Reverse Engineering a GAP Ad Campaign
Introduction
Write an introduction to your blog post. Include …
Gap‘s Spring Summer 2017 advertising campaign captured by fashion photographer Tyrone Lebon, with creative direction from Brynn Heminway at Untitled Worldwide. Stars of the session are Aiden Curtiss, Grace Elizabeth, Jing Wen, and Wang Chenming among others. Styling is work of Beth Fenton, with set design from David White, and casting direction by Angus Munro & Noah Shelley, all represented by Streeters.
Gap emphasizes its distinct brand persona through its ads – laid-back, classic, and inclusive. Their ad campaigns are distinctive and recognizable, often featuring the iconic Gap logo. This campaign by Lebon features the simplicity of the model where the clothes tells their story, providing a sense of intimacy to truly convince the consumer that “they are” Gap.
Analyzing the Original Ad
DESIGN
Purple Circle: Slight blur and gradience creating a sense of closeness and intimacy to the image
Pink Circle: A use of denim, a more homebody textile that is universally wearable.
Yellow Circle: Hand in the image placed over the neck, a sense of calm and welcoming from the model.
The image itself is cropped so the model is rather up close, with the text “I am” hitting right on the line dividing into the rule of thirds. Even the main logo GAP doesn’t seem to get lost in the background as it is perfectly placed where the eye would naturally follow the first text then flow to the next on the opposite side of the image.
COLOR
Imagery with a strong 3 color scheme. The skin tone (Green Circle) the denim (Red Circle) the background (Orange circle) With the use of pure white to tie the imagery together from the lettering to the hints of white in her outfit. Color wise, the blues and her skin tone almost create an X shape across the image, keeping the eye in a full loop to analyze and stay on the image for longer.
FONT
I used a secondhand service to analyze Lebon’s add to find out the exact fonts he used, which were Nimbus Sans Becker in bold and the original font made specifically for GAP named Spire Regular, which was designed by Ann Pomeroy. I like the subtle use of lowercase for the “I am” text, as it feels just as soft as the rest of the image. The consumer isn’t getting yelled at, everything about the photo feels like something to relate to and call their own.
My version, made through Adobe Photoshop
DESIGN
Yellow Circle: I recreated the softness by including a photograph with a model that had her hand near her face in the image. This directly mimicked Lebron’s ad.
Purple Circle: The image to the right does include a slight blur and gradient affect, similar to Lebrons that also captures the human mundane energy that is so relatable to this image.
Pink Circle: I was able to find a photograph that included the model wearing denim, perfectly aligning with the photo above and its use of denim in recreating a welcoming textile.
Blue Circle: These two photographs together feature the same pattern of hints of white from her white hoodie strings to the light hitting the jeans.
COLOR
Though a thorough deep dive I was able to find free stock photos with very a very similar coloring to Lebon’s ad. I found an image with a similar gray background (Orange Circles) and two defining tones from the womans skin tone (Green Circles) to her gray hoodie (Red Circles). I was able to find a model with hints of white in her outfit from her hoodie strings to the hint of white in light hitting her jeans and jean button. I layered the image with a mask to dull the colors ever so slightly and lowered the contrast, to give the image the same effortless feeling as the original ad.
FONT
I used a secondhand service to analyze Lebon’s add to find out the exact fonts he used, which were Gaps personal font Spire Regular, and Nimbus Sans Becker in bold. I was able to find Nimbus Sans Becker in bold for free and recreate that exact font for my imagery. To recreate the exact GAP Logo I found a free replica font called OPTISpire. By spacing out the lettering and layering them on top of the original GAP logo in the first ad, I was able to recreate it perfectly.
Conclusion
I’m very proud of the ad I made, as I feel it mimicks Lebron’s creative direction and what his team achieved through a very direct and similar design choice. I took a long time to find the right photos that were free to use for educational purposes that mimicked the background set up and closeness portrayed through Lebron’s models. I found perfect replicas for the exact fonts and even placed the GAP logo in the same place as the original ad. Color wise I edited my version to tie into the homebody casual aesthetic. Overall I think my ad could easily blend in to what Lebron created without much notice for a difference.
#addesignbreakdown #Fashionphotographybreakdown #Addesignbehindthescenes
Secondhand Choices..
