“THE GRID SYSTEM IS AN AID, NOT A GUARANTEE. IT PERMITS A NUMBER OF POSSIBLE USES AND EACH DESIGNER CAN LOOK FOR A SOLUTION APPROPRIATE TO HIS PERSONAL STYLE. BUT ONE MUST LEARN HOW TO USE THE GRID; IT IS AN ART THAT REQUIRES PRACTICE.” - JOSEF MULLER-BROCKMANN
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NARROW PLAINS I was approached by the band Narrow Plains (previously Orpheus) to help create their album art work for their forthcoming EP ‘Somewhere In Between’. I am in contact with them quite often and after seeing seeing some of the recent work on my website, they decided I would be suitable to help them with this project. The band told me that they enjoyed the photographs I was using to create my collages with, and that some simple text over an image may be sufficient for the cover. The recording process was still on going so I didn’t have any final tracks to work from at the start. However baring in mind that I knew they were an acoustic band that wanted a summer feel to the art work; I started experimenting. Using Adobe Photoshop, and occasionally Illustrator for the type, I started working on some rough ideas to see what they thought, trying to document each variation in case one stood out to them. A sudden name change meant I had a selection of a much more angular set of letter shapes to play with too. This seemed to work well with the vector and shape based work I was exploring after the Aurora Borealis project. It was interesting to see how some of the design variations that related back to the title of the EP were often drawing too much attention away from the featured image.
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As an avid reader of Computer Arts Magazine I often come across articles that relate to my current project. In this case I was lucky enough to stumble across a section about making artwork in the music industry. It gave a very useful insight into how album art works have been commissioned, or created, and some various examples of successful outcomes. Alongside this article I was constantly researching from library books about music art and packaging, such as “DIY album art : paper bags and office supplies” by J. Namdev Hardisty, and “Music library : graphic art and sound” by Jonny Trunk. Each publication had very different takes on what was considered as a good album cover, and most were more excited by the design of innovative packaging. However I was not told to consider packaging as the band had already expressed that this would be a downloadable EP. Which led me to look at art works like Animal Collective’s Merriweather Post Pavilion which featured a screen based optical illusion.
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I managed to meet with the band and spend some time discussing ideas they had about the cover. They took me through examples of other covers they liked and explaind that they wanted “an old wooden acoustic feel with a modern edge”, which initially made me think that they didn’t really know what they wanted, as long as it suited the music. I had read about this client approach many times before.
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After getting the band members to draw mood boards with myself and pick out examples of previous artworks they appreciated, it became obvious to me that the basis for this design was going to come from the type. Seeing as the band had no constant logo or typeface already in place, I suggested that we decide upon one. Many different examples of type were suggested and the general consensus was that the type and design should take more influence from the 1950s posters rather than the slick and often ‘trendy’ covers that many bands use today. Aiding me in my design decisions was the knowledge I had picked up from the Typography issue of Computer Arts magazine. This particular issue helped me learn a few design rules, type terminology and trained my eye for design further. I kept it with me as reference throughout this project as it was a useful tool to return back to. As work continued it became apparent to me that the client often had a very different view on design than me. For example I love the crisp perfect sans-serif type faces, whereas they’re happy to settle for a free custom font that mimics pen splatters. I would not allow this.
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In the end we settled for a sans-serif called “Cassannet” which is a font based on the style of lettering seen on Cassandre posters, created by Atipo. Using the regular outline version I created a custom shadow backdrop inspired by the Worthingtons branding created by Landor Associates. Then a few tweaks were made to the kerning and positioning, before we added a serif underneath for the EP title. It was hard to find a nice serif font that was rounded but not too much like a script. Luckily I came across “Bodoni SvtyTwo” which I had acquired previously. In italics and with reduced kerning the font complemented the other text.
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Serveral tests were done to determine how the titles should look. Experiments with lines either side, shadows, dividing elements and spacing.
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Throughout the Aurora Borealis project I became increasingly interested by design grids and the way our minds interpret images. This book entitled “The Layout Book� by Ambrose/ Harris helps explain these theories with visual examples. It has been incredibly useful in my recent image making, book creation, and it also related to the cover design. Apart from offering dimensions and templates for album cover work, it also explains design and image making rules that will effect how the cover art is viewed. Aspects like the golden ration, image balance, and the visual centre compared to the actual centre were all elements that I had previously not considered in my work before. With these design guidelines in place I set about creating a template for the cover that could then have images dropped in behind it as the band had asked. This also allowed for several variations to be produced quickly in Photoshop.
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During the development of the cover I was constantly influenced by recent album covers that I have come across and appreciated. My source for these is normally from free music publications such as “The Stool Pigeon” and “Loud And Quiet”. Custom type such as the one used on the Gang Colours logo is exactly the kind of design I admire. However when I showed this to the client they were completely opposed to having a design with a similar influence. It was instances like this that gave me an insight into working with a client that had opposing ideas and expectations than yourself.
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From the start of this project the band had said that they wanted the text on a photographic background. So we started exploring how this would look with the first draft of the logo and ep title. Several different versions were created and we tried a number of merging techniques with block colours to put emphasis on the text. However none of them really reflected the acoustic feel of the band. Although often the lyrics and song meaning have a darker undertone, the songs themselves are quite vibrant. So using a black and white image really didn’t feel right. For me creating these variations was a very odd task, as the band members were overseeing what I tried and making suggestions. With many of the suggestions I had to say that I knew they wouldn’t work, and that they had to trust me that it wasn’t worth wasting time making them only to know they would be rejected. Eventually they trusted me on this as I showed a few examples from previous screen shots. That said, some suggestions were worth my while and I found we actually started to have the same ideas. Although there was a lot of trial and error, we were agreeing on what did work.
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We dropped many images into the background template, some of which were by the photographer Beca Allsopp, who had donated work to be used. Her images did work well with the type which was a good sign, but it was decided that it gave the impression of a beach boy surfer band. It was worth our while trying it out though, as we found the colour palette from her images could be a new starting point.
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In search of some inspiration, and to have a break from the computer screens the band members, I explored the local area, which was in Wiltshire. It was a countryside area that I was not really used to, but somehow it seemed to reflect the folk style music that Narrow Plains made. Whilst we were out taking photos and discussing the EP cover, we came across Cley Hill. As we went up it they were telling me about the crop circles that appear in the field next to the hill. Apparently they appear every few years, and although they know it is the work of an artist and not extra terrestrials, they always get a lot of attention. For me these were really interesting, not just because of the scale or hype they brought, but also the use of geometric patterns within the organic media. Although a lot of the designs are open source ‘well known’ patterns or shapes, they still seemed to mean something to the locals, including the band. This made me think about a logo as an identity rather than just a title type face for the band, there could be a symbol for Narrow Plains.
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After trying to use a few of the photos we had taken of the surrounding area, we decided to get rid of the photograph background idea. Although the forest images were interesting, they did feel a bit clichéd. It was a useful development though as it reassured the band members that they wanted a “wooden texture” feel to the cover. From here on I worked in a way I have becoming more comfortable with; real textures and vector illustrations.
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After experimenting with the wooden texture I started to feel like the artwork was taking shape. I used vectors to create elements that could be placed on the cover as a logo, however the client didn’t really agree with any of them until I started playing with the 3D cross cube and hexagons inspired by the Cley Hill crop circles. Instantly they were excited by how it looked on the cover and we continued to try different colours, blending methods and textures to make sure it felt naturally placed. From here I then had to tidy the image up for use; this meant making small alterations to then “extended play” section, trying different dividing elements, placing all the objects accurately on an equal grid and refining the colour blends on the serif text. One of the final alterations I made was to the serif title text, the ‘S’ on ‘Somewhere’ was far too curvy compared to the rest of the text, so I made a custom italic version from a capital in the same font family. After some levelling and saturation changes, the band were very happy with the result and the EP cover was ready for digital use.
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After explaining that I was trying to improve my wed design skills through the Aurora Borealis project and showing the band some examples of what I was working on, they then asked if I would mind continuing doing some work for them and build a simple website. Of course I agreed and quickly the project had turned into creating the whole branding for Narrow Plains, not just an EP cover. To get started on the site I had to discuss with them what information they really needed to have available and what the purpose of the site was. They wanted the site to link to their various social medias (that I also would need to help set up) and to stores where the EP is available to buy. Once a rough list of elements needed was created it was relatively easy to design the rough layout of how the website should look. I decided to make the website a single page site as there was not too much information to be displayed and it meant that anyone viewing the site would instantly know all they needed to about the band. To do this I knew I would have to create a few hidden Div’s and pop ups using jQuery a the javascript.
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During the creation of the website I was constantly referring to other musician’s sites. Most were also single page sites that had a music player embedded on them, links to social media and perhaps some information about the artist. Some touring musicians such as Tune Yards and Get Well Soon also had a tour date section and a blog, however Narrow Plains said that at current they did not need these. One of the examples I came across, that wasn’t a single page site, was the Kaltehand/ Natasha Waters website. It was a fairly large website and had a feature where each song had an accompanying illustration and you clicked it. Another interesting feature I found was on the Starsmith website which had a music video constantly playing full screen as the background. Neither of these were really relevant to the Narrow Plains website, but are interesting possibilities for future versions of the site.
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One feature on the site that I was proud of was the drop down music player. I knew that Soundcloud had customisable players and that it was a well respected platform within the music community, so decided to set one up for the band and embed the flash player into a hidden div. Using jQuery this div can be revealed by clicking on the play icon in the navigation menu. Within the navigation menu there are also links to the band’s Twitter, Facebook, iTunes, Soundcloud and email. I also added an information box at the bottom in the style of the “EP” on the cover that triggers a pop up with all the band’s information, credits and copyrights.
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The website took much longer than I thought. I have learnt that even if the end product on a site looks fairly simple, it does in fact take a long time to get all the elements in the exact place you need. The actual coding side of making the site is not where my interest lies, the interactive ability of the site is what grabs my attention. I found for this site I also really enjoyed creating the logos for each link and working out how to have nice transition effects that still have the wooden texture to them. I used Adobe Illustrator to create these which furthered my understanding of vector work, as previously I would have only made these in Photoshop. Once the site was finished I suggested to the band that they have a ‘Free Download’ section on their facebook pages that would get them more ‘Likes’ and in turn expand their publicity. To do this I first had to create a separate banner and background using the album cover and illustrator for the banner. Then I dropped in some code that meant when someone ‘Liked’ their page, the banner image would change giving them a link to the free download. Despite its simplicity, so far it has been very successful.
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After the websites and social medias were set up, and sales of the EP were picking up online. The band decided they would want physical CD sleeves. So I created a back cover and template for the printers using the same asthetic as digital cover. For the CD the band had requested a blue version of the cube with any text placed around the inner circle.
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OUTCOME & EVALUATION
WORKING ON THIS PROJECT WAS VERY DIFFERENT TO ANY University SET WORK I HAD DONE PREVIOUSLY. I TOOK IT HOPING TO FIND OUT WHAT BEING A FREELANCE ILLUSTRATOR OR DESIGN MIGHT BE LIKE. HOWEVER SINCE BEGINNING THIS I HAVE COME TO THE REALIZATION THAT EVEN WITHIN THE CAREER PATH OF FREELANCING THERE ARE MANY DIFFERENT ROUTES TO GO DOWN. IN THIS CASE THE PROJECT STARTED OFF AS A SIMPLE COMMISSION BUT ENDED UP BECOMING A FULL BRANDING JOB AND ALMOST BEING IN CHARGE OF ALL THE VISUAL ELEMENTS FOR NARROW PLAINS. ALTHOUGH THIS WAS VERY MUCH MY PROJECT AND I WAS THE ONLY ONE CREATING THE ARTWORK, I WASN’T GIVEN FULL CREATIVE FREEDOM . THE CLIENTS HAD FINAL SAY OVER WHAT WOULD BE ACCEPTABLE TO USE AND WHAT DIDN’T WORK, DESPITE WHAT I THOUGHT. I DID MANAGE TO INFLUENCE THEIR DECISIONS QUITE OFTEN, BUT I KNOW THAT IF THIS WAS A COMPLETELY SOLO PROJECT, THE ARTWORK WOULD BE VERY DIFFERENT. SINCE THE CLIENT HAD IDEAS ABOUT
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WHAT THEY WANTED, BUT NO DEFINITE OUTCOME IN MIND; THERE WERE A LOT OF TIMES WHEN THE IDEAS PUT FORWARD WERE JUST REJECTED WITHOUT MUCH FEEDBACK. THIS MEANT IT TOOK A LONG TIME TO FIND SOMETHING THAT THEY LIKED. I THINK THIS IMPROVED MY IDEA OF WHAT WORKING WITH A STRONG MINDED CLIENT MIGHT BE LIKE, AND TAUGHT ME NOT TO BE SO STUBBORN ABOUT WORK FOR OTHER PEOPLE. THERE IS A BALANCE TO FIND BETWEEN SOMETHING I WOULD LIKE TO MAKE AND THE CLIENTS IDEAS. After reading many interviews in computer arts magazine with various design studios such as ‘the partners’, ‘ustwo’ and ‘landor associates’ i realised that what i was doing could have easily been a team job. if i were working in a studio or directing the project with others the tasks could have been done far quicker and maybe some better ideas may have been explored. this has made me wonder whether i would join a studio after university or perhaps set one up. i have always expressed that i enjoy working collectively, so this could be a possible consideration to take forward. i was glad with the outcome from this project as it gave me not only a new client experience but also improved my web coding skills and furthered my knowledge in typography and using adobe illustrator. i think these will help me when i return to image making for editorials or even self published work. the experiences from working on this ep cover will undoubtedly influence my future projects.
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