Five different covers were created, each featuring a supermodel wearing a pair of Beats by Dre headphones, and design elements that were inspired by original Pat McGrath makeup designs: shrink wrap, crystals, android mask, scribbles and smoke elements. Readers were then pointed to use the Garage app to see a 3D rendition and animation of the covers in real time on a smart phone. 

The cover photo-shoot saw the models photographed with very minimal makeup. The Mill scanned each girl while on set to generate full body CG models for our post production.

The Mill's creative director Andreas Berner led the design department to explore and then finalize different designs to place on top of the cover photographs. The idea was to create a design that hinted at the animation that would be seen through the AR app.

For the AR app execution 3D lead artist Raymond Leung went a step further and used our in-house 2D and 3D tools to create FX simulations, animations and final composites turn each model into a living organism consumed by the nature of the VFX.

Beats by Dre brought D.J. Alex Da Kid onboard to create a music score to accompany each animation, for a more dynamic viewer experience. Sound fx for the crystallization, scribbles, shrink wrap, robotic plates and fiery smoke was created by Finger Music.

Mieré & Mieré, the creators of the Garage app incorporated the final Mill animations, to be enjoyed by magazine readers. Read more about the process at The Mill blog.