Legal Press & Magazine Advertising

Project Overview

This campaign involved creating a set of magazine adverts for the legal and insurance sectors, with a key distinguishing feature: collaboration with a professional illustrator to create original fairytale-themed drawings. These bespoke illustrations brought warmth, narrative and visual differentiation to an industry where adverts often feel formulaic and indistinguishable from one another.

By incorporating classic fairytale themes—think storytelling, protection, and happy endings—the campaign helped Countrywide Legal Indemnities communicate reliability and peace of mind in a way that felt both memorable and emotionally resonant, while still maintaining the professionalism expected in legal publications.

Context & Audience

The audience included solicitors, conveyancers and legal professionals—all reading industry publications packed with competing advertisements. In this environment, most adverts blend together with similar layouts, stock imagery and corporate messaging. The fairytale artwork helped Countrywide Legal Indemnities stand out immediately, creating visual differentiation while conveying key brand values.

Competitive landscape: Legal publications are saturated with similar-looking ads
Brand objective: Communicate reliability while being memorable and distinctive
Visual strategy: Use narrative illustration to create emotional connection and recall

My Role & Responsibilities

Leading art direction for the overall visual concept
Collaborating with a commissioned illustrator to produce bespoke fairytale-inspired drawings
Developing layouts for full-page, fractional and classified advert formats
Designing clear, structured typographic hierarchy for legal messaging
Working with multiple magazines to meet their technical specifications
Producing and supplying print-ready artwork (CMYK, bleed, safe zones, PDF/X standards)

Objectives

Create adverts that immediately stand out in legal publications
Use illustration to convey narrative and charm without losing professionalism
Maintain consistency across various sizes and layouts
Communicate Countrywide Legal Indemnities' reliability and expertise

Challenges

Integrating whimsical, fairytale imagery with serious legal messaging
Coordinating schedules and feedback loops with an external illustrator
Maintaining consistent visual tone across multiple illustrations
Adapting artwork into multiple dimensions (full-page, half-page, classified)
Strict publication deadlines and technical requirements

Process

1. Concept Development & Story Themes

The process began by exploring different conceptual routes before landing on the idea of classic fairytales. I considered how metaphor and storytelling could help communicate legal protection and peace of mind—concepts like "happily ever after" and "protection from danger" resonated naturally with the brand's promise. This thematic approach gave the campaign a distinctive narrative thread that competitors weren't using.

2. Illustration Direction (Working With an Artist)

I provided the illustrator with references, themes and narrative prompts, guiding the development of each piece to ensure brand alignment. Through multiple rounds of drafts and sketches, we refined the final artwork together. I developed illustration guidelines covering line weight, shading technique, and framing consistency to maintain visual cohesion across all pieces while allowing each illustration its own character.

3. Layout Design & Adaptation

With illustrations complete, I built base layouts establishing typography, imagery placement and legal messaging hierarchy. The challenge was creating master compositions that could be adapted to fractional and classified sizes while maintaining impact. Each layout balanced illustration prominence with message clarity, ensuring the fairytale artwork enhanced rather than overshadowed the core communication.

4. Artwork Preparation & Publication Checks

The final phase involved delivering CMYK artwork with correct bleed, cropping and output profiles for each publication. I ensured all adverts were compliant with the specifications of multiple magazines, accounting for variations in trim sizes, safe zones and file formats. Organized asset folders were prepared for the client, enabling them to reuse components for future campaigns and maintaining brand consistency over time.

Deliverables

Full-page magazine advert designs
Fractional layouts (half-page, quarter-page)
Classified advert versions
Bespoke fairytale-inspired illustrations (commissioned artwork)
Print-ready artwork for all placements
Artwork files prepared for future publication cycles

Outcomes & Impact

The fairytale themes made the adverts notably memorable in an industry where visuals are typically conservative and formulaic. Advert recall increased significantly due to the unique illustration style, with clients and prospects frequently mentioning they'd "seen the fairytale ads." The consistent visual system allowed Countrywide Legal Indemnities to run campaigns across multiple issues and publications, building recognition over time.

Most importantly, the artwork reproduced cleanly in all formats and publications—from glossy full-page spreads to smaller classified sections—helping reinforce brand professionalism while maintaining the distinctive creative approach that made the campaign stand out in the first place.

Gallery / Visual Highlights

Mailer featuring fairytale illustration