For 20 years, Sysco has worked at the heart of the creative profession and has built up a wealth of exceptional expertise working at the intersection between storytelling art and engineering science.

Sysco delivers projects across the UK and worldwide, with its head office and research and development centre in Godalming, Surrey. Founded in 1998, the company was formed to support the growing demand for multidisciplinary engineering teams that truly understand the application of audiovisual technology.

The first project undertaken by Sysco was the design and delivery of elements of the Millennium Dome’s visitor experience. This served as an important introduction to many of the UK’s leading experience designers who were impressed by the team’s ‘can-do’ attitude, creative vision and collaborative approach to working.

International reputation
Since then, the team has grown into a sales-focused, market-leading AV integration company with an international reputation for managing the complex relationship between creative ambition, robust engineering, budget and time.

During this time, audiovisual technology has transformed from the pre-digital age of working with light and sound, into a phenomenal tool capable of bringing visions of different spaces to life. It has the enormous capacity to provoke human emotion and create long-lasting memories. The accelerated development of technologies, virtual and augmented realities, robotics and artificial intelligence is generating new applications, changing the way people interact and experience their world.

Employing AV to rearticulate stories in a variety of markets, Sysco has become an integral force within the industry as a systems integrator, designing and delivering audio, visual and control systems packages for attractions and leisure clients such as Imperial War Museum, the Victoria and Albert (V&A) Museum, Science Museum, Twickenham Stadium and Ascot Racecourse.

Story engineers
However, the technology is only a small component within the project delivery process. To support this evolution from systems integration into the world of storytelling and narrative engagement Sysco have rebranded as Story Engineers. At the heart of every experience is a story that needs to be told, whether that’s in an exhibition, a museum, an arena, a visitor centre, a stadium or a theatre.

Through the dynamic developments of technology, there remains an undeniable truth that real-world engagement and collective experiences will forever sit at the heart of who we all are as people. As Story Engineers, Sysco reimagines space with technology, maximising the potential to create memories and trigger emotions in order to produce an experience that lingers with you long after the event.

“It is the trinity of space, storytelling and engineering that are the three pillars of our approach. Stories with a clear narrative need to evolve from the client’s creative vision and the challenge is about framing this story within the discipline and physical constraints of the space,” says Hugo Roche, Sysco’s managing director.

The methodology grid
The Sysco ‘Story Engineering’ methodology plays a vital role in this process. It’s defined by four key phases; Imagining, Engineering, Implementation and Synthesis. The tool underpinning this approach is best described as a grid, the cornerstone of the new brand and brand identity. The logo is a visual representation of this, a device to represent the world we live in, framing the different elements of a story and a visual connection between it and the context. It is sometimes as simple as a uniform design interpretation of the space; more often, it is a device used as a framework to interpret the constraints, opportunities and dynamic nature of the space and its objects. 

Behind the methodology, the grid and Sysco’s evolution is a workforce driven by passion, people and experience delivery. Twenty years of delivery has taught us that nothing works unless it all works and that projects start with people, not systems. Whether working with exhibition/experience designers, fit-out contractors, media creatives or working for end clients, the mission at the very core is to deliver world-class experiences; engineering imagined ideas into powerful realities. 

“The focus should always be to find appropriate technology to complement and enhance, not overpower or distract. Our mantra is that technology is an enabler, it should never dominate the story. If it’s doing its job correctly, you may never even know it’s there,” says Graeme Bunyan, Sysco’s director of technology.