Studio Brief 02 - The intial pages

Poster a

Poster b

The aim of these cover designs are to encourage the reader to tear off the poster from the front of the magazine. With this in mind, the designs were chosen based on giving the reader a recognisable visual from Raf Simons. For example, Poster b shows off Simons' S/S 2016 campaign which was shot by Willy Vanderperre, who is a personal friend and has worked with Raf Simons throughout his career. Furthermore Vanderperr is known for this photographic style which hopefully appeal to fans of Raf Simons. 

Poster a is following on that idea of creating a show invite for the reader as blogged earlier. Whilst researching Simons work, I came across a list of references that Simons handed out during his A/W 2016 show. This is touched on in the publication but did not include the full list. This will help give the reader an insight to the various influences Simons' drew from in designing the collection which also ties in with the overall aim of the publication of giving a idea more of an idea of what goes on behind the designs. 

The background image of the poster design is taken from a page in TASCHEN books 'Raf Simons.' This image is not linked to the 2016 show but what it does relate to is the mood and atmosphere that surrounds the title of 'Nightmares and Dreams'.

These two designs work with each other giving the reader a reversible poster once torn. The construction of the poster will come as a simple folded page on the front cover, that the reader will flip to reveal the Poster a's design. 

Once torn how ever, there should be another 'front cover' design that should keep the publications appeal. 

This was chosen based on personal preference and communicating one of the silhouettes Simons is known for. 

After the front covers, the reader is presented with a quotes page that is meant to give them an idea of Simons approach to his clothing design and his perceptions on fashion. 

The design of this page is based off the Raf Simons website. 

What is effective about this visual is the overlayed text and colourised images that in a way to Simons' ability to do things differently and change how we perceive social norms. Furthermore what I personally like about this style is the slightly obscure legibility produced from the clashing colour scheme. In a environment where legibility is paramount in design, where the message has to be clear for the reader, it is refreshing to see something that goes against that. Furthermore this obscurity draws intrigue from the reader to decipher the message which hopefully makes the medium more engaging. 

After the quotes page is the contents and introduction. For the contents, the layout is simple and effective. The point of the contents page in this publication is to give the reader an overview of the featured collections. These were chosen based on personal preference in which I believe defined Simons and displays his mark of a designer. The addition of the model is to liven up an otherwise copy heavy spread. 

The intro gives the reader an overview of Raf Simons, touching on his background and his design philosophies that identify him. The copy is done in Helvetica Compressed which was done to relate to Simons logo design and is carried out throughout the publication. The only deviation from this style is in the Jil Sander and Dior spreads where the typeface reflects the brands image. The offset quote is meant as a visual distraction to help draw the readers attention and interest the reader into reading the introduction.