For the latest issue of Edge magazine, we created four different covers for our client the Institute of Leadership. Editor Louise Parfitt explains why.
How do you represent a wide range of leadership succession stories with one impactful cover image? And what if that range has to include leaders working in everything from FTSE 100 boardrooms to construction sites?
Could you do it with one image? We did it in four.
The winter issue of Edge, the magazine we create for the Institute of Leadership (IoL), is themed around the issue of leadership succession. When our team started brainstorming cover concepts, our designer Robyn came up with the idea of there being ‘shoes to fill’. She then took it a stage further:
“I liked the idea of having a pair of empty shoes on the cover. Whose are they? Who will step into them next? Will they be a comfortable fit? They needed to be a leader’s shoes. But what does a leader look like? Would they be men’s or women’s, formal or casual, for the office or the worksite?
I quickly realised that one pair alone couldn’t represent the diversity of the client’s leadership audience.
“I then asked our production team whether we could print more than one cover within our budget – and was really happy when the printer came back and said we could. In fact, we could print four different covers, to reflect just a little of the whole range of leadership experience.”
The team were delighted. We are lucky that our client supports us in pushing boundaries and experimenting with new ideas. When we explained the cover concept to them, they were on board straight away.
Now for the execution. Step forward Ian, our in-house photographer, as well as editor and writer:
“The team called in a range of shoes – my job was to photograph them against a white background in a kind of minimalist way. The trick was to shoot each pair of shoes with exactly the same lighting, camera position and colour treatment, so they matched and looked like a series.”
After a morning’s shooting, we had eight shots to choose from. Together with the IoL team, we selected four images for the cover that were the most iconic – traditional brogues, leopard-print high heels, comfortable white pumps and tough-wearing construction boots. We used the other four images inside the magazine alongside the lead feature (comfy slippers, brown smart shoes, slip-on loafers and suede lace-ups).
We also dedicated a page at the front of the issue to showcase the four cover images and explain to the reader how the version of the cover they had received was only one part of a bigger picture.
An individual working as part of the bigger picture? That’s probably a metaphor for leadership too!
And, as a creative exercise, it’s a reminder that sometimes a little fresh thinking can help to illustrate even the most complex story.
