Special Delivery! Making the perfect gift for Soar’s top mappers

We said thanks to Soar hero users in style: with a specially-designed Soar care package. Here’s how we did it and what was in it.

December 3, 2021

Soar is all about collaboration and working together towards a shared goal: to create the largest digital atlas by 2025. Our hero users have been hard at work uploading content to help us achieve this goal. So we wanted to do something special for them and share a token of our appreciation.
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As a thank-you gift, we decided to put together a Soar style ‘care package’ for our top users, filled to the brim with Soar goodies. We wanted the designs and concepts to have a personal touch and truly reflect our goals as an organisation.
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The first step in creating this package was figuring out what we wanted to put in it! At the office, we have a wonderful collection of Soar swag, so it was a no-brainer to throw some in, including the famous ‘Soar cap’.
When it came to planning and designing our first custom item, we wanted to do something fun. Nothing’s more fun than chocolate, so we made our very own custom Soar premium chocolate bar. This was no easy task and took many design attempts to get just right.
Horizontal Design Concept
Once we got into designing, we had to make the hard choices such as ‘do we go with a horizontal or vertical design’? We tried several options but ultimately steered towards a vertical design, which best represented the feeling of a premium chocolate bar.
Even more early designs
The next challenge was: how do we make a chocolate bar that represents our company? There’s no shortage of beautiful maps on Soar, so we wanted to feature our favourites on the packaging. We chose from a list of maps from our hero users, so when they opened the package, one lucky user would see their own map on the chocolate!
Several Vertical Design Concepts using maps from Soar
Picking the final map was difficult, as there were so many great ones to choose from. We wanted one that was eye-catching but also somewhat appetising. We ended up leaning towards warmer colored maps as these felt best for what we were looking for.
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The winning map was Mitten fold in the Damara Belt, Namibia made by our hero user Valters. It struck the perfect balance of detailed, visually pleasing, and strangely appetising. The map image was created using Sentinel-2 satellite data and highlights the stunning geology of the Damara Belt.
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For the finishing touch, we included a special personal message from our CEO Amir Farhand on the back of the chocolate box.
Final Design Concept
All our work on the chocolate bar got us thinking of the classic story Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. So for our next treat, we designed our very own Golden Ticket which included a special code for our hero users to get $50 off any SkyMap50 purchase. One lucky hero user can find the Golden Ticket slipped into their Soar Chocolate bar!
Golden Ticket Concept
Now we had all our goodies, we just needed a box to put them in. So we thought: why not design one ourselves?
Initial 3D Mockup
We wanted this package to be an experience. When the recipient opened the box, it had to feel welcoming and surprising! Just like our chocolate, we included a handwritten note from our CEO Amir Farhand on the lid.
Amir Farhand, CEO of Soar
We wrapped them all up, with a bonus Mr.Zoomy sticker on top to create our final Soar care package. The whole experience was a fun one! We hope our hero users enjoy their special package.
Amir Farhand, CEO of Soar
This blog was written by:

Michael Pearce

Michael is a creative producer for Soar, crafting creative content such as videos, graphics, and social media posts. He has a background in video game development and enjoys spending time with pigeons in the city.

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