ECHOES
AN EXISTENTIAL COLLECTIVE NARRATIVE MIXTAPE
PETER KASDAGLIS • BA(HONS) GRAPHIC DESIGN - YEAR 3 • GR3100 PERSONAL PROJECT • TUTOR: DIMITRIS BIZIOGLIS • 2015 - 2016
ECHOES
AN EXISTENTIAL COLLECTIVE NARRATIVE MIXTAPE
•TABLE OF CONTENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS •INTRODUCTION
Introduction on the world of White Sea.
•THE BRIEF
General briefing on how the project came to be.
•FROM CONCEPT TO REALIZATION
How the Dream became a Reality. Covering various design elements proposals.
•MEMORABILIA
From vinyl records to deluxe limited editions - for the music lover inside.
•SOCIAL LINKS
The complete ECHOES experience. Online.
3
4
5 - 13
14 - 19
20
STREAM ONLINE ON SEE THE FULL BOOKLET ON
2
ECHOES
AN EXISTENTIAL COLLECTIVE NARRATIVE MIXTAPE
•INTRODUCTION
INTO THE WHITE SEA Los Angeles based, electronic music artist, White Sea (formed by vocalist Morgan Kibby) is celebrating their 20 successful years in the music business. Having worked on more than 7 albums, these long 20 years have been nothing but prolific for Morgan Kibby, vocalist and keyboard player for her band “White Sea”. Celebrating their second decade, they have sought our help in crafting a unique and diverse “album - mixtape crossover“ experience consisting of 2 “precursors” and the main mixtape.
This project stands as more of a “thank you” to the loyal fans of the band, and/or a warm “welcome” to the strange world of White Sea and their curious, heart-rending and unique music.
For this project, the main thematic that the client explores in their 17 track mix-tape is the diversity of human emotions, their extremes, and the impact these have on human relationships of any kind (family, friendship, romance). Having chosen their favourite 17 tracks from their favourite artists and while introducing 3 unreleased tracks of their own, they feel the immense need to communicate a well-constructed narrative. Considering this mix-tape will be an indepedent release under their own label, little to no revenue will be received.
3
ECHOES
AN EXISTENTIAL COLLECTIVE NARRATIVE MIXTAPE
TONE OF VOICE
THE VISION
REQUIREMENTS
THE PRECURSORS
As White Sea has a consistent “tone of voice” and has been following certain aesthetic borders the past few years, a brand identity was never established and the band does not wish to introduce it now.
The mass of today’s music groups all follow certain themes and fall under cliches. Recurring themes are often the romanticized, Hollywood introduced views of love, sexual imagery and upbeat, nonesensical music and lyrics.
Other than the album cover itself, a set of mandatories to communicate the release of the mixtape will include:
Two seperate digital precursors will be released, leading up to the main mixtape release.
Digital Precursors DIGIPAK case Booklet Limited Edition Pack Vinyl Pressing Posters Merchandise
The precursors will directly tie into the central narrative and will be available for purchase standalone, or as a special edition version, along with the main mixtape.
They wish to keep their element of visual “fluidity” while ebracing a certain style or aesthetic, but are against the idea of commercializing their history and hindering it with a certain visual appeal. In that prospect, they prefer to introduce a certain mantra for each album.
While interpretations for this project will vary, romantic and sexual themes do come up. The main difference between White Sea and any other, well-known music group is that, as Morgan Kibby contends:
•THE BRIEF
“We don’t sell sex, we sell to For this mixtape project the people that have sex, fell and concept of the extremes in the were/are in love. spectrum of emotions and the impact of those in human connections should be visualized in a simple and not aesthetically obstructive manner.
4
ECHOES
FROM CONCEPT TO REALIZATION
ECHOES
AN EXISTENTIAL COLLECTIVE NARRATIVE MIXTAPE
•FROM CONCEPT TO REALIZATION
VISUAL LANGUAGE Crossing over from the early stages of concept planning, while trying to capture the sense of this projects’ needs for visual communication, a complete set of graphic material was introduced. Starting with typography and simple visuals, a bold, intently polygonal and fragmented typeface had to be used, as such FUTURA was perfect. 18 distinct artworks were designed using personal photography, introducing a darker tone, embracing a digital glitch aesthetic. A complex pictorial visual comprised of maximal geometric shapes was introduced in order to better communicate absract ideas of the emotional spectrum, distance, echo and the extremes of those.
6
ECHOES
AN EXISTENTIAL COLLECTIVE NARRATIVE MIXTAPE
•FROM CONCEPT TO REALIZATION
DIGIPAK CASE A custom 13,85 x 12,55 cm DIGIPAK case was used for the main mixtape album. The case also stores a 12 x 12 cm booklet.
Inner side of the case with the CD.
7
ECHOES
AN EXISTENTIAL COLLECTIVE NARRATIVE MIXTAPE
•FROM CONCEPT TO REALIZATION
The aforementioned glitch photography is of essence in the cover and back cover of the case. The complex, maximalist visuals constructed of circles and lines are also present.
Outer side of the case.
8
ECHOES
AN EXISTENTIAL COLLECTIVE NARRATIVE MIXTAPE
•FROM CONCEPT TO REALIZATION
BOOKLET A 40 page booklet was introduced housing lyrics and credits. Each spread includes an artwork piece crafted exclusively for this project, focusing on existential landscape photography and light-painting.
Front
Back
9
ECHOES
AN EXISTENTIAL COLLECTIVE NARRATIVE MIXTAPE
•FROM CONCEPT TO REALIZATION
The booklets’ spreads use the aforementioned glitch photography whilst trying to convey the loneliness, distance and elusive nature of the music.
10
ECHOES
AN EXISTENTIAL COLLECTIVE NARRATIVE MIXTAPE
•FROM CONCEPT TO REALIZATION
A simple layout was designed for the booklet. The visuals, in most cases occupy the inner page whereas the lyrics are present on the outer page.
11
ECHOES
AN EXISTENTIAL COLLECTIVE NARRATIVE MIXTAPE
•FROM CONCEPT TO REALIZATION
An exception on the booklet spread rule was made in pages 31-32. The visuals occupy 2 pages as this is a song of vital importance to the record - it functions as the main lyrical standpoint of the mixtape. 12
ECHOES
AN EXISTENTIAL COLLECTIVE NARRATIVE MIXTAPE
•FROM CONCEPT TO REALIZATION
UV INK While trying to construct a constant dialogue between the listener and the artist, special information and lyric excerpts were hidden all over the album using a UV Sensitive Ink overlay. As the listener points the included in the package UV light onto the printed booklet, an otherwise hidden part of the narrative will be revealed to them.
13
ECHOES MEMORABILIA
ECHOES
AN EXISTENTIAL COLLECTIVE NARRATIVE MIXTAPE
•MEMORABILIA
VINYL RECORD A limited number of vinyl records will be produced (limited to just 100) and will be made available on various gigs and competitions, mainly intended for hardcore music fans and old-time collectors.
15 15
ECHOES
AN EXISTENTIAL COLLECTIVE NARRATIVE MIXTAPE
•MEMORABILIA
POSTERS Sets of posters featuring artwork from the concept mixtape will be produced and made available on gigs and competitions.
16
ECHOES
AN EXISTENTIAL COLLECTIVE NARRATIVE MIXTAPE
•MEMORABILIA
LIMITED EDITION PACK An extremely rare and luxurious edition will be introduced containing: a branded leather Case, the main mix-tape along with the two previous precursors, four A3+ posters, a Hard Cover 15 x 15 booklet and a rare Artbook.
17
Leather Case
ECHOES Album
Deluxe Artbook
Hard Cover Booklet
18
ECHOES
AN EXISTENTIAL COLLECTIVE NARRATIVE MIXTAPE
•MEMORABILIA
Deluxe Artbook housing all 18 seperate artworks designed by composing personal photographs and a digital glitch proccessing.
19
ECHOES
AN EXISTENTIAL COLLECTIVE NARRATIVE MIXTAPE
•INTRO
ECHOES
WORDMARK
The logotype wordmark should be used in the main white. Over dark or colored backgrounds use white.
ALL TRACKS OF THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS. Black can beARE usedPROPERTY in rare situations but should be generally VISIT WWW.GULLWING.GR FOR COPYRIGHT INFO ON THE ARTISTS. avoided. PHOTOGRAPHY: AEROLK The white logo is ideal for use over images and colored backgrounds. When placing over photography, ensure contrast by placing over dark area, find negative space.
STREAM ONLINE ON
SEE THE FULL BOOKLET ON
20