I love Virgin America's bold and clever brand, so I imagined these photo composites for one of their travel campaigns. The above are the final designs.
Problem: Feature major US cities in a way that entices the viewer to embark on a journey and seek a unique experience that can only be had in that specific city.
Solution: I created 3-dimensional planes using the initials of major cities and combined iconic images of what one might experience in Seattle, New York or Los Angeles on each plane. The effect is that each city feels like a miniature play world, each letter or set of initials a small planet one could visit for a unique experience that can't be had elsewhere.
The project began with the photo composites I created in Photoshop (shown left), inspired by the amazing work of digital artist, Jack Usephot (center and right).
Virgin airlines puts its guests "at the center of what [they] do." So the viewer's experience with each city is the focus of these ads. However, the project went through a couple iterations.
RIGHT: I wanted the viewer to impose their own experience onto the ad, so I first imagined a blank space that was filled in by some handwritten phrase to encapsulate the city. (Like the "Jesus is _____." campaigns), but along with the many layers of the composite and the background, this felt cluttered and lacked some clarity in its messaging.
CENTER: I removed the background, hoping this would distract less from the message, but the result lacked texture and no longer felt like the Virgin brand. I also started to feel like the fill in the blank approach was a little too forced for this project.
LEFT: I settled on the final, more pared down "Imagine Yourself Here" campaign (right and top of project page). "Imagine Yourself Here" leaves an open question for the viewer, but allows the viewer the space and imagination to answer that question for themselves, rather than providing the answer and thus limiting the possibilities. The flat, but bold, red map flag ties the message to the Virgin logo, while the background is consistent with the texture of the photo composite and lends balance overall.
