Back in June, under a shroud of secrecy, Fantastic were tasked with Art Directing, Designing and Producing Visuals for Sheffield United and Adidas.

Initially, this was for the kit Sheffield United Home launch, but also to revamp the current retail outlet.
I thought this would be a great opportunity to show the process we go through at Fantastic when working on this type of project, and the journey taken to bring a job from conception to completion.

Visual Guidelines

Normally, I would do the preparation for a photoshoot. This would include research such as sourcing a location and selecting suitable models and making sure that they have been briefed. Its always a good idea to know exactly what you want to get out of the shoot before the day arrives and a shot list is essential.  In this case, the job was done for me.

Adidas provided an extremely in-depth visual guideline document with directions on just about everything. From how the models (in this case players) should pose, what makeup they should wear, right through to the technical detail of what camera to use, how the shot should be lit. The pack was so detailed they even instructed that players be sprayed to look as if they are lightly sweating.

They provided files that included backgrounds and templates for different layouts.

Adidas are so thorough for one important reason. They will be launching hundreds of kits this season and whenever you see an advert, point of sale of even image on social media, they all need to look as if they are from the same photoshoot. They also need to sign off any designs submitted and will reject them if they are not right.

Needless to say, ours were Fantastic and passed the first time!

Photography

This project had very tight deadlines and so we wanted to work with a photographer with a pedigree we could trust and, more importantly, a photographer who had worked in this area before.

We chose Box Photographic, as we have worked closely with them before on one of our long-term client