Bringing an Idea to Life
And Life to an Idea.
Art Direction is more than simply overseeing the practical execution of creative solutions. It is the development and execution of an idea through a visual narrative.
Our Expertise Includes:
- Photography
- Print Design
- Video Direction
- Illustration
- Brand Experience
Art direction is all about defining the intangible things that resonate with your audience.
Throughout our work we utilize negative space, colour, scale, proportion, and other tools to articulate and enhance a narrative. Photography and illustration often provide the foundation that carries the concept. Regardless of the medium the goal is to set the tone, to elevate the communication beyond just message about product or a service – rather an emotional reaction.
Scouting the right location, model and art directing the photography are key parts of creating successful campaigns for Lea-Ann Belter Bridal.
Scouting the right location, model and art directing the photography are key parts of creating successful campaigns for Lea-Ann Belter Bridal.
The ability to engage an audience through illustrations can exceed the ability to tell a story through words.
Illustrations were used to add a personal element to Cunningham, a brand primarily focused on numerical data. The whimsical imagery brings playfulness to an otherwise serious platform.
Fun and playful badges add variety and visual interest to the Kobo brand identity.
These badges were created for the Kobo Reading Life program. The reading achievement platform promotes reading by rewarding users with these fun badges for completing various tasks and reading goals.
Anne Sportun is prolific with her design, and the art direction needed to be flexible, versatile, and truly unique. We created a look that she could own.
A wide open aperture results in an extreme shallow focus which accentuates the stones and highlights.
The shallow depth of field draws the attention to the stones, and provides a strong focal point that allows for use online, in editorial and advertising.
By artificially creating shadows and a sense of daylight in a neutral setting, the art direction brings to product to life without overpowering the designs.
Just the Right Amount of Context
The new art direction for Neinkämper involved designing a flexible system of structures to create a sense of environment without alienating very different end users with a preset style. In contrast to close-cropped images, the setting provides life while accentuating the products.
For the Child in All of Us.
When rebranding this children’s retail store, we knew the right illustration would bring out the inner-child in all of us. Immediately approachable, the simple illustrations by Carey Sookocheff set the tone and spirit for the entire brand.
Do you have a photo we can use for that?
Sometimes you just can’t say what you need with a picture. We love to leverage illustration to convey complex ideas, and even simple notions of what defines a businesses unique differentiators.
There is no better brand engagement that a series of illustrations that challenge your audience and at the same time allow them to relate to solving their problems.
The assignment budgeted for one day on location. A building complex with variety gave the impression of a multiday shoot and provided editorial variety.
Unique perspective, motion, and bold composition bring life to the images.
The hero image orientates users to the creative possibilities as well as illustrating how the aspect ratios are exaggerated in the spreads.
When selling to photographers you had best have great visuals to showcase your products. A collection of large hero shots and details provided the content required to help online buyers understand their purchases before they ever saw a physical copy. The selection of sizes, finishing and stocks we captured through detail series while the hero shot gave a perspective of sizes and aspect ratios.
Details help articulate finishes, and binding techniques for online shoppers who might have never seen the product in real life.
Plum Rewards – A Loyalty Program Designed for Book Lovers
Colour was obviously key to the name generation as well as the brand development. Plum was a perfect complement to the Indigo family but the art direction had to be respectful to the book lovers – their core audience. The script, knocked out of the plum shape, was the perfect tie-in to the literary heritage of the brand. The tagline “enrich your life” further set the tone for the loyalty program – so much so that it was adapted for the Indigo family of stores.
Real People – Real Difference
Whenever possible we avoid using stock photography. Nothing communicates the culture of a business better than the people who work there. Our experience art directing in both studio and in situation ensures we are putting your best foot forward.
When art directing our goal is capture as much editorial variety as possible to create communications that capture some personality.
Speaking to the investment community, these illustrations bring life to the everyday challenges of finding the perfect candidate.
While cohesive in their visual style, the illustrations have a truly editorial style that conveys so much more than photography can.
Lights. Camera. Action! Just don’t forget about music, transitions, motion and edits. The art of art direction for video.
When art directing motion graphics, we add the complexity of music, transitions, pace and motion. These added layers provide an almost unlimited tool set with which to define the brand experience and engage with the audience. More importantly it widens the gap between communications within a brand – allowing for more freedom to push the medium.
The right illustration immediately sets the tone for a brand, captures the intangibles and is universally approachable.
The inventors of Tickled Pink wanted to do more than showcase their product – they wanted to tell the story that lead to the inspiration and the “aha” moment when the decided the needed to come up with a solution. Fun, playful and approachable the illustrations allow us to effectively and efficiently tell a very engaging story. Before even reading a line of copy, most of their target audience immediately related to the problem at hand, and the solution.
The loose line-work and fresh colours of the illustrations help playfully describe a serious issue.
The illustration perfectly captures that “aha” moment when the ideal solution was born – over a drink with the famous napkin sketch. The confidence the product instills is clearly communicated as only an illustration can.
Bold and visually simple, the graphics add context to key facts and figures.
When art directing motion graphics, we add the complexity of music, transitions, pace and motion. These added layers provide an almost unlimited tool set with which to define the brand experience and engage with the audience. More importantly it widens the gap between communications within a brand – allowing for more freedom to push the medium.
Successful information graphics communicate ideas and concepts with little-to-no copy.
Leveraging the strong brand colours of the OACCAC, we created the information graphics for their annual report. Clean and concise, they appeal to the browsers, scanners and indepth readers.
Just the Right Touch
Created to poke fun at taking life too seriously, stolen riches juxtaposed traditional visual cues with a very playful product line.
Formal and fun, the brand is throwback to the time of family crests when things were handed down from generation to generation. Now fashion is driving trends that change so fast nothing is of value once it is out of vogue. Stolen Riches was created to bring fresh life to timeless fashion.
The wax seal provides a tongue in cheek take on traditional that juxtaposes the playful fashions inside the package.
