Stories of Technology, Innovation, & Entrepreneurship in the Southeast

Next year, a Knoxville-based company that helps corporations communicate complex ideas will celebrate its 30^th anniversary.

That firm is Info-graphics, originally known as Hopps Communications when it was founded in 1995. Today, the company is led by Rob Eddy, President and Chief Executive Officer, who joined in 2003 and was named to his current role in May 2013.

We first wrote about the Info-graphics on February 14, 2012, less than a month after teknovation.biz was launched (see that teknovation.biz article here). The company relocated several years ago to an office complex on Concord Street.

Today, while printed instructions are still an important part of the Info-graphics portfolio of services, technologies that were just emerging when we wrote the early 2012 article have become an important part of the mix.

It had been more than three years since we last wrote about the company as it and many other businesses were recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, so we took the occasion to have an updated interview with Eddy.

“We’ve been doing a lot more 3D work recently – in addition to instructional content, we’re utilizing our clients’ engineering and CAD (computer-aided design) files to produce photo-realistic product images and lifestyle renders to represent new products,” he explained, citing as examples recent work for Memphis-based Hunter Fan Company (see examples here) and Grow Local, a Fort Mill, SC company introducing technologies for healthy, sustainable lifestyles.

“This is helping our clients to shorten product development cycles and get their products to market faster,” Eddy said. As an example, Info-graphics developed life-like 3D renders for Grow Local’s new Aquatree and Grow Tower products (see examples here).

“We’ve also been doing a lot more 3D animation and interactive content recently,” he added, “taking a more comprehensive approach to our client’s content needs.” Examples of the recent animation work can be found in this video.

In addition to the promotional video, Eddy cited as a good example of a more wholistic content project, recent work for Lochinvar to develop a sales video and interactive content for the company’s Crest with Hellcat Commercial Boiler product launch.

As part of the launch of that product – and using the same CAD resources as a starting point – the company developed 3D interactive content to demonstrate key product features, functions and benefits. That content lives on the product page of Lochinvar’s website and can be seen here.

“This web-based interactive content can also be used in AR applications – helping clients get more exposure and utilization on mobile platforms and significantly better ROI (return on investment),” Eddy noted..

Info-graphics also specializes in producing E-Learning content and tools that are an important next step in engaging and educating a company’s audience for a better learning experience that increases comprehension with interactive knowledge checks and graphics that reinforce difficult concepts.

Then, there’s the early work – those instruction manuals – that, as Eddy said, are still a big part of the mix. Examples can be found here. “Our goal is always to develop engaging and high-usability content and deploy it in as many ways as possible to help our clients get maximum value,” Eddy added.

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