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An Oversize Effort Pays Off
DESIGN FIRM: AFTE RHO URS GRO U P (USA A ND INDO N E S IA)
Since 1995, Afterhours Group has created brand identity systems, as well as
print and interactive designs, for clients both large and small. With offices in
Jakarta, Indonesia, and Denver, Colorado, Afterhours Group has made a name
for itself with its award-winning Yellow+Grey quarterly newsletter. Aside from
Afterhours Denver, the company also has a second design agency called
Lightbox Indonesia, and a sister company—Red & White Publishing, which
publishes high-quality coffee-table books.
PLANNI NG
When the Afterhours Group determined the need for an innovative publication
that espoused their stature within the international design community, they
brainstormed ways to get their message across.
“We needed a company profile that reflects Afterhours as a very dynamic
graphic design company,” says creative manager Fefria Martosubroto. “It has to
be something fun, interesting, and out of the ordinary. And as a company that
keeps growing and evolving, a newsletter that can be updated anytime, seemed
to be the perfect solution to represent who we are.”
Martosubroto says the name of the newsletter was the first challenge. “We
wanted it to be catchy, yet at the same time really reflect who we are,” she says.
“Many names came up during our brainstorming session, including A+ and
40 by 60.” The name Yellow+Grey was finally chosen because it represents
the firm’s corporate colors.
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CREATING
The Yellow+Grey newsletter consists of two major components: Yellow, which
talks about Afterhours as a graphic design agency; and Grey, which shows the
life within Afterhours.
“As this was our company profile, the design had to be very ‘Afterhours,’”
Martosubroto says. “To show our seriousness and quality of work, the design
on the Yellow section is kept simple and clean. We applied a more personalized
style to the Grey section to show the fun and dynamic personality of the firm.”
The core component of the Yellow section of the newsletter begins with the
firm’s history—namely, a brief introduction on how Afterhours was formed, its
milestones, and achievements. “The name Afterhours itself was chosen because
initially it was a business run after office hours by the owner, Lans Brahmantyo,
who already had a day job as a graphic designer in an advertising company,”
Martosubroto says.
Incorporating a case study was also paramount to the newsletter. In one
particular edition, Afterhours chose the Land of Water project. Land of Water is
a coffee-table book that shows a pictorial journey of George Tahija and his boat
captain, Paul Dean, along the waters of Indonesia starting from the island of Bali
to the island of Komodo. The concept of the book was to work as a scrapbook
that includes sketches, notes, and photographs of the journey. To make the
pages look like a traveler’s diary, every page was given effects using Photoshop.
Even the text was handwritten and scanned.
π
Colorful illustrations and imagery offer
a unique glimpse into Afterhours’ design
expertise. Personal insight is celebrated at
Afterhours and can be experienced along
the bottom of each spread, each offering a
connection to the firm’s design team through
strategically placed, illustrated profiles of
each team member.
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Other pages within the newsletter include those that showcase Afterhours’
extensive portfolio, including annual reports, calendars, bottle packaging,
posters, marketing collateral, and corporate identities.
“The variety of work displayed in the newsletter shows how Afterhours appreci-
ates every client’s identity—thus making each piece different from one another,”
Martosubroto says.
The Grey component features an exterior cover boasting fingerprints of
Afterhours’ employees. “Our goal in this section was to reveal the activities of
the people inside Afterhours, so we thought fingerprints would best represent
this,” she says. “In every edition, we intend to insert a comical story of the life of
a designer in Afterhours. A twist of fate shows the process of handling a project,
starting from receiving the brief, searching for ideas, getting the project done,
but, unfortunately, at the end finding out that the project is canceled.”
The employees of Afterhours are the true voice of the Grey section, as demon-
strated in Glimpse, a section where employees get to write about anything they
find inspiring—from great design books to light and funny novels or even music.
“The vision of Yellow+Grey is to show Afterhours as a whole,” Martosubroto
says. “Behind every portfolio we produce, there is always hard work, great ideas,
and talented people. That is why we chose to have two sections—one that
displays our ability to produce great work, and another that shows the energy
and passion of its people.”
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IMPLEMENTING
The newsletter was initially produced for a yearly event held for the creative
industry, attended by professionals in design, photography, printing, and paper.
“In an exhibition open to the general public, and creative people in particular, we
needed a company profile that would stand out among the crowd,” Martosubroto
says. “That is why we chose the extra-large but efficient size for printing.”
With 2,000 copies printed in the past two years, the newsletter has been
distributed not only to existing clients, prospects, and students, but also at art
and graphic events.
“The production cost was zero because we partnered with a printer and paper
supplier who, in return, were featured within,” Martosubroto says. “It’s a very
subtle joint collaboration. It’s all because we have a good relationship with
them to be able to exploit everyone’s strengths, which normally would cost a
fortune.” Although the newsletter was intended to be produced quarterly, due to
the extensive workload and to preserve the quality of the portfolio shown, the
newsletter will be produced only twice a year.
The response to the Yellow+Grey newsletter has been very positive. “The large
size has always brought admiration, and the use of bright colors and the clarity
of the design has made it into an unforgettable company profile,” Martosubroto
says. “The fact that we also show the daily activities of the employee also helps
the audience understand who we are.”
π
The covers of each side of Yellow+Grey
artfully reveal the distinct contents within
each section. Readers are required to turn
the book over to read each section.
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