Microsoft Catalogue Cover Image

Cover image of the Microsoft Windows product catalogue produced for the Frontline agency, Sydney, Australia. This image is a composite of multiple stock photography images and a photographic shoot involving two models: one for positioning and one for face and hands.

Client: Microsoft

Categories: Retouching, Graphic Design, Art Direction

Following the unprecedented success of the Windows 95 launch, Frontline's Art Director wanted to display the freedom the new operating system had given its users. A striking image for the cover of the Microsoft catalogue was envisioned, including a model holding high a representation of the Windows logo. The key areas of Business, Education, and Home hinted at in the glass reflections. All accessed through the key new Start feature with users racing forward. After shooting the catalogue photography it was decided that the primary models face, and hand position were unsuitable for the image in mind. Franklin pieced together the composition using the head and hand of a different model. Then placing them in the final layout with the various other elements of the sky, field, window frame with reflections, and foreground tree. The outcome was a balanced, well-crafted image which although hyperreal, provided the necessary impact conceived by the Art Director.

Art Direction: The Frontline Agency

Retouching: Stephen Franklin

The final composition, an emotive image with a user extoling the benefits of Windows 95.

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