The brief: Commission photography to represent people working and doing recreational activities in a forest of mixed tree species. It will be used as the lead image on the main story of a bi-annual magazine highlighting Scion's recent science and research achievements.
The challenge: A single image will never adequately show all the elements required. It could focus on one or two aspects of what is to be shown, but at the expense of the things not shown.
The solution: A digital illustration in the style of a flat-lay or knolling. It allows all the elements to be shown and as it's not photorealistic the relative scale of items is not a problem.
How: Starting point, to generate a wealth of assets in AI Generative Imaging software. Many iterations were required to build a library of enough assets with suitably consistent styling and lighting.
Next step: Bring everything into photoshop, mask the chosen elements, composite them in a balanced manner, apply overall lighting/shadow to help them 'hang together' as a cohesive digital illustration.
Outcome: People who were key drivers of the publication loved the illustration so much, it was promoted from lead story image to front cover. It took some convincing to get across the line with some exec-level conservative thinkers, but the design and marketing rationale was sound to support its choice.
End result, a strikingly fresh publication cover, garnering positive attention and compliments from important stakeholders and high profile individuals in the target market.
Roll out: The illustrative layout lends itself well to adaptation to versions for use on web banner and social media channels.
Extended use: The concept was developed further for other marketing purposes - to include additional elements showing the wide range of products from effectively designed forests.
