Final Major Project Jody Aarons
‘A design isn’t finished un/l somebody is using it.’-‐ Brenda Laurel.
Statement Of Intent I am basing my final major project on the theme of ‘Music’. I am going to explore the different genres of music and how the music influences the album cover. These genres include dance music, but exploring the slower and faster types of music. ArIsts include Dusky, Julio Bashmore, Avicci, Duke Dumont, Faithless, Liquid, Robin S, DaP Punk. Older arIsts and dj just wanted to make good music they never wanted to make smash hits or songs that would make them rich and famous. They never brought out 10 different albums. They made unique good singles with a spine Ingling sound that made you close your eyes and you’ll remember where you first heard it because all that really maSers would be the music that is playing, nothing else. I want to be able to show this in an album cover because I have experienced this moment a lot of Imes. I have chose 4 different arIsts these being Dusky (a house music dj) , Faithless (an old dance arIst) Pink(Current singer) Chase and Status (two Djs bringing back chilled drum and bass). These arIsts are all an inspiraIon to me, in the way that they all have a connecIng issue. The way I hear the songs I feel quite emoIonal and this will affect the colours I choose for the album covers. Primarily I will be exploring graphic design processes as my specialist field alongside documenIng my ideas photographically. As music is the theme the subject maSer will revolve around that, looking at things such as specific feelings that music influences, the picture sound creates in a persons head, how we see music, what music looks like, what lines represent music. I feel this will bring the more visual side of music into the world, because music isn’t just a sound it can be a way of life, a feeling, a memory, and I want to show how a picture can show a whole song and what lies behind the music. ArIsts such a Thiago Santana and Rod Steele use a great amount of detail in their work to show the cluSered, intense and meaningful side of cd covers. Santana doesn't’t seem to have a defined specific style that makes him unique and easily recognizable. From analyzing his work I have found he uses colour throughout his pieces, I feel the colours he choses are not random they all blend and contrast together represenIng what the client wants. CreaIng a album cover for a certain band arIst or DJ will give me a brief to work with and more specific angles to look at. I think a very futurisIc look to a cover would work well to modernise a very old album cover updaIng and old one could be a good starIng point get some general ideas in which to use in my final ideas. As CDs are becoming less popular and things are more digitalized I could maybe use moving image on the cover to grab the aSenIon of music listeners.
Small Plan Album cover past Typographers Dance music First hand research listening to music Colours Words associaIon Shapes cu[ng Mark marking PrinIng -‐ screen prinIng, Collage, stencil ExhibiIons Typography research Album covers research ExhibiIons visit First hand people listening Colour mark words associaIon.
Ideas. Made in la work by Colby poster prinIng Organic Kapitza Ralph Ellison collecIon-‐cardonwebb Morgan Studio Anish Kapoor
Thiago Santana ‘For me nothing can replace real paint, pencils, brushes and the organic look of everything.’
Santana is a contemporary freelance graphic designer, illustrator and digital arIst. Combining hand drawn illustraIons with his graphic design work he creates futurisIc, hypnoIc, unique pieces of work. He mostly designs for companies based on what they are adverIsing such as a few pieces for 2012. This will be similar to my brief as I will be choosing a music arIst and resigning their album covers posters and whole look. The intensive use of colors in his design create a psychedelic theme. His subject maSer ranges from posters, cd covers to just photography. In an interview Santana said this “My main moIvaIon was to do what I love and my love for colors. The possibility of creaIng new things is what makes me love all this.” This is shown in his all of his pieces of work, I think that makes him a unique arIst his colours are so bold and in your face you cant not look at them. I want my work to have that effect on people. Although colour catches aSenIon, when people a slight shadow in the corner of their eye their aSenIon is automaIcally focused on what’s in the shadow, I would like to use this technique of “looking beyond what you see” in my work.
Thiago Santana Line is used very precise in these three pieces of adverIsement from Santana. These are a combinaIon of hand drawings and computer ediIng. The Owl piece really grabbed my aSenIon due to the use of the small dots around the edge they really move your eyes around the work. The Owl piece which uses bold, thick, sharp lines represent how powerful the wings of the owl are. Line can be used in anything such as the confusing lines of the underground or the flow between a girl and her possessions. The use of dark line works for the Subway Dreams piece as it allows the viewer to understand that the piece is of the subway even if the text wasn’t there. The Dove Girl piece only uses two colours and the mixed tone in between the red and blue is associated with youth as these two are primary colours which are one of the first things you learn about when you are young. Using a limited paleSe is very useful as it doesn't’t complicate the picture too much it just shows what is in the picture and that’s it there's no underlying colours. The objects are synonymous with young people as they are objects young people would use as hobbies or social acIviIes. The gradient works really well its like the drawing has been etched out of a coloured background.
Thiago Santana 3D effect gives depth to the Iger. Lines of the shapes follow the contours of the Igers stripes.
The circles are the same just flipped and scaled down a use of repeIIon is successful . The piece also has a unique sense of
Thiago Santana Album Covers
Rod Steele Cd covers examples from Rod Steele’s collecIon. His use of text stands out very clearly and even though the back grounds are very creaIve the text makes a big impact into the piece. Colour plays a big part of the Cd covers as they need too aSract the aSenIon of the consumers the black background with the white stars clearly represents a galaxy. The Master Blaster Guitars piece is very different to the playful AcousIc Patchwork which has a soP font and the colours are toned down to a much calmer cover. The colours can show what genre of music the Cd holds.
Mood Board Current
Mood Board Historical
Colour Deep Heavy
Happy Fast
Slow Deep
Calm Slow
Slow Playful
First Stages SelecIng songs to use for the single cd covers. Ideas 1. New current dance song-‐ Dusky-‐ Nobody Else (original Mix) hSp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwHLSC_Kw2Q 2. Remake of old dance song cover-‐ Insomnia (Monster Mix) – Faithless hSp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-‐T1plv7Z978 3. Slow song – Pink-‐ just give me a reason 4. Song that has a big influence on me. Chase and Status-‐Lost and Not Found or Time 5. hSp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZzRdYg2djk 6. hSp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=we9jeU76Y9E
Original Covers
Primary Research
These are 6 of my favourite current album covers, they each use geometric shapes and typeface is very simple and is always black and white.
Typography  Normal Bold Italics Example 1 Example 2 Example 3 Example 1 Example 2 Example 3 Example 1 Example 2 Example 3 Example 1 Example 2 Example 3 Example 1 Example 2 Example 3 Example 1 Example 2 Example 3!
Typography Normal Bold Italics Example 1 Example 2 Example 3 Example 1 Example 2 Example 3 Example 1 Example 2 Example 3 Example 1 !Example 2 !Example 3 Example 1 Example 2 Example 3 Example 1 Example 2 Example 3