Page 8 - AdNews Magazine Nov-Dec 2020

Behind the Cover
QR Code example
Covid
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Video chat
www.adnews.com.au | November-December2020
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The QR code’s comeback
What were your initial thoughts on The Annual brief at hand?
Summing up 2020 felt incredibly daunting. After everything that’s happened during this unprece- dented year, how could we encap- sulate the enormous highs and lows we’ve all experienced in a single cover?
Post first brief chat, what went through your mind(s) and what were the next steps you took as a team?
After that initial WTF moment, we gave ourselves the time and space to just chat (remotely) and bounce around ideas. We thought a lot about tone. Did we want to be dark, uplifting, funny or somewhere in between? We also looked at some of the symbols and the moments that had the most impact on us in 2020.
How did you know you’d landed on the best concept? Toying with QR codes was one of the first things we jotted down. We liked the simplicity and the fact it could also have some utility beyond the cover. When we men-
WORDS BY
PAIGE MURPHY
tioned our ideas to other creatives around BMF it was their favourite thought as well.
Who from the team was largely involved and what were their roles?
Once we had the idea and the moments from 2020 we wanted to show, it became very much a job for Matty Hughes, one of our senior designers. He’s incredible at what he does, and he chipped away at it for weeks, steadily craft- ing and refining.
We also worked with our head of content, Nico, to make the cover a functional QR code. Lu Borges, our comms director, and our CCO, Alex [Derwin], provided fresh eyes when we’d been star- ing at it too long.
What were the biggest hurdles to making this
a reality?
When we were figuring out how the QR code would actually work on the cover, we thought it might become quite expensive. But we ended up with a budget-friendly solution that still brings the creative idea to life.
Tell us about the actual creation techniques. How did it come together?
Again, it really was all about work- ing with Matty and bringing it to life, from illustration style to colour palette. We wanted to develop an illustration style that was really clean and simple as there are so many elements to it, and we wanted them to be instantly recognisable and icons and symbols people would remember from the year.
Biggest challenges with the whole process? Did anything keep you up at night?
The biggest challenge was probably the ideation stage. This year has been a lot of things for a lot of people, both inside and outside of advertising. Once we had the idea, the process was quite smooth.
Best bit about the process?
While it was an overwhelming prospect at the beginning, this cover was actually a great oppor- tunity. It’s not often these days you get such a pure print brief with so few guardrails, and watching it come together was really fun.
Trump
QRcode Wifi
Covidmask
AGENCY OF THE YEAR WINNERS • PERSPECTIVES ON 2021 • CELEBRATING AUSTRALIAN MAGAZINES
PANDEMIC PUPPY • THIS YEAR’S EMERGING LEADER • YOUNG GUNS ON THE FUTURE
Thinking. Insights. Ideas.
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THIS WAS 2020 If the QR code can make a comeback, anything’s possible for 2021.
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The creative contingent of adland is the beating heart of the industry.
To fully embrace this, and with a mission to create awesome and inspiring covers, each month AdNews hand-picks an agency to work its magic.
Credits
Creative Agency: BMF
Copywriter: Lisa Down
Art Director: Jane Tjokrowidjaja
Senior Designer and Illustrator: Matthew Hughes
Head of Content Creation: Nico Engelbrecht
Group Communications Director: Lu Borges
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