Autodesk wanted students to experience that their software was not only accessible but was being used by real designers on real projects, enabling them to do good and have a positive impact in the real world. To inform the direction of the new identity and campaign, we led a multi-faceted research exploration into the mindset of high school and college student designers and engineers. We started with a gamified social research quiz taken by 3,000 design students and makers to better understand student designer sand to establish a national awareness benchmark. Based on the quality of feedback, we hand-selected a focused group of 60 design students that helped us to create a truly relevant identity and campaign.

This thought leadership advisory group was engaged in the critical process of co-creation for a 90-day timeframe, providing feedback and direction validation, new ideas, and test creative materials for authenticity. They helped us to develop the concept of FoMT (The Future of Making Things), with which we were able to define a strong story that Autodesk could uniquely own. This relevant new voice and messaging platform provided inspiration for the creative look and feel of the campaign, as well as the criteria for designer/creators that would represent the brand. Specifically, The Autodesk student designer campaign strategy and the creative platform was developed to activate experiences that strengthen brand perception, inspire design tool usage, and drive advocacy.