Case Study: Symphony 3D — Enterprise Creative Direction for Autodesk Fusion 360

Case Study: Symphony 3D — Enterprise Creative Direction for Autodesk Fusion 360

The brief was deceptively simple: make people feel what Fusion 360 could do, rather than telling them.

Autodesk's Fusion 360 software brings designers and engineers into the same cloud-based workspace — allowing disciplines that traditionally operated in separate pipelines to collaborate in real time. The challenge for a National Conference presentation was that the most powerful thing about the software wasn't visible in a demonstration. It was structural: it changed how different kinds of people could work together.

That required a project, not a presentation.

The approach

I proposed, budgeted at $17,000, and led an eight-person team of designers, engineers, and musicians to create Symphony 3D — a project built entirely around the premise of designing and 3D-printing functional musical instruments within Fusion 360. The instruments were designed in the software, printed, and then performed with. The performance was the demonstration.

By making something audible — something that existed in the physical world as sound — we created a proof of concept that no slide deck could have produced. The software's capabilities became tangible in a way that resonated across every discipline in the room.

The project was presented at the Industrial Designers Society of America National Conference in Austin, Texas.

What the project required

Running an eight-person creative team across disciplines — design, engineering, music — on a fixed budget and conference deadline requires the same set of skills as any senior creative direction role, just compressed. Proposal writing and stakeholder buy-in. Budget management from concept through fabrication. Team coordination across people who think in fundamentally different vocabularies. The discipline to keep the concept simple enough to survive production without losing what made it compelling in the first place.

A second, parallel project — proposed and budgeted at $11,000, led with a six-person team — brought Fusion 360 research to three regional IDSA conferences, extending the programme beyond the national event.

Why it's here as a case study

The Autodesk work is on this site because it answers a question that editorial photography credentials alone cannot: have you run a significant creative project from concept through execution, with a budget, a team, and real stakes?

The answer is yes. And it looked like 3D-printed musical instruments performed at a national conference.

Enterprise creative direction and project leadership available for commercial, technology, and brand clients. Contact via this site with a brief.