P A U L
P H I L L I P S EGRD1009 INDEPENDANT PRACTICE
Minotaur Explode Production The band Minotaur Explode asked me to design them the packaging to their upcoming e.p release, as well as two flyers, one promoting the digital release of the e.p and one promoting the tour to support it’s release both of which had to work at an A5 size as they were going to be published at that size in Rocksound magazine. The subject matter of the record was that of dystopia and political dissilusionment so I chose to use an abstract cityscape using dark brooding colours. Originally I had intended to have the album title logo as a UV spot varnish on the cover but this proved to be impractical on a financial level, I did attempt to do a mock up with nail varnish manually but I couldn’t make it neat enough.
Minotaur Explode Consumption This was my first attempt at designing an inlay, I found it difficult to get all the technical aspects right but found it extremely rewarding when the finsihed product was in my hands. The e.p was released as a free download online with an internet campaign and the ad’s ran in Rocksound. The following ad promoting the tour will be in next months Issue.
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SCIENCE
TRADITION
Nutrition
Condition
Horsefeed Brief For this brief we were given the task of re-packaging the horse feed bags for balanced horse feeds. There were many constraints on this brief such as having to stick with the existing logo and colour scheme. I found this a huge challenge as the original packaging resembled a bag of concrete or flour and trying to create a new package whilst retaining the corporate identity, without ending up with a similar aesthetic became a bit of a tightrope walk. This is my first attempt, the logo was intended to give the impression of a quality stamp. I tried to keep the red and white colour scheme so it would remain true to the identity customers were used to but wanted to have the bag itself brown to get it a rustic quality, something other brands I felt were lacking. However I found out that due to the oily nature of the product the bags have to be plastic so I had to change strategy.
A re-design of the logo in order to incorporate the longevity of the company in order to promote reliability.
I was advised by a tutor to do at least one’out there’ idea for a client to act as a juxtoposition to the more conventional designs, this actually ended up being one of the designs they liked most. This is a technique I shall stick to for future designs.
Final Outcome This is my final concept, With this version I wanted a clean design with clear selling points on show to entice customers to read and hopefullt buy the product. The different types of feed would be identified by not only the text itself but in a change in colour of the writing on the sides. I am pleased with the final result as I feel this is the first piece of packaging design I have done that met the requirements specified in the brief.
I want to persue creating merchandise for bands ranging from t-shirts to record inlays,screen printed and Giclee printed tour/gig posters. There is a vast underground culture connected with the music scene and plenty of opportunity for design independant design work.
Commissioned poster for Tropics show at the Old Blue Last, this was put up and flyered around london leading up to the show and was used as an online flyer and posted of various forums and social networks.
D E E R H U N T E R I wanted to design a t-shirt for the band Deerhunter, so I decided to experiment with a style of illustration different to how I would normally draw. As much as I love macabre imagery I want to avoid being pigeonholed into only doing that and I felt this exercise was a good vehicle to do something different.
D E E R H U N T E R
I was asked by a friend to create a poster advertising a show the band Godflesh were playing at the HMV Forum. I wanted an image that repressetnted a situation where awe and wonder would be involved. The idea of the giant ship arriving in the city is supposed to repressent the band arriving in the city to play the show. But also is a metaphor for the arrival of god.
Poster Art in the Independant Music Scene The Poster to the right is part of three movie themed posters I did for a tour my band tropics was part in. On the previous pages there is the first poster which is meant as a homage to pulp movies, I tried to make it resemble an old movie poster and included the typography as though it were members of the cast. The poster to the right of that is also a homage but this time to sci-fi/horror B movies of the 60’s and 70’s the only typography is hand drawn in the form of killer space slugs spelling out the name of the band Polar, there are no more details as the poster was made before any of the final details had been confirmed. The final poster to the right is again another homage but this time of the notorious 70’s porn movie deepthroat. All three posters have been heavily influenced by movie poster art of the 60’s,70’s and 80’s when hand drawn posters were more prominent. I had giclee prints of the Turbowolf postermade up and sold copy’s at the shows.
Photo by Jack Sheen.
The band Subsource asked if I would design a slipcase cover for a CD they were going to release. The brief asked for something organic with theme’s of rebellion, Urban and technology I tried to encompass these elements by depicting a nuclear explosion in a city, rebellion being the cause in one way or another of war, technology being the distructive power of nuclear weapons plus the scene is set in an urban environment.
G O O D
B Y E
Evaluation Exploration This semesters Independent practice has been fast a furious for me, I have undertaken many differing projects, all within the area I would like to be involved in professionally. Throwing myself in at the deep end has forced me to learn new skills and evaluate my work more. As I have been doing work for other people I have had to deal with constant critiques and had to make a lot of changes to the way I work in order to be organised enough to meet deadlines. I feel this is good practice and hope it is getting me ready for the future. I have learnt to prioritize efficiently and also to not go with the first idea that comes into my head, as well as always having at least three different final outcomes for clients in order to pre-empt negativity. There is still a huge amount to learn I feel but thanks to events like the LAB I have been able to speak with designers and ask them the things that I want to know, couple this with getting in contact with people off my own back and paying close attention to my peers and I have grasped concepts that I may not have been able to otherwise. This term has enabled me to feel more confident about my own work which has been invaluable as I have been able to put it out into to world and see how it stands up against other peoples and what kind of context it falls into. It has also been nice to be able to get the opinions of people outside of the University as the general public are the front line for our work. For the most part though this term has been fun. I have learnt how to screen print at home and having this facility has as well as widening my knowledge of the adobe suite has allowed me to experiment more and be far more prolific than previously. I still feel there is a gap as far as typography is concerned and although I am getting my head around all the aspects of design I still feel like I need to step further back and be more objective. I feel this will come with more research and gaining the skills to evaluate my own work more onjectively. Undoubtedly this term I have gained a genuine understanding of where my work stands in the context of its surroundings but also where it’s stands from other peoples perspectives. I will be able to start next year with a more confident and less blinkered view of design which hopefully will enable me to push myself further and spend more time outside of my comfort zone.
Bibliography B O O K S Gig posters rock show art of the 12st century, Hayes, Clay, Quirk Books Philadelphia 2009 Boards The art and design of the skateboard, Walter Einenkel, Universe Publishing, 2003 Thinking with Type, Ellen Lupton, Princeton Architectural Press, New York 2010 On Brand, Wally Ollins, Thames Hudson, London, 2003 The Brand Handbook, Wally Ollins, Thames Hudson, London, 2008 Typography Workbook, Timothy Samara, Rockport Publishers, United States 2004 Getting it right with type, Victoria Squire, Laurence King Publishing, London 2006 Ways of Seeing, John Berger, Penguin Books, London 1977 DIY Album Art, J. Namdev Hardisty, Mark Batty Publisher, New York, no date. Touchable Sound, Brian Roettinger, Sound Screen Designs New York, 2010
F I L M Exit Through the giftshop, Banksy, 2010 The Genius of Design, Chris Wilson, 1996 Helvetica
E - M A I L Walter Hansen, Graphic Designer Dan Mumford, Illustrator Mark Pavey, Graphic Designer Tom Gilmore, Illustrator Tom Leggett, packaging Designer