Caramel - Connan Mockasin - Shampoo Label Initial Ideas and Development


Having completed a large amount of research into this album, it seemed like the best one to start with. I had already made that typography out of golden syrup as an idea to represent the smooth viscous ‘caramel’ nature of the album. I used it as a starting point, combining some of the graphic shapes and colour palettes I used in visual maps I made of some of the songs in the album. Ultimately, while the caramel type is visually intriguing and unusual, for a commercial product the typography needs to be more refined and bespoke, which is why I started using Eckmann Psych - I looked at this typeface in my research, its psychedelic and also very curved and flowing, so it represents the psychedelic nature of Connan Mockasin’s music, as well as having a curved flowing caramel feel. 



I started playing around with some of shapes I created in the visual song maps and gradients to represent the smooth songs, I used black for the typography to stand out but ultimately felt that the contrast was too distinct and visually, it didn’t fit in with the smooth soft caramel visual style I’m trying to cultivate. I took a step back from these initial ideas, and considered practically the product I was making the label for; it is caramel scented shampoo because Mockasin recorded ‘Caramel’ in a hotel room in Japan which made me think of the small toiletries such as shampoo that you get in hotels. Connan Mockasin also has another musical endeavour called ‘Soft Hair’ and he has long blond hair so in general I felt there was quite an emphasis on hair and the shampoo was quite fitting. The gold colours I was using gave the label quite a luxurious feel and then I decided as a design decision, that maybe the label should appear like a luxury product; if you were in a nice hotel, the labels of the complimentary toiletries would have elegant serifed typography, be clean and minimal, and maybe even have embossed gold lettering. 



These 3 designs show the culmination of this idea; the gold colouring, with a white border and serifed type in ‘Big Moore’ give the impression of a high quality luxurious product, this is reflected in the simple centred alignment and lateral layout with tildes interjecting each piece of type. The most developed design simplifies a set of circles from one of the visual songs maps; these circles are in a simple gradient which route in sequence, representing the seamless tempo and beats in the songs. The pink gradient in the ‘caramel’ title is a visual reference to the logos of rock bands in the 70’s and 80’s, seeing as 70’s soft rock is an influence on the album, it also visually distinguishes the album title. Finally, the ‘New Music Market’ logo ids large and prominent in the design, ensuring the brand identity is at least somewhat maintained.





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