Putting our brains together for “Brain”.
A Wishing Well + Shooting Gallery + JWT Shanghai Project
When “Brain”, Japan’s most-read art and design magazine, assigned
JWT Shanghai to design the cover of May’s issue with the theme indigo, we knew we had to do something more than to just to produce a pretty picture.
“How can we get readers to spend more time with Brain’s Indigo?” asked Yang.
“Can it entertain the reader” asked Elvis.
“Why can’t a colour sing?” asked Salome Zhang.
“Or Dance?” asked Zhang Chao.
“How about all of the above?” added Terence.
“Let’s zap ‘em with electric current!” suggested Simon.
“We’ll need a high-‐tech experiment lab for that. I’ll build one.” said Raymond.
“You’re going to need a great photo on the cover to get readers interested. I’ll shoot
it!” said Szeling.
That was how we came up with the idea of turning a magazine cover into an
experiment to pass 10,000 volts of electric current through the indigo colour.
The cover of the magazine was used as an invitation to an online experiment at www.electrifyindigo.com, where the reader can spend more time and have fun with Brain’s indigo.
For the execution, Shooting Gallery rigged a rack of electric cables that resembled a giant music score. We then collected 20 experiment specimens from JWT Shanghai, dressed them in a skin-tight indigo bodysuit and stuck them onto the cables. Szeling and the Wishing Well crew spent the day capturing very possible angle and expression of the specimens so they’ll look funny and entertaining when we zap them in the online experiment.
After the shoot, the retouchers worked through many nights perfecting the photos. The website designers and programmers lost a lot of hair with rounds and rounds of tests and reconstructions. The specimens strained their voices as they were made to sing, screech and scream at the studio. The account team and publishes were worried sick if we could meet the publication deadline.
The project was completed and delivered on time. The magazine was published and is now available at all major bookstores in Japan. The experiment is live at www.electrifyindigo.com
It was a tough process, but it was based on mutual trust, close collaboration, creativity and fun. JWT Shanghai would like to thank the crew at Wishing Well and Shooting Gallery for their patience, professionalism and time to make electrifying a colour possible.
Article written by Terence Leong, Senior Creative Director of JWT Shanghai.
Credits:
Agency: JWT Shanghai
Chief Creative Officer: Yang Yeo
Executive Creative Director: Elvis Chau
Senior Creative Director: Terence Leong
Group Head: Salome Zhang
Senior Art Director: Zhang Chao
Interactive Designer: Simon Yu
Programmer: Eric Yu
Illustrators: Duan Duan, Will Zhu, Xiao Bao, William Zhu, Ruru Tang, Sean Tang, Kevin Huang
Creative Services Director: Liza Law
Account Director: Takashi Aoki
Traffic Manager: Lulu Zhang
Sound Designer: Chris Zhou
Production House: Shooting Gallery Shanghai
Executive Producer: Raymond Goh
Photographer: Szeling Chang
Photography Assistants: Alan Chow, Rankin Ran
Studio Assistants: Geoffery Gu, Ran Rui Hong
Assistant Producers: Emily Xie, Nicole Hu
Production Assistant: Nino Tang
Retouching Studio: Wishing Well Shanghai
Producer: Fion Fu
Senior Digital Artist: Tracy Dong
3D Artist: Nyx Wei