ougd406 - Professional practice - secret 7

Secret 7" is a design competition, which is now in its fifth year. It takes seven popular artists and choses one of there songs (Not Necessarily there biggest hit) these songs are pressed 100 times onto seven inch vinyl and people across the country are invited to design a cover for these songs. There are rules involved in this as in any competition, a major one being the design has to not give away the song it is representing, it can have no clear links to the song inside, thus the name secret seven, it must not contain the song title or artist on the cover. The cover must not include imagery which gives away the song either, photos of the artist, video or specific imagery which relates to the artist or song. The art work can be imaginative and influenced by artists which we like.

I looked at a few of the covers from previous years from various designers which are all kept secret. With such a varied range of designers contributing work there is a wide range of styles brought to the competition. Colours, drawings photography are all welcome though must conform to the seven inch size of the cover. Most use extravagant colours and imagery to create striking designs. As seen in the images above the song cannot be recognised. I want to create something which is personal to my interests, relevant to the song and not to over board.

I can already see influences within the work used by graphic designers. Most of the designs are personal to the designers and there own style is seen within the work, it is expressing and very free, with little restrictions. Some designers have admitted to not listening to the track before designing for it, they work completely from the title and be as expressive as possible, which creates great and interesting pieces. For example in the design above it feels that they have taken inspiration from Joy Divisions Unknown Pleasures album where the album art uses a similar pattern based on the first recorded pulsar. I shall use influences of mine mixed with relevant imagery to accompany the song I choose.