Fashion and Graphic design

Blanchard, T (2004) Fashion & Graphics, 2004, Harper Collins

Secondary Research to help identify the link between Graphics design and Fashion industry. 

Fashion & Graphics

Labels help identify the amount of cost a T-shirt will be sold for.  Fashion brands rely on packaging and presentation rather than the product itself. The graphic designer's responsibility is the aesthetics of the label or the art direction of the ad campaign has taken on a status and power within the fashion industry that was unheard of in the early 1980s. In the modern day, fashion companies have become mini publishing empires, often employing their own graphic-design teams,  which create look-books, catalogues, press mail-outs, magazines, advertising and even Christmas cards. 

One of the issues with the fashion industry is it is mostly overcrowded and one of the most competitive industries. What makes one designer's white shirt stand out from another's is not necessarily the design. The message communicates understanding this being through advertising, the label, the packaging, the store design- it is the matter of presentation rather than fashion. Take for instance Hugo Boss, the brand is confident, direct, and has a very clear, corporate message. 

Graphics have become an integral part of any fashion house; in some cases, the graphic designer or art director is also the fashion designer. For Giorgio Armani, art director and fashion director. 'A designer label is his or her business card,' he says. 'It not only reflects the spirit and integrity of each collection; it also expresses the philosophy and character of the line to the customer. The final product is the most important part of the package, but a label and logo secures a recognisable identity. The graphic identity is a natural extension to what my products are trying to express and reflect. 

The graphic design role is as important as the fashion designer role. As Creative director of Burberry, Fabien Baron was closely involved in many aspects of the British  brand's relaunch at the end of the 1990s. Working along side managing director Rose Marie Bravo, he imitated a new direction for the brand; modernising the logo and creating ad campaigns before there was any new product to advertise. His first ads for the brand, working with the photographer Mario Testino and promoting a certain English eccentricity and humour , were to set the tone for the rest of the highly successful turnaround from purveyor of old-fashioned raincoats to dynamic, high-fashion, luxury brand.

The Belgian designer Walter Van Beirendonck has always incorporated graphics into his fashion, both for his own labels and for the streetwear brand, W&LT. Van Beirendonck sees graphics and fashion as so inseparable as some fashion degrees include graphic design. 'It is an important "first presentation" to the real world,' he says. 'A graphic communication identity is important because it is the impression and language between designer and public. 

When Stella McCartney launched her own label under the Gucci umbrella  in 2002, she worked with Wink Media- the multi-disciplinary creative agency set up in London by Tyler Brule in 1998- to define her identity as a graphic logo. Her debut show was held in March 2002, at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. Although the assembled press and buyers were very familiar with Stella McCartney's name, this was the first time they would see a fully-fledged collection bearing it. 

Erik Torstensoon is one of a team of art directors at Wink media. Wink offers a wide range of creative services, including advertising, brand development and corporate identity. But Stella McCartney was a unique project. 'We were creating a new brand for a very well-known designer, so it was already loaded with values and perceptions, which made it very interesting but also much more demanding, as the expectations on Stella launching her own label was very high.' His job was to create a brand image on her own. Everybody knew who Stella McCartney was, but no-one knew what her fashion label looked like. The process was a collaboration between Torstensson, McCartney and typeface designer Richard Hart. 'We worked very closely with Stella to explore  different directions based on her personal style and professional requirements,' says Torstensson. 'We would often visit Stella's studio to study the fabrics and the designs we could get a very clear idea of the collection- and the designer behind it.' The initial brief was to create a logotype for the launch of her own-name brand. 'The logo had not only convey a sense of luxury but also the freshness, quality, charm and edge that are embodied in the spirit of Stella McCartey's designs.'  It was also important that the logo would have longevity, versatility and accessibility to different markets'. McCartney might be based in London, but Gucci is an international luxury-goods group and the new label had to have the same appeal in Dubai as New York, Sydney or Tokyo. 

A brand's graphic identity is how it expresses itself, shows what it wants to belong to and talks to its customer with its chosen visual language. The graphic identity will be applied to everything that the brand uses so it is vital to find an expression that suits its values. If your brand has a well-produced and managed graphic identity or design strategy, it will pay off tenfold. A badly managed and implemented corporate identity can prove to be very expensive ad damaging. The responsibility, therefore, is on the designer t get it right. An identity for a brand like Stella McCartney must be as incident and sure of itself as the woman herself. 

Logos are the key component for a strong brand indignity. For instance, Yves Saint Laurent is renown for its logo. Yves Saint Laurent met A.M. Cassandre through his previous employer, Christian Dior. A.M. Cassandre was renown for his stylish graphic posters for Dubonnet  and the Normandie ocean liner. In 1950s, AM. Cassandre took the role to design Yves Saint Laurent logo. It was said to have taken a few minutes for Cassandre to sketch the three letters Y, S, and L into their elegant, interlocking shape. 

Fabien Baron argues the idea of a rebrand

Fabien Baron is not surprised that Tom Ford didn't change the logo: 'I would not have changed it either. Cassandre was one of the best graphic designers in the world. He was an artist. That logo can stay forever. It's beautiful. It's the lettering, the intricacy of the logo, the way the letters are stacked up. It's very elegant and very French with a sense of history. Why change it if it works? It would be like going to Egypt and changing the pyramids.' 

It was in the 1980s, however, that fashion houses began to take graphic design and art direction seriously. Yohji Yamamoto's creative director, Marc Ascoli, was persuaded into hiring Peter Saville by Nick Knight, a photographer who had come to his attention after a series of 100 portraits of the 1980s for I-D magazine. Saville's work with the Manchester band Joy Division impressed Ascoli. During the shoot, Nick asked who would be doing the Graphics. Aparintly Marc said, 'I don't know. What is the graphics?' He didn't really know what Nick meant. There was no close relationship of any sort between graphic designer and fashion. (Saville) Before 1980s, fashion and graphics students were discouraged to work together. 

They were about rebranding a brand that had become so familiar it was almost invisible. Previously, M/M (Paris) had worked for Yohji Yamamoto. In 1994 they were asked to design ads for the Y's diffusion range for which Peter Saville had drawn the logo. They were, of course, aware of Saville's previous work for the label, and their own work became an evolution of that. 'Peter Saville was one of the first modern art directors, ' they say. 'He understood that graphic design is about ideas. He is fed by different fields of creativity. 

Saville says, 'Design is the new advertising. It's the insidious influence. It was better when it was better when it was a form of rebellion, when you had to fight with business. Now it's the other way round. It's entirely superficial. The result of it all is that design loses its credibility, its truth. Rather than design communicating a certain integrity, it begins to be the opposite. If it looks good, don't trust it.'

Ecocentric: Development

The thumbnails were developed further with the content on Illustrator and Photoshop. The layouts were applied onto InDesign. The first prototype was created. The first layouts explored the clean finish which was mainly photography focused. This section is the Signature Look.

For Cotton on to the Facts section, the use of Garamond typeface did not fit the aesthetic of the project. Therefore I will change this page to Century Gothic Typeface. 

The Cut Above section was the most successful. The use of the lines worked effectively. 

Feedback stated how the layouts in "Fashion shouldn't cost the earth" looked too clean and not messy enough for the overall aesthetic of the publication. This section also stood out compared to the other layouts. It was stated that the images looked too digitally manipulated and it will be better to approach this concept in a collage format. 

The idea of a messier layouts works more successfully compared to the other layouts. Eloise stated how she would prefer this aesthetic towards her designs. 

The feedback stated the use of creating a background works effectively and I should explore this concept further. To develop the layouts further, I could perhaps create interesting backgrounds by zooming into images. 

We then decided to use the images from the film produced by Eva Lilli. I created tiffs from the film. After creating the tifs this made it easier to create backgrounds which relate to film photography. 

After this I decided to re-design the "Fashion shouldn't cost the earth section". A second prototype was created. 

Initial Ideas by using different images from the tiffs created. 

This layout was more successful as it showed as the colour helped bring out character towards the publication. 

I then had the idea of zooming into elements from the blossom series. This idea will emphasise on organic plants from the photoshoots surrounding. These layouts are successful as they help reflect the idea of sustainability. 

With this layout I combined the initial ideas together to create a layout. This creates an interesting composition which works effectively. In the publication these layouts will alternate to create a sense of interest. 

I initially created the layouts without the background. But I experimented with the tiff backgrounds to create a background. I felt this completed the design further. The strips were created by scanning old film and applying the. film image on top. I then altered the opacity levels to create a more real approach towards the film strips. 

I developed the film strips further by applying coloured images. This was seen as effective and helps to see the images more clearer. 

These layouts were the most successful as the background work effectively. I also used the tiffs to create my own film strips. I contrasted the images to help break up the photography and emphasise the scenery of the shoot, as the shoot was in the moors. 

For the front cover I designed something similar to the fashion look-books collected, with the broken up type. However Eloise did not like this front cover, and decided to go with a Univers typeface as she has seen my work use this typeface. 

For the Signature section, the client wanted to idea of repeated type. However, I had a critique with graphic design students and they did not understand the concept. Therefore, I decided to keep the layout more clean. 

For the final publication, I applied page numbers on InDesign. This used the master page on Indesign to create this. I initially wanted to create a Kettle stitch where the pages will be printed into signatures. However due to the time I had to produce this, a perfect bind seemed more appropriate. For the final year show we will continue to work on this and create a kettle stitch outcome.