ESSAY DRAFT - BRANDING SECTION

‘How important is Graphic Design in the consumption of music?’

When considering the consumption of music, one can think of music acts as brands, and the music they produce as a product or service. In doing so, music’s consumption can be better understood, and some of the ways in which graphic design can effect this can be established. Similarly to commercial brands, often musical acts have logo marks or icons as a visual identifier. (Neumer. M, 2005) puts forth the idea that when a brand logo is successful, it is distinctly individual to a brand and functions as part of their visual identity - ‘a good brand icon is like a tailored suit - it should only look good on you’. This suggests that successful logos are definitely an example of a way in which graphic design aids the consumption of music; by acting as a visual mark that consumers of that particular music can use to identify the musical ‘brand’ that they enjoy. This statement can be supported when considering probably the most famous musical logo of all time - The Rolling Stones’s ‘tongue and lips’ - ‘By distilling the essence of the band into one single visual reference, the designer was able to create a logo that worked superbly well for 50 years.’ - (Bonigala. M, 2015). However (Kedgley. J, 2008), disagrees with the effectiveness of logos in music - ‘Branded bands… kinda goes against being a musician/producer/artist, for me. The last thing you would want is the awful logo that you had last time on every piece of music or art that you make’. Kedgley’s opinion on musical logos seems to suggest that he feels the design for each piece of music released by an act should be new, and that consistently using the same logo can be boring and repetitive. This opinion certainly has merit, and it somewhat seems to align with Neumer’s views on the modern brand paradigm - ‘They behave more like organisms, than organisations, shifting and growing and dividing and combining as needed. Unlike the old corporate identity paradigm that prized uniformity and consistency, the new brand paradigm sacrifices those qualities in favour of being alive and dynamic’. Upon further analysis of this paradigm however, one can see that this fluidity and idea of constantly refreshing the identity of a brand that Neumer refers to does not mean an identity that entirely changes, more so an identity that adapts constantly in order to stay relevant with its audience. Ultimately, though its possible that consumers of a certain musical act might get bored of a consistently used logo and instead value fresh and new visuals each time, these consumers will almost always be outnumbered by those who like the instant contact a logo provides - the assurance that they are consuming a musical act that they value. 

The effectiveness of logos in music can be further informed by considering the theory of ‘Charismatic Brands’ which Neumer describes as - ‘any product, service, or company for which people believe there’s no substitute … Because its the language of feeling, and, in a society that’s information rich and time poor, people value feeling more than information’. Commercially, brands like Nike, Apple or Disney are classified as charismatic brands and because of this their logos are iconic and irreplaceable. Considering this within the context of music, the Rolling Stones can be thought of as a charismatic brand - their logo is universally known and recognisable. If they had never developed a logo, would this have effected their success, and subsequently the consumption of their music? Perhaps not massively, however the fact of the matter is that their logo, a piece of graphic design, has functioned as a brand icon, visually identifying them to consumers, and therefore increasing the consumption of their music. And this is universally true for any music act; regardless of the magnitude of their status, if their logo has served as a visual identifier to consumers, it has fulfilled its purpose.

Beyond a consistent recognisable logo, music acts can also use other recurring visual identifiers to ‘brand themselves’ and in doing so, increase their brand loyalty. A notable example of this is the album covers of Iron Maiden; since their debut album in 1980, every studio album cover has featured their distinctive logotype at the top and an image of their mascot ‘Eddie’ in a different scene/scenario, illustrated in a consistent comic art style. ‘Eddie’ was created by designer Derek Riggs who designed all the bands covers from 1980 - 1992 and is often credited with being integral in Iron Maiden’s success, because of this continuous visual identity and mascot that fans become familiar with - ‘Riggs unknowingly created one of the most iconic images in rock n' roll today’ - (Fox Music 2018). When bands adopt a distinct visual style like this, it’s important that it communicates the style of their music as succinctly as possible in order to align with the preferred style of visual communication of their fans - ‘we began to realise that the audience for one product was likely to be different than the audience for another, and that its taste in design was also likely to be different’ - (Neumer. M, 2005) - when the visual identity achieves this, it creates brand loyalty amongst consumers of their music; fans of Iron Maiden will grow to associate the style of their album covers with their music, and when a new album comes out that conforms to this visual style, they are assured that this is the band that they know and enjoy listening to and subsequently maintain their loyalty to the brand - ‘branding is simply a convenient package for a business idea’ - (Neumer. M, 2005). 

However, though this could be construed as a conscious strategy to increase the consumption of the band’s music through brand loyalty, it could also be construed as a lack of ‘originality’, as (Shaughnessy. A, 2008) refers to - ‘The major labels still commission cover art, but it’s rare to find examples with any resonance or originality’. Often when brands (music studios in this case) identify a successful approach, the temptation is to continue using that approach as its a safe option that they know will be successful, a notion Shaughnessy further emphasises - ‘Left to their own devices, the big labels are generally unwilling to stray from the safe formula of glamorous and heavily styled artists’ pictures and retail - friendly layouts’. 

An appropriate theory to consider here is ‘The MAYA Principle’ theorised by industrial designer Raymond Loewy - ‘Maya is an abbreviation for “Most Advanced. Yet Acceptable.” which means that Loewy sought to give his users the most advanced design, but not more advanced than what they were able to accept and embrace’ - (Dam. R, 2019). While the graphic design of the Iron Maiden covers has certainly been successful in creating brand loyalty and increasing the consumption of the bands music, when considering the MAYA principle, is it purely an ‘acceptable’ approach which could be more ‘advanced’ and innovative? And in being more advanced, could this use of graphic design be even more successful when increasing the consumption of the band’s music?

An appropriate example of an album cover that effectively conforms to the MAYA principle is the cover for XTC’s album ‘Go 2’, designed by Storm Thorgerson and Hipgnosis Studio in 1978. The cover’s subversion of conventional record sleeve design was both innovative and attention grabbing by sunning the use of a bold eye-catching image or visual metaphor -‘It brutally strips away, with a knowing perversity, any of the ingredients that an album cover should have … No band logo, no colour photography (on the outside), no clues, nothing’ - (Ellery. J, 2017). Instead the cover displays a captivating piece written by Thorgerson about album cover design and the consumer process of buying records based on their visual intrigue - ‘we’re letting you know that you ought to buy this record because in essence it’s a PRODUCT and PRODUCTS are to be consumed and you are a consumer and this is a good PRODUCT’ - (Thorgerson. S, 1978). What the cover does is captivate the viewer even more than a beautiful image would because they get drawn into reading it and feel that they have to read it all the way through - ‘the more you read on the more you’re falling for this simple device of telling you exactly how a good commercial design works’. Evidently this was very effective, as (Powell. A, 2017) confirms - ‘the idea created a lot of publicity, as - out of sheer curiosity - the viewer could not help but read the front cover’. When talking about the cover, designer Jonathan Ellery even goes as far as to say - ‘I would have bought the Go 2 album even if they were rubbish because of the way it looked’ - this statement undoubtedly confirms the effectiveness of the cover. If a consumer is willing to buy a record, not for the music (the function and purpose of the record) but for the aesthetic value of the accompanying cover, then it is abundantly evident that the consumption of this record has been substantially aided by the application of graphic design to its packaging.