GitHub Skyline

Your GitHub Story in 3D.

GitHub set out to reward the hard work of its extensive community of Open Source developers.

They came to us with the idea to represent the contributions of their most prolific users as a physical object that people could keep proudly with them. These trophies would be beautifully 3D-printed to showcase the contributions done during the past year.

We worked closely with their Developer Relations team to go from their initial prototype to a beautiful experience combining WebGL, WebVR and 3D printing where any GitHub user could produce their own trophy.

ClientGitHubIndustry

Cloud Computing
Developer Tools
Internet
Project Management
Software

LocationSan Francisco, USAServices

UI Design
Development

Creating an immersive experience showcasing GitHub user contributions.

The challenge was on: could we turn a vanity metric into a fun and memorable experience?

After iterating on some artistic explorations, we settled on a bold, Tron-style aesthetic with neon lights in an 80s retrofuturistic environment.. We thoroughly aligned the art direction some of our previous collaborations with GitHub to evoke a consistent aesthetic respecting their latest website design.

As icing on the cake, we collaborated with a synthwave artist to create a tailor-made, outstanding soundtrack.

Back to the 80s

We knew the audience of the product well: after all, we are developers ourselves. So we designed the whole experience to connect with developers in a way that it would become shared virally on social media.

Naturally, we built some hidden functionality (commonly known among developers as Easter eggs) into the experience. One of them can be accessed with the Konami code, a well known key combination used in old gaming consoles:

Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A.

By developers, for developers

After entering this combination, the whole experience morphs into a lo-fi, pixelated version, a kind of tribute to the 80s gaming consoles.

We turned a simple concept into a delightful, surprising and immersive experience.

After seeing the initial response from the community following the release, we had an idea to take the experience to the next level of immersiveness: make it available to VR headsets.

@leereilly's 2020 Github Skyline

https://skyline.github.com/leereilly/2020

We naturally connect with physical objects more strongly, and so we made the virtual experience integrated with a 3D printing service allowing everyone to instantly order their 3D printed copy of their skyline.

Bringing the experience to the physical world

An emphatic response from the community at large

Thanks to an engaging experience, we had very low bounce rates as well as high virality, with 250,000 page views in less than a week and 100,000 unique visitors.

Outcome

GitHub succeeded in engaging their community thanks to this innovative experience. Their most active contributors saw their own their hard work reflected in a beautiful, 3D printed metal skyline. The wider community also recognized the initiative for its artistic innovation and immersiveness.

"It’s always great to have a bunch of really kickass developers and creative types on speed dial to iterate on your ideas and take them into the real world, or in this case, a virtual one. Codegram made it simple to go from zero to hero on a very short timeline for our Skyline project, and their collective expertise helped make it become a runaway hit. Don’t tell them I this, but they’re also a nice bunch of people and I… you’ll enjoy working with them. Their enthusiasm and passion for that project of yours may even surpass your own."

Lee ReillySenior Manager, GitHub