SOLSTICE SUNGLASSES
“Whether you’re searching for a pair of shades for regular use, or you seek specialty specs like shield, visor or aviator sunglasses, you’ll find the best men’s and women’s designer sunglasses right here.” – solsticesunglasses.com
I was first introduced to the Solstice Sunglasses brand in 2016 when I started as an Associate Designer for Dagger. At the time, Dagger’s team was creating print and digital assets for various holiday sales and promotions put on by the brand. Eventually, the relationship evolved and Solstice asked us to take on portions of their social media presence as well. With new Solstice product provided monthly, Dagger put on mini photo shoots in the front lobby of our office.
My role: concepting, art direction, styling, occasional photo editing
Creative oversight + encouragement: Amanda Cochran
Photography: Ben Brinker
Behind the shades
‘Behind the Shades’ was the first large scale campaign we had a chance to concept and execute for Solstice. It involved interactive emails, in-store print advertising, bag stuffers and a details-driven landing page. All photography used for the ‘BTS’ campaign was shot and curated by the Dagger creative team along with some of our favorite creative vendors.
my role: concepting, art direction, styling
hair & makeup: Maggie Powers
photography: ben brinker
Photo editing: Ben Brinker, Ben Gamble
what’s really going on
behind the shades?
the concept
The inspiration for ‘Behind the Shades’ came from some of the ways people try to distract others from various physical imperfections (i.e., makeup to cover the sleep deprivation, cute jewelry to draw the eye away from those hair curler burns, etc.). We all want to look fabulous and put our best face forward. With Solstice Sunglasses, you’re guaranteed the misdirection you want, regardless of whatever mess you might be working with.
The setup
Our process with the photoshoot was to put people in somewhat common—maybe pushing the envelope occasionally—daily blunders like getting caught in the rain or trying to stay calm with a screaming baby on board. The goal was to make our eventual print and digital executions as relatable as possible.
We always started with a tightly cropped shot just around the model’s face, highlighting the sunglasses. The reason being we wanted to suggest to customers it doesn’t matter what’s happening behind the shades, we’re all too enamored with how amazing you look in Solstice Sunglasses product to really notice.
THE output
Utilizing our photoshoot assets for online and in-store campaign creative was simple. We knew the message we wanted to send (mysterious yet easy to grasp), it was just a matter of how to lay it out. There needed to be an aspect to each piece of creative that played on peoples’ curiosity.
My Role: Concepting, Design
CONCEPTING + Copywriting: AMY ANDERSON
Art Direction: Amanda Cochran
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