Editorial BLACKOUT is part of a greater work named BCD – BEAUTIFUL COMMUNICATION DESIGN which I created for my bachelor thesis in 2015. It illustrates different fields of communication design connecting them to fashion photography.
The Story behind editorial BLACKOUT
Typography is the supreme discipline in the field of design that concerns the direct communication of things to a viewer or reader.
Contentual coherences are plotted by the use of letters forming words. They are perceived as many little pictures. The typeface subtly promotes the content of the text, though it keeps fading into the background. The typeset, grey levels, and white spaces define where to look first and last at a text design – stroke width, serifs, font style, and size emphasise the statement. Although typography shows a great diversity in classifications, it all together pursues the objective of conciseness.
Perfection is not achieved when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away. – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Simplicity is elegant and this holds true for every kind of design, as well as for fashion design. Coco Chanel realised this aspect and created mainly black & white and minimalistic wardrobe. Her fashion caressed the female body better than the trends at the time and had a great recognition value. She boiled down the most essential, keeping her love for detail, just like typographers who love the tiniest qualities in a good font.
Editorial BLACKOUT is an allegory of the creation of typography and typeset. Despite every picture has the same condition of light and the model’s features e.g. her makeup and hair don’t change, the pictures show different character traits. They distinguish by differently patterned clothes whose details spread out on the white space.
The same applies to the dalmatian and the sausage dog: they don’t look the same, act differently, but still, they are obviously both dogs.
The patterns used on clothes and graphics display another common feature. They are composed of the biggest possible contrast: black and white. While contrast serves the readability in typography, the photos of the series gain a bold, poster-like nature, partly eliminating three-dimensionality.
Epilogue
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