Graphic Design - Level 6

In response to the findings of my essay, that digital formats are becoming much more prominent in the consumption and advertisement of music, a lot of the touchpoints I produce for this project will be digital such as wireframe mockups and digital ads. However other than the products, there is one other thing I will physically produce which is posters. I will produce 4 posters, one for each product which is stylistically inspired by each corresponding album, and then also one poster to promote the New Music Market service as a brand.   With the final label designs established, it wasn’t hard to come up with some initial ideas for posters since the posters needed to share the same style and visual identity   as the labels. I created these initial ideas, and in some examples, such as the caramel posters, added in even more visual devices such as the Tadanoori Yokoo inspired psychedelic waves that I made as part of one of the visual maps of a song on Carame...

After deciding upon my final designs for the labels, and testing a few different products to see what ratios and sizes worked best and what products looked good, I started the production process by printing my label designs onto adhesive backed paper. While this was convenient because I could just cut them out and then stick them on the products, I found that the paper stock was very thin and dull, meaning the finish on the labels wasn’t great, and I wanted a higher quality finish. For this reason I decided to print the labels on normal, higher stock paper at a print facility; this 160 gsm card with a slight gloss finish was ideal for the labels which looked a lot more professional printed at a higher quality.   Because I printed on paper as opposed to adhesive backed paper, I needed to stick the labels on using a spray mount, which was a successful process. For my posters, I need high quality images of my products, so I borrowed some professional lighting a...

After a group critique were I presented some final developed designs, I decided upon the final designs for my labels: Caramel After buying the shampoo bottle for the label, I changed the label’s proportions to fit the bottle. I then translated my design onto these dimensions.  My one concern was that the main title text ‘Caramel’ was possibly too small so played around with doing larger type, splitting the word into 2 and 3 rows. Ultimately decided that because the type is already quite decorative, these decreased the clarity and readability of the title, also it didn’t fit the style of a high quality product label which I was trying to achieve. I also tried a gold gradient to make the label appear shiny and more luxurious however it did not have that effect, so I decided the matt singular gold colour was a better way to go.   On His Own I really liked the appearance and idea behind the candle inspired ovals on this design, so I just exp...

Following the feedback on the second draft of my essay, i have made amendments to it. I'm confident now that any more minor changes I need to make to it won't be too difficult to do, however coming it at 5,682 words, it is over the word count, so I will need to assess what can be cut down. Graphic design is undoubtedly of great importance in not only the consumption, but the enjoyment of music. It can serve as a visual interface and a point of instant contact for listeners; a means to visually decipher and accompany something entirely auditory - ‘I’ve never believed you can listen to music devoid of visual reference’ - (Shaughnessy. A, 2008). This essay aims to examine graphic design’s significance in music, and the variety of graphic design methods that have aided the consumption of music.   The most fundamental association between design and music is the album cover - ‘An album cover is the initial moment of the record. It’s the doorway into the music’ - (Bl...

Following a tutorial with my COP supervisor looking through the first complete draft of my essay, I decided to write up a list of the amendments and changes I need to make so I have a clear list of things to do: In the second paragraph I talk about the first album cover created, and end with this quote - ‘Records, which had typically been sold at the back of appliance stores, had become desirable objects that could capture the imagination (and wallets) of music lovers everywhere.’ - (Kennedy. P, 2016). Basically I just need to explain why this was the case, and why the album cover made consumers want to buy records much more than they did before. At the end of the fourth paragraph, similar I make a statement saying that consumers of music prefer a recognisable logo that serves as a visual identifier for the musical act, and again I just need to explain why this is and maybe back it up with a quote. Same thing again for paragraph 6, explain the quote I’ve used and why ex...

Songs of Praise is all about Shame getting their voice heard regardless of whether people agree with it or whether it sounds good. For this reason the product I have chosen to represent it is a carton of milk, because singers commonly believe that dairy is bad for your voice and you shouldn’t drink it before you perform, however this an idea that Shame would not believe in because they don’t care how their voice comes across.   One of the biggest songs on Songs of Praise is ‘One Rizla’ - cigarettes are also bad for your voice supposedly so I looked at vintage cigarette packaging as a design reference. I think the contrast of having a cigarette box inspired label on a carton of milk is very punk as well. These designs are interesting, I think the bottom one especially is very developed, however they didn’t represent the album as well as I’d have liked because they look retro and the album is modern. Also they look too old to work succinctly in modern commerci...

I started the design process for these labels by trying to communicate the understated quiet quality of this evening life performance album, using blues and blacks to represent the dimly lit performance, but also the melancholic soft jazz style. I didn’t use particularly stylised typography because I wanted the visual language to be quiet and subdued and I didn’t want any particularly decorative type to imbue the designs with a style that didn’t match the music. Ultimately however, this led to designs that fell flat because there was no visual intrigue there was nothing particularly interesting about them.   As another direction, I focused on the Lo-Fi aspect of the album. In music, Lo-fi means a recording process which includes errors and restrictions, its an un-polished true to life representation. Therefore I tried to represent this in the design by utilising a lo-fi analogue design style to make it look unpolished, a good point of visual research was the work of co...