Turn Key Blog. Things we've done and the things we love.

This week, the Daily Mail has reported yet another Photoshop blunder, this time from the photographers for jeans designer, J Brand. The image in question features a model holding a giant bicycle whilst showcasing the brand’s 910 Sterling Sparkle Jeans. The Mail has insinuated that the photographer, in their post-shoot edits, has removed the model’s right hand and the second half of the bike, including the wheel.

Photoshop errors are something of a running joke here in the Turn Key office. Big brands make the same mistakes over and over again and, as creative enthusiasts, we often pick up on them before anyone else. Extra arms, missing fingers, airbrush disasters; you name it, we’ve seen it!

Our design team are sceptical about J Brand’s reported mishap however. When researched further, the shoot seems to have captured a number of images, some with the model holding the bike itself, and others focussed on the jeans, with her clasping the bike wheel alone. It could be therefore that the wheel has not been edited out at all; it was simply missing from the bike in the first place meaning it wasn’t shot.

On further inspection, the angle of the bike also implies that its frame is hidden out of the shot too. As our Creative Director, Rich’s overlaid image proves, the bike – even with the second wheel attached – would fall behind the model, no matter how tiny she is!

Could it be then that the writer of the article has jumped on the story without researching it fully? Possibly. Although whether the author is right or not, this has awarded J Brand more publicity than the image ever could have on its own.

The story does go to show however, the importance of retouching images with care, as the devil is always in the detail. This example may be a misjudgement, but checking images for visual errors is a key part of the overall image design process and something that we at Turn Key pay utmost attention to. So fingers crossed, we won’t be the Daily Mail’s next victim!

Designer Darren Jaques loves… Inspiration from Staudinger + Franke

As designers we get to spend a lot of our time scouring the Internet and flicking through the pages of books in the search for inspiration. As a result we get to see all kinds of weird and wonderful creations, but every now and then, you see something that stops you dead in your tracks and leaves you quietly muttering to yourself ‘Bloody hell, that’s good’.

For me, that moment came the other day after our Creative Director, Rich,  pointed me in the direction of Staudinger + Franke.

Based in Vienna, Austria, they specialise in CGI, photography and retouching and the results are stunning. Check out a few examples below or see the site for yourself at www.staudinger-franke.com

See our Creative Director Richard Colvill’s latest shoot for the Porsche Post – the official Porsche magazine. The actual shot has been denied access on the back page of the mag as being too racy. Good thing we pre-emted that and did a few other ideas at the same time.

See the denied shot and behind the scenes below…

Art Direction: Richard Colvill

Photographer: Guy Farrow

Model: Laura Baldwin

H+M: Caroline Shuttleworth

Creative Director Richard Colvill loves… the work of Graphic Designer Dana Tanamachi

Dana Tanamachi is a graphic designer and custom chalk letterer living in Brooklyn, New York. We love this style she has developed and so do the likes of Adidas, Ralph Lauren & Google to mention a few.

Our blog header has taken inspiration from her work!

See www.danatanamachi.com for more examples and follow her on Twitter

I was having a clear out recently and came across some of my first pieces of work, which I created entirely using hand-drawing techniques.

In the early years of my career I set out to become skilled at every illustrative technique; fine-lining, Magic Marker, Airbrush and pencil. Once mastered, I learned how beautifully these techniques work with each other but since the invention of the Mac there is little demand for them commercially anymore and they have sadly been pushed aside.

I will always remember when I showed a piece of work to my dad; he looked at it and didn’t seem impressed or even interested, but I couldn’t understand why, until he explained that he thought I’d been showing him a photograph from a magazine and not my own handiwork.

My drawing of the plane bursting through the paper was not, as you may think commissioned, it was a punishment for throwing things in a school art class. I was told to complete an airbrush assignment in my own time, a task which turned out to be not so much a chore but instead the start of my design career!

So whilst Apple Macs have completely changed the design world and definitely make our lives easier I think it’s also important not to forget the traditional techniques which can create incredible pieces of artwork by simply putting pen to paper. It still is and always will be a passion of mine; now you know what I do at the weekends!

Turn Key recently got creative with paint on a photoshoot for Taiko Mochi Records. We’ll lift the lid on the finished shots very soon, but in the meantime, here is a behind the scenes preview.

Turn Key’s creative director Richard Colvill was recently featured in the Porsche Post talking about his passion for cars and design. You can see some of the work that Turn Key has produced for Porsche here .

Some snap shots of the latest Porsche ad – from RAW to 3 potential ideas. It’s good to share.

Turn Key spent a (chilly) morning living the fast life with Porsches and horses. Following on from the very successful competition in the Porsche Post (“Your car, the star”), the winner of the competition (Adrian Hitchenor – pictured below) provided his car and horse for the photoshoot – watch this space for the finished advert soon!