OUGD603 Leeds Print Festival: Jessy Lanza - Design Boards - Live Brief (Brief Six)

OUGD603 Up Yer Sleeve - Visual Inspiration - Live Brief (Brief Eight)

As I am interested in responding to this brief with either icons/illustrations or type, I thought it would be useful to look at some visual inspiration to get an idea of what works/what doesn't and what I could achieve. Below is a poster created using illustrations and icons. I think it's really successful as your eye follows the design around the page, however there isn't really a message to this particular print, which is something I definitely have to incorporate into my own design.

I then began looking at prints that focus on type. The prints are quite similar in the fact they warp the type, however they are still legible. Warping is something I have previously discussed I would like to experiment with on this brief, so I will definitely try this out as these two prints make it apparent that it can very successful.

OUGD603 Leeds Print Festival: Jessy Lanza - Evaluation - Live Brief (Brief Six)

This brief was a live brief for Leeds Print Festival for a musician called Jessy Lanza. I decided to participate in this brief as it allowed for experimentation with print methods; something I had initially outlined to do within my statement of intent. The brief was to create a 23cm x 23cm print for the song ‘Oh No’. 

The concept development for this brief came from contextual research when looking into Jessy Lanza’s production of her track; I discovered that she has a ‘postmodern approach to writing music’, this informed my own design as I created my print in a postmodern style. This was really successful as it gave me an idea to work towards, and gave me more context and reason for creating the print. I incorporated different design elements to the print and used repetition to represent the musical instruments used within the song; this was informed by the fact that Jeremy Greenspan helped produce the track, and he often uses very repetitive drum beats within his electronic music. I believe my concept was conveyed really efficiently within my print, as each element would’ve worked individually, however comes together to create a successful final resolution. 

I really enjoyed this brief, especially experimenting with screen printing. I have done projects involving screen print in the past in which it often goes wrong, however due to me learning from my past mistakes the printing went really well and the final prints are really effective and informed. It was really challenging, however, due to the fact that I only had one sheet of GF Smith White Colourplan to print onto, meaning I had to get the positioning of the screen perfect to make each layer line up. 

My time management of this brief had to be really well considered as I had to have the designs ready for a certain point in the project so that I could then get the screen set up for screen printing. I managed my time really efficiently and completed the brief within the deadline. This project is great to have in my portfolio as it shows that I consider different print methods that are informed by the brief. 

OUGD603 Up Yer Sleeve - Research: Wham! Album Covers - Live Brief (Brief Eight)

Below is the album artwork for Club Tropicana. It is a very obvious album artwork for the song, as the song uses language to create visuals of this exact paradise.

Below are another two album covers for Wham! albums. It's clear that type is generally a huge focus within their cover designs, however colour is also important. I will focus on these two elements within my own design.

OUGD603 Up Yer Sleeve - Research: Wham! - Live Brief (Brief Eight)

Wham! were an English musical duo formed by members George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley in 1981. They were briefly known in the US as Wham! UK duo to a naming conflict with an American band. Wham! sold more than 28 million records worldwide from 1982 to 1986.

'Club Tropicana' is a song released in 1983. It was written by George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley. The song was a mild departure from Wham!'s previous singles, which has been motivated by social or political issues. The song is satire of the boom for cheap package holidays for younger, single people of a hedonistic nature. It was specifically seen in the UK as a swipe at the very popular Club 18-30 scheme.

OUGD603 Up Yer Sleeve - Initial Thoughts & Print Methods - Live Brief (Brief Eight)

Before beginning my research I thought it would be beneficial to quickly make some mock ups of the ideas I currently have. This can be seen below. I think the best initial ideas are using icons to show the song, as the song is very visual with the way it describes being on holiday. I also think playing with warping type could be really interesting and is definitely something that I want to explore further.

Print Methods.

I am going to digitally print the design that I create as I think it'll look better than screen printing due to the fact I am going to use either iconography or typography for the print. If I have time, however, I may try screen printing it and comparing the two, however as I have made this brief a week long brief, I am doubtful that I will.

OUGD603 Up Yer Sleeve - Artist Allocation - Live Brief (Brief Eight)

The song I have been allocated is Wham! - Club Tropicana.

It's not a song I would personally listen to, so this makes the brief a lot more challenging, which i think is a good thing as the design will have to be very conceptual.

OUGD603 Up Yer Sleeve - Time Management - Live Brief (Brief Eight)

This brief is due within a month and a half, however this brief should only take around a week to complete. For this reason, I have made a concise project plan below to help me stay on target.

Project Plan.

27/03/2017 - 30/03/2017 - Research & idea generation.
30/03/2017 - 05/04/2017 - Development and final resolution.
05/04/2017 - 10/04/2017 - Submission, Evaluation & Design boards.

OUGD603 Up Yer Sleeve - The Brief - Live Brief (Brief Eight)

Up Yer Sleeve is a new print exhibition exploring record sleeve artwork. Each track has been selected to celebrate a range of musical icons that recently passed away.

The Brief.

Produce a 7inch x 7inch printed artwork in response to an allocated track provided by the Up Yer Sleeve team upon request. The artwork can be produced digitally, analogue or a mixture of both.

Background and Considerations. 

We encourage you to be experimental and conceptual. Use any creative approach you feel suits the track.
The use of typography is permitted, but don't include the song title from the track within your artwork for reasons of secrecy.
Print on any stock you see fit.

Requirements.

7x7 inch format.

Deliverables. 

Artwork to be submitted within the 7 x 7" format in order to displayed in the exhibition.

Target Audience.

Designers, Leeds locals, tourists, people who enjoy music. Age range 16-60.

Timescale.

On or before 3pm on Friday 5th May in the third year studio.

OUGD603 Leeds Print Festival: Jessy Lanza - Final Print - Live Brief (Brief Six)

Here is my final screen print on Pristine White GF Smith Colourplan. It turned out to be really difficult to produce, mainly because there was only enough GF Smith stock for one print each, and therefore it had to be made perfect. This was made a lot easier, however, by using other paper to get the position of the print perfect before printing onto this stock.

OUGD603 MUNA - Design Boards - Competition Brief (Brief Five)

OUGD603 MUNA - Evaluation - Competition Brief (Brief Five)

This brief was a live brief for the band MUNA, who put out an open call for submissions for an upcoming zine, asking for a personal interpretation of a song from their album ‘About U’. This was a really interesting brief to take part in as I am a huge fan of the band due to their beliefs and their stances on politics and LGBTQA+ rights. The concept behind the zine was to push fans and creatives to create their own content, as this album was written and produced by the band prior to being signed, so they wanted to aid in the process of self-expression and personal growth. 

My poster design was informed by research into colour psychology. Researching into the song ‘If U Love Me Now’, I discovered that the song incorporates themes of depression and suicide; this closely relates to the colour psychology of purple and black. I believe I conveyed this message really successfully; my aim was to visualise the song and make the viewer feel the emotion being portrayed.

This project looks excellent in my portfolio, due to the fact that it is very concept-driven. It was very important that this particular brief was informed by contextual research and not hugely by visuals, as it shows that I can learn from research and apply it to a real life brief. 

I had to manage my time really efficiently for this project, as I have multiple other projects on the go at the  same time. It was also beneficial to make a time plan, as this was a design for a live brief, meaning there was a set deadline that I had to have my work completed by. 

OUGD603 Leeds Print Festival: Jessy Lanza - Negatives for Screen Print - Live Brief (Brief Six)

Below are the negatives I created for the print. I decided to screen print the image as I think it will be the most time efficient, but also the most successful form of printing. I did originally consider using letterpress, however in the end my design used a lot more imagery than type so therefore it makes sense to screen print.

This is the negative for the blue print.

This is the negative for the magenta print.

OUGD603 Leeds Print Festival: Jessy Lanza - Further Development - Live Brief (Brief Six)

Using this design as a starting point, I thought it would be good to add other elements into the print to show the multiple different instruments incorporated into the song. 

I added warped lines to represent the synth used. I think this particular design is unsuccessful as there is too much going on, however the idea is definitely progressing. 

I then added more block colour to the design. This is definitely a progression and is starting to look really successful.

I then added even more shapes to represent all of the other information, and also incorporated some of the designs from the other mock ups I had created. I think this is really successful, however there are a few elements I am going to change as I don't think they are currently working very well together. I am also going to play about with the colour of the print, as I'm not a huge fan of the red and blue together; I think the colours are very harsh on the eyes, especially with a white background, which doesn't represent the song; the song is very chilled out.

I perfected the shapes on the design and played around with the colour scheme. I think this design is a lot more successful as each shape compliments another shape, similar to the instruments in the song. I also changed the colours - I have decided to go with magenta and blue to print the design as I think they compliment each other really well and aren't too harsh on the eyes, however are still bold enough to stand out.

OUGD603 MUNA - Submission - Competition Brief (Brief Five)

I then sent the final design to MUNA. I sent it with a description of the concept of the poster design, even though this wasn't a requirement. The description was as follows:

'If U Love Me Now' details a difficult interaction between lovers, and incorporates themes of depression, self-reflection and suicide.

Purple: Often represents self-judgement. It is impractical, depressed and fearful. It is often addictive and tries to avoid conflict. It can be cynical and aloof.

Black: Provides an emptiness. It is depressing and pessimistic. It is often secretive and withholding. It promotes sadness and negativity. 

OUGD603 Leeds Print Festival: Jessy Lanza - Feedback - Live Brief (Brief Six)

I asked some people on my table which concept they thought was the best so far and they said they liked the idea of using shapes to represent the different instruments within the song, as there are a lot of different sounds that come together to create the song - this could be shown with a lot of different shapes that come together to create one print.

I also agree that this is definitely the best concept so I am going to develop this further using imagery and type together.

OUGD603 MUNA - Final Outcome - Competition Brief (Brief Five)

I played around with the placement of the type and this is the design I have chosen. I decided this typeface as it will make my poster stand out to the other zine submissions as it is interactive. This will only be successful in print as the zine can be turned around by hand. It's not ideal as a poster simply put on a wall as you won't be able to turn the poster around. I still really like this design and the type is spread out evenly so that the background is still the main focus, which is what I was aiming for. 

OUGD603 MUNA - Further Development - Competition Brief (Brief Five)

To develop this idea further, I decided to focus solely on the image to begin with. The main aim of this experimentation was to try to incorporate the colours purple and black into the design as these are the most relevant colours that echo themes within the song. 

Firstly I tried to simply overlay the colour purple. This was unsuccessful as a lot of the detail of the image was lost, and it was also still to happy to represent the song.

I played with the blending methods of the colours to try to make part of the image darker. This is more successful than the previous attempt, however it still isn't really what I'm aiming for.

I made this quick blend of purples on black using the brush tool on Photoshop and then played around with the settings. 

I played around with the settings some more and this is what it looked like. It's definitely on its way to the final outcome however I still think there is room for improvement. This still wasn't what I was going for, however. I feel the colours are coming through too much in blocks.

For this reason I used the liquify tool and played with the blend of the colours.

This is what the image looked like after I had applied a layer setting to this.

At this point, however, I have changed my mind. I think i actually prefer the blended colours together on their own without the image in the background; it keeps the brightness of the colour scheme and it also echoes the concept more without the image - it is all based on colour psychology. 

For this reason I am going to experiment with just the colours and blending them together with the liquify tool.

After experimenting with the background for a good hour this is the final design I have chosen. I think it's really successful; it shows the colour psychology and echoes the themes of depression and suicide. I used quite a smooth blend to show that suicide and depression are subjects that need to be talked about, however it's a gentle subject so the blend between each colour is very gentle.

I am now going to add type to the image. I am going to use the lines:

This is not what you signed up for

I could pray to God

But I'm not invested

And you get what you pay for

These are my favourite lines in the song; they reflect the fact that a lot of queer people aren't invested in religion because of the way they speak about the LGBTQ+ community.

This is the first attempt I had at adding the text. I decided that I would keep the lyrics all in capital letters, as this is the correct way of writing the bands name MUNA. I'm not particularly focusing on the placement of the text currently, more on which typeface fits the design. I don't think this typeface fits very well as it's very distracting from the imagery. 

The same applies for this typeface; its a title font and it's very difficult to read when the image is smaller - this is good to note as I'm unsure what size the zine will be printed at.

I have decided on the typeface below after trying numerous other typefaces. I chose DIN Condensed as it is condensed similar to MUNA's branding, however the typeface represents me more than a serif would - Sans serifs are my favourite typefaces and I never really use serif typefaces in my work.

OUGD603 Leeds Print Festival: Jessy Lanza - Development - Live Brief (Brief Six)

To develop my project further, I began by looking into the melody of the song. The drum beat is constantly repeated through-out the entire song, so I tried to create a visual for this. This can be seen below. The icons show the drum beat as they are repeated, however are interrupted with a wave - this is supposed to represent the synth. 

I then began experimenting with type. As the title of the song is repeated through-out the song I tried to show this by using solely type. It's a good idea, however I think it's quite a boring design to look at and it's not very engaging.

I then tried to incorporate the repetition of both the drums and the lyrics 'oh no' through the use of icons. I think this is unsuccessful; the icons were supposed to read 'oh no' but I think it's very abstract and still quite disengaging to look at.

I then tried to experiment more with shape and type combined. I think this is starting to look a lot more successful however there is definitely still room for improvement.

I worked with a similar concept as above, and this is what I came up with. I think it's really interesting as it shows the repetition of the drum beat through the imagery, and the repetition of the lyrics through the type.

Before developing an idea further I am going to ask some of the course for some feedback. 

OUGD603 MUNA - Colour Psychology - Competition Brief (Brief Five)

Basic Colour psychology.

Red: Energy, power, war, danger, strength, power, determination, passion, desire and love.
Orange: Enthusiasm, fascination, happiness, creativity, determination, attraction, success, encouragement and stimulation.
Yellow: Joy, happiness, intellect honour, loyalty, cowardice and energy.
Green: Nature, growth, harmony, freshness, fertility, stability, healing, loyalty, trust, wisdom, confidence, intelligence, faith, truth, heaven, calm, sincerity.
Purple: power, nobility, luxury, ambition, mystery, magic, cosmos, wisdom, dignity, independence, creativity, mystery, magic, depression, fear and cynical.
White: light, goodness, innocence, purity, virginity, cleanliness and faith.
Black: power, elegance, formality, death, evil and mystery. The symbol of grief.

SOURCE

From this research, I think it's important that my design features the colours purple and black, as these are the main colours that psychologically make us think of the message of the song.

OUGD603 MUNA - Feedback - Competition Brief (Brief Five)

When asking for feedback, I decided that I would just show the two designs that I would like to see developed further, as I'm not a huge fan of the other designs I have created. 

Feedback:

1a It's quite a postmodern design, but it's also quite basic for a poster design - it would need something else to make it more engaging. 

1b Agree with above. It's not very engaging, quite boring. 

1c I like it personally, but I think it does need something else. 

2a I don't think this really looks like a poster design as of yet, but I like the image used - it's engaging as I want to figure out what the poster is about. 

2b I like the colours and the aloofness of it. It makes me want to find out more

2c It definitely needs a lot more work to be successful but i like it. it's different from a lot of imagery you often see on posters

Further development.

To develop this brief further I am definitely going to take forward the second poster design. Having thought about it further, I do agree that the first poster design is successful however it is quite boring to look at and not very engaging, and therefore doesn't represent the band at all. I think I am going to start developing this by researching into colour psychology and go from there.