Microsoft Communiqué Cover Image

Front cover image for the Microsoft Communiqué magazine featuring the new Microsoft Front Page application. Utilising Alias Sketch 3D software to set the lighting and texturing of the composition of the image, and Photoshop for the final shading and colour balance.

Client: Microsoft
Categories: 3D Design, Illustration, Retouching
In 1995 the internet was just on the verge of becoming the zeitgeist of the time, and Microsoft wanted to provide a tool to create and manage pages for new and fledgling corporate websites. Frontpage, a WYSIWYG HTML editor and website administration application, was their answer to this need. The Frontline agency, tasked with promoting this new tool to IT Professionals, needed a front cover image for the quarterly magazine it produced for Microsoft titled Communiqué. Franklin created a rich 3D image with a tight composition, allowing space for the magazines masthead and publication information. The result conveyed the excitement of the World Wide Web and its ability to reach and connect with new audiences across the world, all with Frontpage at its centre.

Art Direction: The Frontline Agency
3D Modelling: Stephen Franklin
Textures: Stephen Franklin
Final Microsoft Communiqué front cover image rendered at full-size print resolution and retouched in Photoshop.

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