[Translation] J-web: Ura AraFes
J-web has started a new section of the Arashi page called "Ura AraFes" which means "Behind the Scenes of AraFes." I'll continue to translate this section as more is added to it. 
*I apologize in advance for awkwardness in parts of this translation. J-web reports tend to be full of pointless flowery language that sucks to translate, but hopefully you get the general idea. The tl;dr version is that Aiba designed the goods using a lot of orange. He tried to make sure everything looks good together and that the fans will have some freedom to personalize their concert wear.
Ura AraFes
"AraFes" Goods Introduction Report
The festival Arashi is making together with their fans, "Ara Fes" is about to begin on 9/12(Thurs) at Kokuritsu Kasumigaoka Rikujou Kyogijou!! On Johnny's Web we're going to tell you about the goods that well be on sale at "AraFes" a little early!
This time the creation of the goods was supervised by Director Aiba! We're going to bring you Director Aiba's secret comments about the creative process!
★ First up, the item that comes to mind when you think of concerts, the T-shirt!
This T-shirt uses a clear orange as the base color with a little bit of a "Mischievous Ver." of the usual Arashi logo arranged in a design.
"For the 'AraFes' logo, first all of the members decided 'Let's make the theme color orange.' I made suggestions about things like what the effect color should be and what kind of design to use," says Director Aiba.
For the T-shirt, he says "It's a festival, so I thought it would be good to arrange the usual logo differently," and so the tight expression in hand drawn style is also a key point.
"It's like a stamp," he says of the interesting color choices and memorable design.
★ The "Pin Badges (2 types)" also have the same "Mischievous Ver." of the Arashi logo on them like the T-shirt.
This time the "Mischievous Ver." of the logo is only used on the T-shirt and Pin Badges!
"They flow with the T-shirt. I think you could have fun trying different combinations, like putting the badges on the T-shirt, the shopping bag, the hooded towel..."
There is one large and two small pin badges in each envelope to make a set of three. There are even two different designs "A" and "B" to choose from.
"To make them easy to arrange, we made two different designs! You can play around with arranging them any way you'd like," says Director Aiba.
With a smile on his face he told us they could be placed on the chest of the T-shirt, under the logo, "I'd put it in the usual spot here, but I wonder where everyone else will put them~"
★"AraFes" is a "Festival made along with all of you," so requesting the "Arashi Songs" you wanted to hear them sing is still fresh in everyone's memories.
So the "Poster (Group)" uses the titles of all of Arashi's singles & albums as the background! In orange, blue, and brown letters on a white background the titles are randomly arranged in a refreshing design.
Wearing stylish outfits the members lined up in front of a board printed with the titles for the photoshoot.
As the camera was being set, the members could be seen staring at the board with excitement and saying things like "Some of these make me feel nostalgic~" (Matsumoto), "Just the singles?" (Ohno), "The albums too!" (Sakurai), "Are they really all here(lol)?" (Ninomiya).
★The "Shopping bag" uses the same design from the background of the poster. On the largest sides the single & album titles are lined up, the other sides are orange, and a vivid blue is used at the top.
Director Aiba says "Isn't the color scheme great!? I thought about various ideas like using the print from the board on all sides, but I really wanted to add color." And that's how it turned out this way.
"I made the combination of blue and orange a focal point! But the handle is brown, so it's also chic. Even though it's pop style it's got a classical feel...you know! Actually, I was aiming for a sophisticated feel. Like from a foreign country. (lol)" he says of his design.
"After thinking about it, I thought the fact that it's an outdoor venue... was important. So I chose a sturdy material that would be okay in the rain." It's a material that's like a crinkly leather sheet. There's a zipper too, to protect against rain!" He explained, telling us that it's usability was another key point.
You can see his thoughts of "I want you to have fun with these!" are put into the goods.
★The theme color is vivid orange, but the pen light, which comes with a handle and a strap, is a compact size clear square. "Behind the logo, there's a watermark of the song titles from the board." Don't miss this simple but thoughtful design!
★Like the poster, the "Jumbo uchiwa" and "clear file" feature the whole group. Unlike the chic styling of the poster, this time the members each wore fashionable T-shirts with the characters "A" (Matsumoto), "Ra" (Ohno), "Fu" (Aiba), "e" (Ninomiya), "Su" (Sakurai) for the shoot.
On the jumbo uchiwa the members have their arms tightly wrapped around each other's shoulders, and they're each "mouthing" the syllable on their shirts (lol). It turned into a peaceful shot that makes you feel warm and fuzzy just looking at it.
★ Up next is the must-have item for outdoor concerts, the "hooded towel." It's a convenient item that protects you from the hot sun and even light rain. Like the shopping bag, Aiba Director also said "I thought about making it a hat and towel" to combat rain.
"But this time we all decided that rather than having lots of items we wanted to focus on the staple items of a tour" So in the end they went with this convenient 2-in-1 item.
This one has a light grey base with an orange logo. "Orange is the theme color, but if we used it all over everything, when you wore it all you'd be a 'full body orange' person. (lol)" Aiba said, thinking of the total coordinate.
"Grey and orange look good together. And it makes the orange logo stand out. Actually, by chance at a meeting I was wearing this color... a light grey hat (lol). And then I was like 'Oh!? Let's make it grey!' 'It'll be like a grey hoodie! (lol)!" That's how it was decided (lol).
After daring to use grey all over, Director Aiba made use of orange as a focal point... and the members responses to his plan was great!! On the right side the year and venue are written and a large tour logo is on the left.
Also another big point was placing a large Arashi logo on the hood. "It's on the hood, so I think it'll look cute when you wear it!" It turned out to be an item that Director Aiba is satisfied is a success!!
★ The "good-luck bracelet and mini towel" from the kids line.
This item is also light grey with an orange Arashi mark that has a lot of punch!
"Isn't this convenient? It's in the kids line, but adults use mini towels too, and the kids can take it to school as a handkerchief," says Director Aiba.
"I thought just haven this item was a little sad, so I added the good-luck bracelet. You can put this on your arm, on your bag, or even on your phone. Look around for a place you want to put it!!" Like the pin badges, Aiba recommends that you freely choose how to wear it.
★A perfect item for a concert, the "wrist band" is white with an orange logo, with a two-toned grey border at the top with an orange line to make a refreshing design. Once again Director Aiba was thinking of the total coordinate. The distinct white will certainly stand out at dusk at the venue!
In these ways the theme color orange is mixed with various colors such as orange x white, orange x light grey, and even blue and brown. With the special logo included, the "AraFes" goods lineup is both diverse and well unified!!
"AraFes" is about to begin. Before the shows, a pre-sale of goods will be held on 9/17 (Mon, Holiday) and 9/18! (Sales times, warnings, and details are under MEDIA INFO -> Concert GOODS).
Director Aiba thought hard about the people who will be using the goods and how they can add individual flair, using his sense and intuition to the fullest to create the "AraFes" goods.
"Unlike all of the concerts up until now, this is a festival. I wanted each item to seem festival-like," he says. We confidently recommend these goods to get you pumped up about the festival, please look forward to them!
*I apologize in advance for awkwardness in parts of this translation. J-web reports tend to be full of pointless flowery language that sucks to translate, but hopefully you get the general idea. The tl;dr version is that Aiba designed the goods using a lot of orange. He tried to make sure everything looks good together and that the fans will have some freedom to personalize their concert wear.
Ura AraFes
"AraFes" Goods Introduction Report
The festival Arashi is making together with their fans, "Ara Fes" is about to begin on 9/12(Thurs) at Kokuritsu Kasumigaoka Rikujou Kyogijou!! On Johnny's Web we're going to tell you about the goods that well be on sale at "AraFes" a little early!
This time the creation of the goods was supervised by Director Aiba! We're going to bring you Director Aiba's secret comments about the creative process!
★ First up, the item that comes to mind when you think of concerts, the T-shirt!
This T-shirt uses a clear orange as the base color with a little bit of a "Mischievous Ver." of the usual Arashi logo arranged in a design.
"For the 'AraFes' logo, first all of the members decided 'Let's make the theme color orange.' I made suggestions about things like what the effect color should be and what kind of design to use," says Director Aiba.
For the T-shirt, he says "It's a festival, so I thought it would be good to arrange the usual logo differently," and so the tight expression in hand drawn style is also a key point.
"It's like a stamp," he says of the interesting color choices and memorable design.
★ The "Pin Badges (2 types)" also have the same "Mischievous Ver." of the Arashi logo on them like the T-shirt.
This time the "Mischievous Ver." of the logo is only used on the T-shirt and Pin Badges!
"They flow with the T-shirt. I think you could have fun trying different combinations, like putting the badges on the T-shirt, the shopping bag, the hooded towel..."
There is one large and two small pin badges in each envelope to make a set of three. There are even two different designs "A" and "B" to choose from.
"To make them easy to arrange, we made two different designs! You can play around with arranging them any way you'd like," says Director Aiba.
With a smile on his face he told us they could be placed on the chest of the T-shirt, under the logo, "I'd put it in the usual spot here, but I wonder where everyone else will put them~"
★"AraFes" is a "Festival made along with all of you," so requesting the "Arashi Songs" you wanted to hear them sing is still fresh in everyone's memories.
So the "Poster (Group)" uses the titles of all of Arashi's singles & albums as the background! In orange, blue, and brown letters on a white background the titles are randomly arranged in a refreshing design.
Wearing stylish outfits the members lined up in front of a board printed with the titles for the photoshoot.
As the camera was being set, the members could be seen staring at the board with excitement and saying things like "Some of these make me feel nostalgic~" (Matsumoto), "Just the singles?" (Ohno), "The albums too!" (Sakurai), "Are they really all here(lol)?" (Ninomiya).
★The "Shopping bag" uses the same design from the background of the poster. On the largest sides the single & album titles are lined up, the other sides are orange, and a vivid blue is used at the top.
Director Aiba says "Isn't the color scheme great!? I thought about various ideas like using the print from the board on all sides, but I really wanted to add color." And that's how it turned out this way.
"I made the combination of blue and orange a focal point! But the handle is brown, so it's also chic. Even though it's pop style it's got a classical feel...you know! Actually, I was aiming for a sophisticated feel. Like from a foreign country. (lol)" he says of his design.
"After thinking about it, I thought the fact that it's an outdoor venue... was important. So I chose a sturdy material that would be okay in the rain." It's a material that's like a crinkly leather sheet. There's a zipper too, to protect against rain!" He explained, telling us that it's usability was another key point.
You can see his thoughts of "I want you to have fun with these!" are put into the goods.
★The theme color is vivid orange, but the pen light, which comes with a handle and a strap, is a compact size clear square. "Behind the logo, there's a watermark of the song titles from the board." Don't miss this simple but thoughtful design!
★Like the poster, the "Jumbo uchiwa" and "clear file" feature the whole group. Unlike the chic styling of the poster, this time the members each wore fashionable T-shirts with the characters "A" (Matsumoto), "Ra" (Ohno), "Fu" (Aiba), "e" (Ninomiya), "Su" (Sakurai) for the shoot.
On the jumbo uchiwa the members have their arms tightly wrapped around each other's shoulders, and they're each "mouthing" the syllable on their shirts (lol). It turned into a peaceful shot that makes you feel warm and fuzzy just looking at it.
★ Up next is the must-have item for outdoor concerts, the "hooded towel." It's a convenient item that protects you from the hot sun and even light rain. Like the shopping bag, Aiba Director also said "I thought about making it a hat and towel" to combat rain.
"But this time we all decided that rather than having lots of items we wanted to focus on the staple items of a tour" So in the end they went with this convenient 2-in-1 item.
This one has a light grey base with an orange logo. "Orange is the theme color, but if we used it all over everything, when you wore it all you'd be a 'full body orange' person. (lol)" Aiba said, thinking of the total coordinate.
"Grey and orange look good together. And it makes the orange logo stand out. Actually, by chance at a meeting I was wearing this color... a light grey hat (lol). And then I was like 'Oh!? Let's make it grey!' 'It'll be like a grey hoodie! (lol)!" That's how it was decided (lol).
After daring to use grey all over, Director Aiba made use of orange as a focal point... and the members responses to his plan was great!! On the right side the year and venue are written and a large tour logo is on the left.
Also another big point was placing a large Arashi logo on the hood. "It's on the hood, so I think it'll look cute when you wear it!" It turned out to be an item that Director Aiba is satisfied is a success!!
★ The "good-luck bracelet and mini towel" from the kids line.
This item is also light grey with an orange Arashi mark that has a lot of punch!
"Isn't this convenient? It's in the kids line, but adults use mini towels too, and the kids can take it to school as a handkerchief," says Director Aiba.
"I thought just haven this item was a little sad, so I added the good-luck bracelet. You can put this on your arm, on your bag, or even on your phone. Look around for a place you want to put it!!" Like the pin badges, Aiba recommends that you freely choose how to wear it.
★A perfect item for a concert, the "wrist band" is white with an orange logo, with a two-toned grey border at the top with an orange line to make a refreshing design. Once again Director Aiba was thinking of the total coordinate. The distinct white will certainly stand out at dusk at the venue!
In these ways the theme color orange is mixed with various colors such as orange x white, orange x light grey, and even blue and brown. With the special logo included, the "AraFes" goods lineup is both diverse and well unified!!
"AraFes" is about to begin. Before the shows, a pre-sale of goods will be held on 9/17 (Mon, Holiday) and 9/18! (Sales times, warnings, and details are under MEDIA INFO -> Concert GOODS).
Director Aiba thought hard about the people who will be using the goods and how they can add individual flair, using his sense and intuition to the fullest to create the "AraFes" goods.
"Unlike all of the concerts up until now, this is a festival. I wanted each item to seem festival-like," he says. We confidently recommend these goods to get you pumped up about the festival, please look forward to them!