This week in Photoshop we were discussing Integrated Marketing Campaigns (IMC), and for our assignment we were to make an image in keeping with the IMC style. My brand choice was one that I use regularly and would love to use more, Lowe’s! (Note: this is for class and I am not affiliated with Lowe’s).
Lowe’s is currently running a “Hello Fall” IMC, and here are some samples of their work:
And here is mine:
To create my image asset, I initially laid out a file 600*800 pixels in portrait. I then added guides to create a three column layout, with guides every 200px horizontally and vertically.
Next I located Lowe’s style guide and Lowe’s Logos. With Lowe’s brand identity in hand, I created swatches for Lowe’s colors in Photoshop (PS)… but finding swatches difficult to manage in PS, I switched to Adobe Illustrator (AI) to manage the swatches. After I got the swatches setup I created a Swatch Exchange file, and then imported it into PS.
Back in AI, I placed screenshots of the leaves that Lowe’s was using for the IMC. For the Saving’s leaf, I used the pen tool and for the three leaf image, I used the trace tool. Then I tweaked the images using the pen tool, pathfinder tools and others to be closer in style to the originals.
Next, I went to Google Fonts to find a close approximation to the IMC’s “HELLO FALL” font. I settled on Varela Round (similar, but the E and F bars are longer than the Lowe’s font). I then imported the font using Skyfonts to my computer.
Back in Photoshop
Back in PS, I placed the leaves and typed Hello Fall. I then changed the font settings to match the Campaign, and added a black background using a black I sampled from the lowe’s print add. I aligned the vertical and horizontal centers of the text against the background, linked the layers and created a folder for them.
I next rotated the Savings leaf to match the angle of the print ads, and imported images and text from the Lowe’s website. I also added the Lowe’s brand image, and blue background to the layout. Next I decided to change the orientation of the file using the canvas size tool, from portrait (600*800) to landscape (800*600), as the layout wasn’t quite clicking in portrait.
I then adjusted my guides to keep three even columns, spacing them at 266px apart. Then I located a font for the body, “Cabin Condensed” from Google fonts. Then I edited the text styles to be consistent with the lowe’s print ads.
Then I edited the product images and used “layer masks” and “select color range”to hide their white backgrounds. then I placed them one at a time, and adjusted the layout. I also added more color boxes to the layout and added a stroke effect to the bottom green box and adjusted the leaf on top of it to have a 96% opacity, to reduce the color vibration. I then tweak the layout more and the colors more to finish it off.
So what do you think? Does it fit with the Integrated Marketing Campaign that Lowe’s is Running?