OUGD406 | Studio Brief 01 - Initial Research, Idea Generation and Thumbnails

I began my research by gaining an understanding of The Maccabees as a band. They are an indie rock band which I think have quite a mysterious feel.
Their current logo features type only in a square box and is very minimalistic - using only black and white. Their current album cover for "Given to the Wild" is more colourful and features a grassy plain on fire with a mysterious sculpture. I like the use of vivid colours on this album cover and I feel it reflects the electric tones featured in their music.

I was inspired by this photograph of a band member next to a pelican. I thought this could be a source of inspiration, however, a song on their album is called Pelican - this song name has already produced some merchandise which I do not wish to copy. 

I then looked to the lyrics of the song for inspiration. The word cardboard stood out to me as I feel this could be a material that I could use in my designs. Images of kitchens and windowsills may be slightly too obvious. I do like the lyric "And the skins we've known no longer fit us". This lyric is artistic and could produce some interesting visual representations. I also like the theme of something not being enough "It's not enough" is mentioned several times - perhaps I could represent this typographically or try and interpret these words through illustrations. 

Left you there in the sunlight

In the sunshine by the windowsill in the kitchen

In light of what was to come it was not enough

Just like the cardboard that covered

The missing panes and cracks in our bedroom windows

We should have known they wouldn't keep out the cold

It was not enough

It's not enough

And it never was

And they'll call out with a name by which I'd never call you

And we'll grow out when it's time

And the skins we've known no longer fit us

It's not enough and it leaves you tired

See you there in the sunlight

In the sunshine by the windowsill in the kitchen

And they'll call out with a name by which I'd never call you

All things being well still feel it was not enough

An interesting fact I found out about the band is that their name was chosen by selecting a word at random from The Bible. The Maccabees were leaders of a Jewish rebel army. Religious symbols could be another element of my design or even army illustrations. 

The name of the album "Given to the wild" stood out to me. I feel that I could play on the concept of wild animals and jungles although this could be an obvious choice. However, I could select a very obscure wild animal rather than the classic tiger. 

I then began to listen to more of the music by the band to get a feel for their style. I found a short film by the band on youtube. I was inspired by the shot which features an orange tent against a deep blue night sky.

INTERPRETING SOUND WORKSHOP

As a beginning to the brief, we were challenged to draw our own interpretations of each song with specific instructions such as only drawing triangles, squares or not taking our pen of the page. This was passed around several other students so that several interpretations were on one page.
Below is my sheet interpreting The Maccabees song -

INITIAL THUMBNAILS

Most of my first ideas included the positioning of wild animals. I also made notes whilst watching the maccabees short film "Into the Wild" and used some of the visuals used in this to generate ideas. The video featured a lot of natural scenes including a wood and a beach.

Many of my sketches included the idea of interpreting sound through various medias, similar to the workshop we had. I would like to explore the mediums of paint and ink as well as pen and pencil.

The song itself makes me think of electricity quite a lot in terms of the sounds created, and the sounds created by an electric guitar are my favourite parts of the song. There are many more ways I feel the song relates to electricity so I thought of the idea to photograph lighting (which is a continuation of my work from my photography induction) and potentially create shapes using wires.

Thumbnails -