Study Task 8: Initial Idea and Design Development Design Boards

DESIGN BOARD 3 - INITIAL IDEAS

This stems from the idea that album covers can initially show the style and tone of a genre through its aesthetic design, as the design elements have become part of the genre’s subculture and lifestyle. Creating a hypothetical band can showcase this idea by creating a series of brand identity products in order to possibly project a certain image to the audience, purely through the use of design elements like type and colour. It may also explore the idea of subcultural mixture and how through the evolvement of subculture, various elements have become transferable across a variety of genres through creating various layers within the brand identity. 

DESIGN BOARD 3 - DESIGN DEVELOPMENT

Through further research and refinement the idea was nailed done to various outcomes which are very viable and can be produced in high quality and refined fashion. Referencing back to Hogstrom, various advertising materials for the brand identity were pinpointed" LOGO, PACKAGING, CD ARTWORK, POSTER. These three elements will be developed further in order to come up with a solid and justified final outcome that will answer the brief.

Firstly, I created a logo, which will be the basis for the identity of the band. Through the usage of simplistic type and illustrations along with a monochromatic look, it gives the logo a neutral appearance and ambiguous character which is reflective of the idea of subculture mix and how the subculture and identity within it  becomes ambiguous that people start to doubt which subculture they belong. As it's the loo, it will be one of the first designs the audience will see therefore, it should aim to evoke its intended use initially. 

The packaging on the other hand, may have a similar set of rules applied design wise e.g. restricted colour pallet but has now a different aesthetic and characteristic risen from it, which the audience may notice. The usage of sleek contemporary contrasting type connotes a very dark and grungy genre, as well as a slow tones, perhaps hiphop or r&b that audiences may pick up on as well. This already showcases the brief intentions as already the audiences are experience varied visual aesthetic, which somehow work well coherently together. 

There were problems encountered while testing the packaging as the tabs and measurements were a bit off. Also, because of printing restraints I could only manage to print it with yellow in which look a bit glossy. I did think it was nice, however, it wasn't really reflective of the style that I was intending on creating. I also thought of putting a tab insert inside for the CD, however it turned out too tight and I realised that it's kind of redundant so for the final piece I will not include the tab but just the packaging itself. 

This is the CD artwork I've created, which is a very contrasting design to the other two. However through the usage of similar typefaces, I've manage to hone in it's aesthetic and style with the rest of the product. I think this also reflect the fact that a genre like Seapunk that very wild, and unique and extravagant, has foundations and principles with stemmed from genres like Hip-hop which although aesthetically, and sound wise are very different, their roots and deeply rooted together. 

This is the additional promotional material I've created. It stemmed from the simplistic line drawing and monochromatic design of the packaging. The poster explores the various looks of genres and hints at stereotypes through the chopped up images of the static face against the feminine side, reflecting the idea of subculture crossing over and taking aspects from each other to create it's own identity. Overall, it is very simple and clean, not being too gaudy or over the top as it may become too harsh and outlying from the overall brand. It's printed on orange paper which look at bit too rough and harsh, therefore I may opt to use a more natural and raw colour to bring the tones together,