Impact site is no longer maintained, some of the original video content still lives on YouTube.

9
add_content_2jpg
add_content_3

Additional content, such as real photos and a the model of the crashed vehicle added depth, authenticity, and emotional resonance.

concept

An earlier concept: Due to the graphic nature of the actual photos of the crash vehicles, I considered using wrinkled paper as a visual metaphor.

AA_logo_transp_cropped

Angel Angelov

CHECK ALSO
WWW.NYBULL.COM

 

linkedin-02-01