Converse: Marks of a Life Lived
if they’re clean, you’re not going hard enough
This is student work for a class assignment. This work is not affiliated with Converse.
Images have been created with Gemini
This promotional effort is to focus on marks that happen as someone wears and lives in their Converse shoes. Converse are a popular option for everyday wear, but also used for weightlifting, skateboarding, dancing and exploring. This is done by focusing on the damage that is inflicted onto Converse as people wear them, and emphasizing that they are only just breaking them in, rather than needing to replace them soon due to wear. This is in line with Converse sustainability goals by urging people to continue wearing their shoes long after they start to develop character.
Brand Photography
All photos were taken and edited by Renee DeMars Dehn
Photos taken with iPhone 12, edited in Adobe Photoshop. I really enjoy how these photos turned out. Converse are such a recognizable shoe, being able to zoom in so much, and still have it be recognizable is not often common for a brand. However, the iconic heel cap photos are some of my favorite, as I think they capture the wear of the shoe very well.
I decided to photograph this brand as I have been wearing them for many years, and thought that finding a different angle than their normal advertising would provide interest. This narrative is to help fulfill the loyalty portion of the AIDA funnel. It is targeting those who already own Converse, to help them feel represented with their worn (and maybe tattered) shoes. This has always been how I wear my Converse, until they are nearly, or actually, falling apart.
In my mockups, these photos are used in out of home advertising, attempting to be in places where the target consumer would likely be. They could also become part of a larger campaign, including a social media campaign. This could be expanded to include having Converse wearers send in images of their own worn shoes, and what kinds of activities they enjoy doing in them.
AI Brand Photography
These photos were created with Google Gemini, and edited with Adobe Photoshop.
I started this project knowing that I wanted to create completely new images with AI, as I wanted to see how they would compare to the photos that I took. The results of this was really interesting to me, I didn’t expect the AI images to turn out so well. Especially since I took my photos on my phone, seeing them next to the AI images is a very stark difference.
One thing that I think helped a lot with the quality of these images was that I put many of the images that I took of my Converse into Gemini, to give it additional data. There are still some quality issues such as the text on the logo being incorrect and unrealistic tears in the canvas. Also, I originally generated about 40 photos, which I then chose and edited my favorites to showcase. Despite the few issues I am happy with how these turned out. The dirt on the shoes looks rather realistic, and I think if someone was not looking critically at these, they would not be able to tell they are AI.