OUGD406 | Studio Brief 01 - Continued Research & Idea Generation

To understand what is expected from the competition, I looked at previous Secret 7" Vinyl entries on Pinterest and Instagram. Below are some of my favourites, although most of the designs were not my style. I particularly liked the use of traditional materials such as ink, paint and pencils. It also seems I was most attracted to either the brightest colours or the greyscale/black and white covers. I like how all the covers are open to interpretation as it is the artists own expression of the song

I then went on to analyse some of the vinyl artists recommended on the brief. However, none of their work particularly stood out to me. I found many of their designs boring, or just not personally my style.

Peter Saville is one of the more famous designers. I have always been a fan of Joy Divison's album cover as the idea is creative and interprets the sound in a new way. The simplicity of the design also appeals to me - line art is something I want to explore.
I enjoyed hearing about his spontaneity when designing True Faiths cover. In this I am drawn to the very bright colours and again the simplicity of a single, centred element.

"This was the first and only time that the band gave me something that they’d like for a cover. I went to see Rob Gretton, who managed them, and he gave me a folder of material, which contained the wave image from the Cambridge Encyclopedia of Astronomy. They gave me the title too but I didn’t hear the album. The wave pattern was so appropriate. It was from CP 1919, the first pulsar, so it’s likely that the graph emanated from Jodrell Bank, which is local to Manchester and Joy Division. And it’s both technical and sensual. It’s tight, like Stephen Morris’ drumming, but it’s also fluid: lots of people think it’s a heart beat. Having the title on the front just didn’t seem necessary. I asked Rob about it and, between us, we felt it wasn’t a cool thing to do. It was the post-punk moment and we were against overblown stardom. The band didn’t want to be pop stars"

“This was a first work from real life. In 1986, I happened to have a trauma in my personal life and it made me very attuned to the world around me. Suddenly, I had no filters. I was parking the car one night and a leaf drifted by the window and I thought, ‘That’s so beautiful.’ It was framed by the windscreen, which is probably why I saw it as an image. So we did a leaf. I went to Windsor Great Park with photographer Trevor Key, came back with about 50 leaves and shot two or three until we found the right one. It had to be the right shape and look like it was falling. There was no digital manipulation at this point. I still have the leaf although I keep thinking that one day it will fall apart”

Mark Farrow was the other vinyl artist which interested me. I preferred the simplicity of his designs. I find the use of photography on album covers appealing. The covers speak for themselves and do not try to shout for attention. I like how Farrow has related the number of squares in his tick album cover (Pet Shop Boys) to the number of songs on the album. 

For this I have mainly been inspired by artists I have seen in passing online or otherwise. Kris Tate is a freelance illustrator who uses animal photographs and illustrates over these. Her use of bright colours is something I would like to try out as I feel this relates to The Maccabees and their music. The animals she uses also tie into the "Into the Wild" theme and ideas I had previously come up with. The use of textures, particularly the space texture adds another dimension to her work and is equally appealing as the rest of her designs.

Inspiration comes in unexpected places. For a previous project I had researched abstract expressionism and the artist Cy Twombly particularly inspired me. I feel that abstract expressionism ties well into this brief as I am aiming to interpret songs personally. The mark making Twombly uses is interesting and inspiring, as well as the bright colours that contrast with the pale backgrounds he uses. Painting to music is a technique I plan to explore. 

Social media has provided plenty of inspiration. This vinyl cover brings in the geometric shapes from our song interpretation task, with the line drawings I want to explore, as well as the use of bright colours. These elements are what I am considering for my experiments. 

The advert for The Wombats tour is just my style. The pastel colour palette with hints of bright pink and orange appeals to me and the use of a figuire is something I am considering for my own designs - to show how music effects the mind and body. The photograph used is high quality and details of the woman are still seen to create a beautiful texture. The framing of the image is effective in that it leaves space for type and also compliments the colours of the image.

This piece of artwork found on Society 6 has helped inspire ways to show the effect of music on the body. The tentacles coming out of the face has a very hard hitting feel.