07 Brief Title
The Brief
Solution
Evaluation
XL Recordings
Illustrate the 25 year history of XL Recordings.
We decided to focus on the full roster of artists who have signed to XL Recordings. Working from the film backwards we came up with ‘25 in 25’, where the 25 year history of XL Recordings will be depicted in 25 seconds. The typographic poster shows the 35 artists who have been signed to XL Recordings in their 25 year history.
I took the opportunity in this brief to challenge my drawing ability. The idea was solid, and did represent the true XL Recordings rather than a series of events. The poster and film are visually engaging and look as we planned them to. This is the first time I had attempted any type of film whilst being on the course and feel it was a beneficial to my development, showing my obsession with me confronting my weaknesses.
Brief Type Competition - D&AD New Blood
Collaborators Nigel Dzavakwa & Greta Medelyte
Background
The collaboration went well, we communicated well and worked hard to achieve the outcomes.
XL Recordings is a British independent record label started in 1989 as an offshoot of Beggars Banquet Records. Though only releasing an average of six albums a year, XL Recordings has worked with artists across a range of genres, with album launches worldwide. XL Recordings have a DIY attitude and sign artists from a wide-variety of music genres - they have one requirement for their artists, that they are original. The brief deliverables were a poster and supporting film.
Considerations How do you represent the 25 year history of a music label? Do you focus on specific events from the label’s history or their music as a whole. What materials were we going to use to make the poster.
David M Gaskell
OUGD603
Brief 7
1/5
Research
David M Gaskell
What I did
Why I did it
How the research informed me
First stage of research was into XL Recordings, their arists, visual aesthetic and guiding principles. With that under our belt we looked at visuals that were in-fitting with XL’s ethos. There was a harsh leaning towards hand-rendered work to coincide with XL’s ‘Do It Yourself’ attitude.
Before we could start designing a poster to illustrate XL Recording’s history we needed to know who the label is and why they have reached their 25th birthday.
XL Recordings has no specialist genre of music. Logically this would lend itself to a design that doesn’t lean too far to one particular style. At the same time we cannot produce a boring or neutral poster. The answer is a process driven poster with a strong supporting idea.
OUGD603
Brief 7
We took visual reference from a wide range of sources. We knew from the XL research that the visual had to be bold, vibrant, somewhat over-the-top and most importantly have a solid idea directing the design.
2/5
Development
Concept
25
Typography
A record label is the artists they sign, not an event or series of events. We wanted to show all the artists who have signed to XL Recordings in the past 25 years. The idea needs to work across both a printed poster and film. For this reason the idea needs to be multi-layered.
Central to the poster and film element will be a ‘25’. For the mark I wanted to symbolise how XL want to be doing the opposite of what they are doing. To represent the 2 and 5 meet in the middle yet are pointing in opposite directions.
Space was a big concern, a poster that features 35 artists is going to be a bit busy in places. We had a few directions we could take with the typography.
25 in 25 The 25 year history of XL Recordings in 25 seconds.
David M Gaskell
OUGD603
Brief 7
3/5
Production
Materials
Filming
Poster & T-shirt
A combination of pencil and pens are used. We weren’t too concerned with achieving perfect vector visuals, in many ways we wanted there to be imperfections, that is one small downfall in making things by hand - less control.
The film is an animation of the poster being produced. We took photographs at intervals to create the films.
The design works in both print and screen. The film is 25 seconds long, this strengthens the concept and brings all the elements together.
We sampled ‘Fix Up Look Sharp’ as the backing track. We chose this track as it offers a steady beat which works well with a stop-motion type visual. The film will have a 25 second duration, to fit the 25 in 25 idea.
David M Gaskell
OUGD603
Brief 7
4/5
Outcome
What does the design say
Who does it say it to
Why it works
The artists that have been involved in the 25 year history of XL Recordings. The process and materials used making the poster and film are true to the ethos behind XL Recordings.
The primary audience are followers and fans of XL Recordings. However, by applying the design to a t-shirt the poster will be seen by anyone fortunate enough the see the t-shirt.
The idea works in both screen and print as 25 is central to both methods of delivery. The film uses time to enforce the concept, whereas the print depends solely on the 25 mark. The visual is engaging and has received good feedback from all who have seen it.
David M Gaskell
OUGD603
Brief 7
5/5