Rationale Vine Tree Records approached me to produce an EP cover for the rap artist Oliver Rees. This would be his debut release and the EP is called Lucid
Dreams. The EP is part one of a twopart conceptual series of releases. The brief was to create a cover that represented the theme of the EP. A lu-
cid dream with dark content. The client specified that the cover must have an illustration of Oliver.
Research Vine tree is a small record label and recording studio based in Shireoaks. It provides rehearsal space and recording facilities to bands as well as representing small artists. Oliver Rees is a Leeds-Based hip hop/rap artist, influenced by rappers such as Jehst, Inspectah Deck and Taskforce. The audience for Oliver Rees music are local fan base around the Leeds area. The target audience is 18- 24 year old males. This is Oliver’s first EP release so it needs to reflect his self-image. It needs to bold and appeal to his target audience. The EP is a concept EP so the cover will also have to reflect eh story that is being told though the music. Currently the Ep is yet to be released and he has no presents on streaming networks such as Soundcloud or Spotify, therefor imagery must be based on the information given in the brief. The physical copy of the EP will be sold at gigs. Other than that imagery will be mainly used online. It is important to consider the size at which the imagery will be shown. If publicised on Facebook the imagery will be quite large, however, when shown on streaming sites such as Spotify and Soundcloud the imagery will be tiny. At such small sizes, it is pointless to include small details as they won’t be appreciated. Research of existing covers in this genre showed that illustrated covers use bright colours. Kendrick Lamar and Jay-Z use covers that heavily feature typography
Initial Ideas The cover had to use a bold typeface. It must be easily recognisable and easily connected to Oliver’s work. The typeface itself could be manipulated to represent a lucid experience. This would require a strong typeface to remain legible after distortion. The colours used need to be bright and bold. It needs to be strange but with the realms of reality.
Developments
The idea chosen to develop further was the floating man. The brief asked for an illustration of Oliver but the time scale meant there was no time scale to con-
duct a photo shoot. Instead a like ness was created using existing Facebook photos as reference. The colour chosen to fit as part of a psychedelic colour
scheme. The vast, far stretching backdrop combined with the vacant floating figure hopes to represent a lucid dream.
Outcome A gun has been added to the back cover of the EP alongside the track list. This is representative of the dark themes discussed throughout the EP The final outcome makes an impact, the colours stand out and the typography is bold. It works at very small sizes on screen and is also appropriate for printed collateral. It meets the brief while remaining conceptually driven and relating to the story told through the EP.
Evaluation
The cover was produced in a very short time period. The agent gave complete control of the design over to me with the one requirement that it was to have
an illustration of Oliver on the front of the EP. This creative freedom makes it difficult to create something original but the outcome met the brief and is
now being used across social media platforms as well as in print form when selling the EP at gigs.