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2025 ADC Awards - Illustration

The Symphony Plotter

Agency TBWA\HAKUHODO Inc. / Tokyo + digimo INC. / Tokyo + HAKUHODO PRODUCT'S INC / Tokyo + Y’s inc / Tokyo

Client JAPAN PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA
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Annual ID

ADC104_ILT037B

Today, people are obsessed with capturing special moments. But there's one place where this is impossible: a classical concert. To ensure the audience fully enjoys the performance, photography is strictly prohibited during the concert in Japan. As a result, they can't preserve the magic of that one unforgettable performance.

To address this unmet need, the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra developed a system that captures performances in a completely new way. The Symphony Plotter is an idea that creates real-time portraits of musicians using a pen plotter.

It transforms photos into dots, which are then connected by lines that reflect key audio elements: mean amplitude, harmonic strength, spectral centroid, and spectral entropy. These lines, reflecting the nuances of each performance, transformed the symphony into a dynamic, living visual art.

We displayed the portrait posters at the concert hall to make the audience enjoy the performance right after the performance. By scanning the NFC tag attached to the poster with a smartphone, anyone can replay the one-time symphony within it and watch the drawing process anywhere.

Furthermore, this drawing system was open-sourced for all music organizations worldwide to replicate and adapt it. It will serve as a stepping stone to transforming the classical concert experience worldwide.

This innovation responded to a desire among classical music fans: to bring home the beauty and emotion of a performance in a tangible way. It not only enriched the concert experience but also reshaped how people connect with classical music, fostering lasting emotional bonds and driving long-term brand growth.