Creating The Art of Darkness.

Illamasqua seems to have built a reputation for doing something daring and different with it’s collections, and it’s recent Autumn Winter one was by no means any different. So when we were challenged with creating the branding and suite of tactics for it’s latest collection ‘The Art of Darkness’, we knew we had a lot to live up to. Here, I’m going to talk you through the resulting creative, which can be seen in full in our portfolio.

As always with Illamasqua, the collection had an inspiring back-story; set in a medieval era where a range of fantastical and mythical beasts meet in an enchanted forest in the 13th hour to create the ever elusive Elixir of life, the collection palette consisted of deep luxurious primary colours, and rich jewel like metallics.

Our first challenge was to create an identity that would convey it’s theme and get the press and stores excited before any of the campaign imagery and products been created. We created an identity system using a scarab, dried bugs (some of the ingredients considered to be used in the Elixir potion), metallic golds, reds, blues and greens (to represent the make-up range), and historically styled typography, to give the graphic elements a medieval, dark, twisted, and yet regal feel, that encapsulated the collection theme. This styling would also form the product packaging. It worked wonderfully, and managed to whet the appetites of the press and bloggers.

Next up was creating the campaign imagery and tactics, made-up by the ever-amazing Alex Box, and masterfully photographed by Tim Brett Day. The press ad and hero image features the aforementioned beasts gathering round a banqueting table in a forest, a setting that’s also featured in the A6 product booklet, where a roll-fold throw out reveals the story behind each character. The full suite of elements included ads, an A5 product book, in-store POS, consumer packaging, launch event collateral, and digital media graphics.

The collection was revealed to an eagerly awaiting press and public audience, receiving a great response, no doubt because the products are so amazing, but we like to think our work played a good part in it too.

You can see more of our work for this collection here, and if you fancy seeing the products for yourself, you can buy them here.

Posted by Lee Bennett.