Can Humans and AI Coexist in the Workplace?

Motion design studio BIEN creates “Glow”, an animated short film that dramatises how productivity loss affects modern companies and their workforces.

Glow is the story of a typical enterprise worker, Jane, and how she loses her way after doing repetitive, mundane tasks. The project is a visual metaphor about how enterprises might use IBM’s AI-powered automation software and services to give employees back hours of their day.

“Myriad Media awarded us the job because we proposed a tactile, hand-drawn animation approach to tell a tech story. We wanted this piece to be nuanced, emotional and slightly flawed, in a good way. This is the lens through which we view the human condition in the modern workplace”, said Hung Le, creative director at BIEN. “Telling a compelling story without dialog is challenging. To ensure maximum visual impact and cultural relevance for a global audience, we worked hand-in-hand with Myriad Media to shape the script and mould the story. It’s highly unusual for a studio to be involved from the very beginning but we were glad to collaborate from the jump.”

BIEN teamed up with freelance creative director, illustrator, and animator Reece Parker to bring his talents into the mix. From his creative studio in Seattle, Reece added: “It was a privilege to team up with great collaborators on a unique and challenging project. Jane's story is told without voice-over, which forced me and the animation team to dig into Jane and her emotions to fuel the narrative. This project was all passion and I'm stoked it all came together on a tight timeline, thanks again to a great team.”

Max Zampieri, creative director at Myriad Media, offers: “We took a huge risk going with this approach to tell the story for IBM, but the BIEN team executed our vision phenomenally. From the initial scriptwriting phase to storyboarding and illustration, through animation and clean up, Hung, Reece, and his team were absolute creative forces to be reckoned with. All while offering solves and smiles along the way.”

To view the animated short and watch Jane get her glow back, click here.