Responsive - Studio Brief Three

Throughout the responsive module I have taken the opportunity to experiment with a range of design styles, producing a multitude of work which is relevant to each brief. I have used the module to mainly explore subjective work, undertaking briefs which stretch my own creative potential whilst also working towards set briefs. The module was also an excellent opportunity to work with a multitude of different design techniques and production methods. I wanted to explore styles of work which interest me, trying to discover a style of my own by shaping the briefs around my own interests, influences and inspiration whilst also meeting set requirements of commercial briefs.

I started off the project by looking at the Penguin Random House project, this was to produce a cover wrap for one of three books. Choosing to look at Truman Capote's true crime novel, In Cold Blood. The choice to use this book was through intrigue and interest, the book covered topics I had never used or thought of in design. Researching the back story of the book, the people involved and the evidence around the books subject I produced an in depth body of research which helped me to realise some design aspects which could represent the tone, genre and style of the book. Looking at dark topics which are featured in the book I produced a vast range of design experiments and ideas, letting myself be influenced by a range of design research which was also collected. Through designing the cover, a clear evolution from research to experiments to designs to final resolution can be seen. The design choices which have been made have been filtered through peer assessment to produce relevant, clear and visually exciting work. The final solution uses screen print and collage methods to put across the tone of the book simply, the textures got from these production methods add to the aesthetic and overall feel of the book. I got a lot out of this brief personally, I was able to experiment with a range of techniques and explore a really interesting and contextual body of research. This brief really stretched my knowledge and understanding of how much depth can go into book cover design.

Moving on from Penguin, I looked at MUBI, the D&AD brief in which a promotional project was needed to advertise the online streaming service to a new audience. This brief was by far the most restricting I did throughout the project with MUBI dictating key design choices such as typeface choice, colour use and layout. Attempting to make it as interesting and exciting as possible despite the restrictions, I produced a wide body of research which is influenced by the content of the website. Taking influence from rival streaming service companies and classic cinema, I produced a body of work which considers the needs of MUBI as well as the target audiences interests. Instead of producing digital resolutions I chose to produce physical posters and a small booklet of movie listings, the physical products are easily distributed and through research of distribution I have been able to target audiences and also realise a concept of distribution to them. Though producing work which met my original concept and meeting the requirements and more for MUBI, I felt that the project can be developed a lot further, the incorporation of billboards and other large advertising technqiues. Though initially struggling with the restrictions within the brief I feel I have produced a project which is unique, bold and engaging. This project required different skills than those I used in Penguin or other projects, for this I had to understand advertisement techniques and explore a companies branding and image to keep these designs in the companies identity.

The final large brief required a collaboration, with the choice of who to work with was left solely upon myself, trying different methods to promote myself, I still could not find others to work with, it was by chance that I found two other people who were in the same position as me. On choosing which brief the three of us wanted to do, we found that we all wanted to do the same ones, and other similarities within our work arose, this commonality between us was apparent from the beginning. Distributing the work between us we found that a system of working alone and coming together for regular group meetings to collate where we each were and how we continued with certain elements. The creative ideas that were brought up were incredibly interesting, seeing this process of combined influences was really helpful for my own practice. By using a strong concepts and preparing an ethos which we all believed in and worked on we were able to produce a creative body of work which teaches lessons through strong visuals and experimental type setting. I feel I got the most out of this project as it is something I have not done before, working in a collective to produce a professionally set brief. I was lucky to work with like minded driven individuals who share the same design ideals of myself.

As add ons to the module I worked on small briefs such as the live brief set by Goat Collective called 'Art From Non Art' a collaborative exhibition which showcases and celebrates the use of appropriation in design and art. This brief again was very subjective and open to personally expression. I chose to look at topics which were related to my Context Of Practice brief, looking at anarchy style commentary on social issues I realised a project which focusses on social and communal housing and its privatisation by the conservatives in the late 70's. This was a project where I could look at interests and methods of production which I enjoyed and want to progress using. Another small brief which was undertaken was 'Nest' submission, the seasonal zine is a compilation of submitted work which is all made to a specific theme chosen by the editor. This next issue focusses on 'Space', again the project can be subjective and the theme interpreted in any way possible. For this I looked at a topic which used to underline my practice, music, though in new ways which I had never attempted before, using a combination of skills which I have developed over the year I produced a mono print / collage which explores the David Bowie Song 'Starman'. These small briefs helped me to explore personal interests and production methods whilst also working for the purpose of exhibition and showcasing. This will give me experience of showing work and start to make an image and recognisable style for myself.

Quarry Hill Flats - Final Digital Designs and print negative

The final digital designs are inspired by the swiss research undertaken and also art which is of the time which Quarry Hill thrived in, the 40's following its late 30's opening.  The colour is inspired by the decor in the flats of QH it is also one of the two colours of leeds, the yellow also has connotations with prosperity and hope, something the designers of the building had when visioning the building. 

Up Yer Sleeve - Research

METAL-CORE ARTWORK

Looking at art related to the bands music genre to get some ideas of how to approach the design of the cover for Architects' song 'Gone With The Wind'. Having looked at the genre 'Metal core' and identified some topics which could be explored, one of which is the art which is related to the genre. There is no singular style of Metal-core art work, but repeated symbols and colour schemes, images such as skulls, moons and crucifixes these symbols can be seen as pagan symbols also raising connotations of dark arts, death and evil. These can all be used in the design for the sleeve, though the cover can be subjective, it would be good keep an element of relevance to the song, perhaps the use of the symbols or colours associated the the songs genre. 

Notable styles / features -

- Red and Black colour scheme

- Nude shadow style image

- Skull

-symbols and shapes 

- use of white space to create shadow and form

- Gothic style

Notable styles / features -

- Black and white colour scheme

- Illustrative style

- Bold blocky type

- Moon, Crucifix and beastly visuals

- Rough black, print style background

- Tattoo style

Notable styles / features -

- Black + white colour scheme

- Illustrative

- Bold blocky type

- Moon, Skull and snake visuals

- Rough black, print style background

- Tattoo style

Notable styles / features -

- Red, black and white colour schemes

- Rough paint splat style colours

- birds

- skull

- Arrows

Notable styles / features -

- Gothic style 

- Horror style

- loud bold 

- creepy connotations

- Dark names

- Misery

Through looking at these designs which are related to the music genre metalcore, I have identified patters which occur throughout and intend to use some aspects to create a relationship between the song and the cover art, still these aspects can be used as subjective as possible, playing with the form and style of 'metal-core' art.

Up Yer Sleeve - Music album design brief

Up Yer Sleeve is a project being run by a third-year BA Hons graphic design student at Leeds college of art.  The brief is to create a 7-inch vinyl sleeve for a given song, the design of the cover can be as subjective as possible or be very literal to the song. This leaves the brief open to interpretation and depending on the song to decide which style to go for, the song is given on request, to enter the brief I must email the project runner and request a song, each song is by an artist who has died or from a band who has had a member die, this bleak concept behind the project can be seen as a positive element, the artwork can be a celebration of them, though the open ended-ness nature of the brief.

Following emailing the project runner, I received the song 'Gone with the wind' by the band Architects. The song was released on their seventh studio album from 2016. Architects are a British metalcore band from Brighton, the band have been active since 2004 and have released seven hours to date. The song which I have been given to produce album artwork for is from the band's last album to feature guitarist and primary songwriter Tom Searle before he died of cancer on august 20, 2016.

The project seems like a good opportunity to explore more subjective graphic design, like last year's Secret 7 project which was a similar project aesthetic, having entered last year's project, one of the reflections which were found in the submitted pieces last year, was that they were not as subjective as could have been, little experimentation with design could be seen, to make sure this does not happen again in 'Up Yer Sleeve' I will experiment with a range of methods and techniques to find a creative, subjective solution.

Nest - Final Piece

Producing a 'secret seven' style cover sleeve which explores the them of 'space' which was set by Nest, through researching a range of topics to do with space, I looked at popular culture, looking at the lunar landing, which is the most iconic moment in human space exploration. Combining this with the music of David Bowie, who throughout his career uses the topic of space and related topics to produce amazing songs. The final has been sent in to be considered for production.

Collaborative - Developments and quote choosing

Considering the quote research which I undertook I began to combine type with edited images. The quote would be a contrast to the visuals, a clear rule break. Taking influence from swiss punk, post modern and dadaist styles I began to experiment with a number of forms that the posters could take, using the imagery as grid system. Using the colour read to show clear contrasts between image and type.

Nest - Space - Manipulating images to collage

With the images for the collage locked down, it became apparent that editing them to fit into my theme would consist of turning the images black and white and also experimenting with half-toning the images for print.  I experimented a lot with the form trying to get the main parts of the images rather than the backgrounds.

I chose to use Tower block flats to show the societies which were built from housing crisis during the seventies, it is also a key issue at the moment with a huge number of homeless or claiming from the government and struggling to afford properties. I have sourced my images, which are copyright free, from various sites and through google images, I have edited them to delete the backgrounds of the images and only leave structures and foregrounds in, this means I can then put other imagery in place to build up the piece and also give it depth. The large block shapes of these council block tower flats were mid 21st century designers ideas of modern living, whole communes of people living in one block of flats towering upwards, these buildings were seen as the future of living, though now we know many of these modernist ideas have been said to have failed or just not been continued, though these buildings still get built they are not seen as a great standard of living, but a cheap and sometimes grim way of living for lower classes, but there is still a beauty to these buildings, not just the modernist dreams that they are born out of but the tall towering structures which were so new and modern now pierce our landscapes, they are part of life and though the origins of a new way of living are forgotten, people still remain to live and thrive in these structures, they form communities and a way of life.

Using the Buzz aldrin image to show an iconic moment in the world's space exploration to date, it is also the most known event in space travel the world has seen, this kept it relevant and the theme was clear although it is through researching designers such as Weingart that the design took a vague more artistic angle than a straight forward clear one. This image would sit within a corner of the design and compliment the black and white images of the tower flats, experimenting with colour and form of the image it became clear that this image could add more as a print rather than a flat image, it can be repeated through screen print and add a texture which will go well with the background of the piece. Attempting to get an idea of how the screen print will work, the image has been bitmapped and turned into a png, showing only the main aspect (Buzz Aldrin) part of the background (The earth, the sky around it has been deleted to focus on the main aspect) and the shuttle equipment). Again taking inspiration from Wolfgang Weingart, choosing a limited colour palette to work from made the style of the piece simple and to the point. Choosing to use just Black, Red and White help to keep a strict discipline and also keep it honest to the theme of the concept. The red would act as a bright sharp colour to accentuate the white space and black imagery. 

The layout will be envisioned when the images are printed and placed together, the content shall be put into a hierachy which is equal and each aspect is clearly utilised and appreciated.