Abercrombie Case

A visual design can be anything that is created, designed, composed, drawn, painted, built or even expressed. With any piece of visual work, it consists of and derives from the basic elements of visual communication. "The visual elements are the basic substance of what we see, and they are few in number: the dot, line, shape, direction, tone, colour, texture, dimension, scale, movement" (Dondis, 1973). The creation, structure or purpose of any visual work contains a variety of these basic elements of communication. The arrangement and blend of these elements helps to determine the purpose of the visual and what information has been selective to be conveyed to the audience. Visual communication and its elements are imperative to consider when persuading, informing or reaching a target audience, which therefore is the sole purpose of any visual piece of work.

Visually communicating is an essential role in any business, especially in the product sales-driven industries. Considering the fashion apparel retail industry, the main purpose of a company's advertisements and having the product visually appealing is to persuade the audience, "the customer", to buy the product and to emphasize brand awareness. Every company has a different purpose or message for their intending audience and through visuals, the one's looking in can determine what message the company is trying to convey or express to its current and potential customers. The principle of this paper is to report the findings and analysis of the apparel company's website, Abercrombie & Fitch (A&F). Through research, visual communication concepts and laws, the purpose and mission of Abercrombie and Fitch success can be identified.

Abercrombie & Fitch is a leading retailer of casual apparel, perfumes and accessories for both men and women, targeting mainly the young-adult and collegiate demographic, with many stores worldwide including teenager and children stores. In 1982 the brand was established and was known for their coarse outdoor gear and apparel. Under the name of David T. Abercrombie and later co-owned by former lawyer Ezra Fitch and by 1992 the company transpired into a more sophisticated fashion forward casual apparel industry retail leader. However, every business encounters financial hardships and the company went bankrupt in 1977 and the recession issue again in 2009 affected the company's bottom line. The company redeemed themselves of their financial failures and now has become and continues to thrive for success with hundreds of stores around the world.

A&F is comprised of three unique varieties of brands, Abercrombie & Fitch, New York and Abercrombie Kids, this brand "is the essence of the privileged and casual luxury meets East Coast prep schools, with a flirtatious and energetic attitude", Gilly Hicks, Sydney "is the cheeky cousin of Abercrombie & Fitch inspired by the free