Preventing Backflow and Building Awareness
Parts count: 140 pieces
Dimensions (cm): 19.2(W) x 8(L) x 8.2(H)
(inches): 7.6(W) x 3.1(L) x 3.2(H)
Fire Protection and Safety Services LLC is a small fire protection engineering firm in the state of New York (U.S.A.). “We do mainly sprinkler system designs, fire alarms, life safety. And a lot of on-site inspections and helping municipalities understand everything that’s needed for building protection,” one of their team members explained in their discovery call.
From AI to Bricks
The client explained that he fed some reference photos of his ideas for a custom set into AI to see what they might look like made of bricks. Then, he shared them on LinkedIn to see how people would respond to them. “They got a fantastic reception,” he said, which led him to booking a discovery call with Playwell Bricks to see about bringing those sets to life. He hoped to offer the set as a giveaway to broaden awareness and understanding of the company.
Playwell Bricks team member Greg Young looked over the AI concepts, taking care to explain that while the AI mockups look remarkable, sometimes they can employ brick shapes that simply don’t exist and possibly distort the sizes of ones that do. “But in terms of visualization, this can certainly help the designers understand your vision,” he concluded.
Before the call ended, the client decided to go with the backflow preventer set. “This is something most of our clients have on-site, so it’s familiar,” he explained. A backflow preventer is a device that prevents negative pressure from flushing contaminated water into drinking water systems, like the kind of pressure that can happen when sprinkler systems and fire hydrants are put to use.
Brick Backflow Preventer
Playwell Bricks designer Eric Dubois Yang worked with the AI renders and photos of the actual unit to create the final set. The design moved along until the test build, when “we found out that the flex tube solution for the backflow preventer’s hosing didn’t work as expected,” recalls Eric. “The angle was a bit too sharp, which caused the tube to pop off.”
That was definitely not something that would represent Fire Protection Safety and Services LLC well. “We ended up with a more 90-degree approach, using brick pieces instead of tubing, while keeping the look as natural as possible.”
It was a compromise that worked, and after the client was notified and signed off on this design change, this set moved into production and delivery.
Conclusion
Like that first AI concept they shared on LinkedIn, the client also shared the completed set to his LinkedIn followers, offering three sets as a giveaway. The post was a whopping success, gaining 120 comments and hundreds of reactions. The Playwell Bricks team always loves to see their sets helping to build brands in this way!
For gifts that connect and endure, Playwell Bricks helps you brand well, build well and gift well, delivering gifts that lift your culture and message. Contact us and schedule your discovery call today.