Jack Wills Spring Term Handbook

The next in my series of Jack Wills posts. The Spring Handbook came through the post a couple days ago and the photographic quality has continued from the Christmas one; I was unsure as to whether the handbooks would meet the standard of the first I blogged about but it seems Jack Wills have managed to maintain their consistency as they do with their other branding items.

What really grabbed me first of all is the brilliant use of the typography and colour on the front cover. I felt the Christmas one was too fussy and, the illustrative 'Christmas' was just a bit amateur. The overall aesthetic did not really fit with the sleek and fashion forward ethos of JW. The Spring handbook on he other hand used a sophisticated, yet youthful choice of navy and a yellow-green. The choice of colours was more subdued and subtle that a fluoro against black as the use of navy gave it a very trendy and 'now' colour scheme. The stock I didn't notice about the last book either (although I think I was too engrossed in the photography) but the matte finish, grainy thick paper gives it a handmade and authentic feel really standing apart from the glossy pages of magazines from which we also aspire to buy clothes from. It shows that every element is important to consider when marketing a product or lifestyle.

I guess the consistency in photographic style and aesthetic is down to the same use of photographer, Eleanor Hardwick. I really admire how the same photographic style is used, but yet doesn't get boring. Maybe this is down to the pictures evolving as the seasons do, as the clothes do too. It gives a real sense of immediacy and that these photographs have been taken recently and do set out the way for that seasons clothing styles and ranges. One thing I did like is the use of more experimental layout rather than full or half page spreads throughout. It isn't really 'experimental' as such, just more diverse by diving some pages into six it allows us to not always focus on the clothes but the surroundings too in order for us to really gauge the lifestyle of these aspirational people being photographed. Also notice the use of bight but softer lighting not only in the daytime pictures, but the night too keeping that 'spring' feeling throughout. The natural poses help reflect the season too rather than the more posed, structured and 'hard' images of the Christmas handbook. [I've just noticed this girl is 17! She has a lot of good things ahead of her, I can tell you that.]

The handbook can be viewed here: www.Jackwills.com/
Some screenshots of the handbook (I'll get a photo of the cover asap and a close up to show the quality of the stock.)