An A3 poster and a roll-fold leaflet for a fictional exhibition of the photographer’s work, from cut-out to print-ready file.

Pl. 01 / 13Case study

Nobuyoshi Araki

An A3 poster and a roll-fold leaflet for a fictional exhibition of the photographer’s work, from cut-out to print-ready file.

Job ticketNo. Pl. 01 · 2022

Client: School brief: fictional exhibitionHaute École en Hainaut (HEH), Mons · prepress and printing industry course
Year: 2022February to May 2022, second year of a bachelor’s in graphic techniques
Role: Art direction of the exhibition: logotype, palette, typefacesCut-out and duotone of the photographs in PhotoshopLayout of the A3 poster and roll-fold leaflet in IllustratorPrint file preparation: bleed, folding template, embedded fontsMock-up of the exhibition’s Instagram profile
Links: ·
Type of work: Web & App
Branding ✓
Print ✓
Motion
Social media
Illustration
Deliverables: A3 poster, 297 × 420 mm, printed
A4 roll-fold leaflet, 6 panels, printed
Guidelines: logotype, palette, typefaces, references
Print-ready PDF files
Instagram profile mock-up
Tools: Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Photoshop

The film

Presentation film made in 2026 for this portfolio, based on the project’s guidelines.

Pl. 01 · The film0:00 / 0:00

The brief

The brief: design the printed communication for a fictional exhibition of a photographer drawn at random, hosted by the Bourse de Commerce – Pinault Collection in Paris. I drew Nobuyoshi Araki. The official partners’ logos, the critical text and the leaflet template were supplied. The poster and leaflet had to be delivered print-ready, then printed in the school’s print room.

The challenge

Araki photographs the body, desire and grief, often through kinbaku, the Japanese art of rope bondage. The poster had to own that subject and stay readable from a distance, and the files had to print right the first time.

The process

01Research
In February, I gathered reference exhibition posters (Meiji at the Musée Guimet, L’Escamoteur, Departamento) and ran first tests around the red circle and the ropes.
02First direction
In early March, a first poster on a black background: a red disc, photographs in round frames and a centred title.
03Cut-out and duotone
In mid-March, I cut out two photographs, bodies and ropes, then turned them into a night-blue and red duotone on a paper background.
04Poster and leaflet
The name ARAKI slid into the ropes. The leaflet was built on the supplied roll-fold template: cover taken from the poster, practical information on the back, critical text inside. The print file went out on 31 March.
05Printing and final pass
The poster and leaflet were printed in the school’s print room. A final pass came before the 27 May submission, ahead of the June exams: the photo on the inner flap moved to a red duotone.

Plates

Three steps: two black-and-white photographs, their duotone cut-out, then the poster with the name ARAKI caught in the ropes — Pl. 01.1From photograph to poster. Photographs: Nobuyoshi Araki.

From first direction to poster

24 February test: photographs in round frames and a red disc on a black background — Pl. 01.2Test, 24 February

First poster, 9 March: red disc, round frames and a centred NOBUYOSHI ARAKI title — Pl. 01.3First direction, 9 March

Final poster: duotone photograph, ARAKI in red letters caught in the ropes, date and partner logos — Pl. 01.4Final poster, A3

Guidelines sheet: reference photographs, vertical logotype, night blue, red and paper palette, Code Next and Century Gothic typefaces, reference posters — Pl. 01.5Guidelines, March 2022

Inside panel of the leaflet: the nickname アラーキー repeated in katakana over a red circle — Pl. 01.6アラーキー, “Arākī”, as a motif

Annotated print file: poster with crop marks and a magnifier on the bleed, leaflet front with folds at 97 and 197 mm — Pl. 01.7The 31 March print file, annotated

Front of the flat leaflet: red duotone photo, practical information, cover taken from the poster — Pl. 01.8Leaflet, front: inner flap, back, cover

Back of the flat leaflet: portrait of Araki, critical text across two panels, red circle and katakana — Pl. 01.9Leaflet, back: the inside. Text supplied by the school.

Four steps of the roll fold in 3D, from open to closed leaflet — Pl. 01.10The fold, step by step (3D render)

Open and closed leaflet on a night-blue table, with a lattice shadow — Pl. 01.11Mock-up (3D render)

Instagram set, made in 2026 from the guidelines

Announcement post: the poster and the date UNTIL 14 MARCH — Pl. 01.12The announcement

Night-blue post: red circle and アラーキー katakana — Pl. 01.13The nickname

Post: a large number 101 and the Shi-Nikki for Robert Frank series — Pl. 01.14The series

Red post: practical information, opening hours, late opening and price — Pl. 01.15Practical information

Decisions

The name caught in the ropes

I ran the letters of ARAKI in front of and behind the ropes rather than laying the title over the image, so that the artist’s name and his subject read at a single glance. The name seems suspended with the bodies.

Two colours rather than black and white

I turned the 1992 and 1993 prints into a night-blue and red duotone rather than keeping them in black and white. The red evokes Japan without copying its flag, as the first direction did, and the same palette holds the poster, the leaflet and Instagram together.

The nickname in katakana

I used アラーキー, “Arākī”, the photographer’s nickname, as a motif inside the leaflet’s red circle. The Japanese touch comes through type rather than decoration.

Results

2Pieces printed in the school’s print room
6Panels, roll-folded twice
3 mmOf bleed on every file

What I take away

Looking back, some inside photos of the leaflet were between 100 and 160 ppi, below the 300 ppi aimed for in print. Today I would check every image’s effective resolution before export, as I did for the poster photograph. This exercise taught me to think about the file before the image: trim size, bleed, folds, fonts.

Palette

Colours sampled from the project visuals.

Night blue#2C2762C55 M60 Y0 K62
Red#E83F51C0 M73 Y65 K9
Paper#E7E2E1C0 M2 Y3 K9