OUGD503 - Up Yer Sleeve - Final Critique

I brought some experimental images of my 3 finals (seen above) to a critique for feedback on which would be the most appropriate idea for development. I again showed my group the youtube song I was given so they had a good understanding of what I was working on. Each idea was at a different stage of development however I made sure my peers knew how each would progress to a final cover.

I decided to ask my peers within this critique which idea they felt was most appropriate, from which I found varied results. Conceptually, the group agreed that the folding heart idea would work best but as this idea was still in initial stages it was hard to see whether it would work as well aesthetically as the other ideas. Despite this, some members of the group felt this idea was the most appropriate adding how they felt a black background would work best however it would be good to experiment with white also. We agreed as a group that the photos should seamlessly merge together so the final cover designed looked less like a contact sheet and more like one photo.

I showed my peers the inspiration used for this idea as well as my experimentation as the idea couldn't be seen in its final form. Although all my crit group liked my illustration and use of colour to represent the upbeat nature of the song, they felt this had been done before. I therefore decided to dismiss this idea for this brief.

I received positive feedback about my typography response however I feel this is partly because this was the most complete idea. They liked liked the idea of using a grey background with contrasting colourful type as felt it represented the song well however suggested experimenting further with foiling and other traditional print methods. Although the group was swaying towards this idea, I didn't feel it would work as well as the other two in consideration.

Despite deliberation within the crit group, I have decided to progress with the folded heart idea, taking into consideration their added points for improvement. I feel this idea could work well as a more ambiguous response which could in turn help my chances in doing well within the competition.

OUGD503 - Up Yer Sleeve - developed ideas

My last critique helped me decide on my three most appropriate ideas. These are the typographical response, folded heart and wax/ watercolour illustration. I first developed these further using sketches and moved on after using the most appropriate media.

Typographical response

I wanted to produce a typographical response based some of the lyrics  in the song. The lyrics that I felt were most appropriate for this were:

100 days for this heart to unfold

Wait a minute. Maybe I need to slow it down just a little. Take my time

I had a man tell me things. Made me feel just like a queen and I thought

I noted in my original sketches that I wanted to use an old American style font as this was used within the 100 days, 100 nights music video as well as on Sharon Jones' website. 

I wanted to also experiment with the colour of type within this response. Within feedback I found that responding to the song with colour would work well to link everything together. 

Folded heart

I experimented with a number of different hearts for this. First looking at origami where I produced a number of different results. Unfortunately, It may be difficult to produce 100 photos using this method however, it will be experimented with later into the project.

I also looked at folding a heart in my own way. The final look of the heart didn't look as good as the origami counterpart however there seemed to be more stages so may be more appropriate for the 100 photo idea. The first photos of these hearts can be seen below.

wax and watercolour illustration

I illustrated Sharon Jones' face a number of times in a number of styles so I knew which would be most appropriate for the idea. These sketches are seen below.

After working on each style, I came to the conclusion that the shadowed illustration worked best as more of the face would be seen when paint is poured over it. I produced a digital version of this as felt it would be more neat and work better than a hand drawing. This also enables me to print the design a number of times for experimentation.

OUGD503 - Up Yer Sleeve - Ideas and Feedback

As this is a brief I will be completing within a short time frame, I have decided to start sketching some ideas straight after my initial research. I also feel that I now have good enough knowledge of the song and artist to produce good conceptual work. I first sketched a number of ideas to help start this process. These are seen below.

As I had 9 different ideas within my preliminary sketches, I brought this to a small critique for feedback and help with my development. I first played the youtube video of my song to my critique group so they had a better understanding 

1. Which ideas do you think are conceptually the strongest?
My group felt the folded heart idea linked well with the meaning of the song. They felt that 100 different photos used similar to a contact sheet was most appropriate however one folded heart would also work well.

Another idea which was found to be conceptually successful was the typographical response using lyrics from the song. I feel that further development of this idea would push it 

2. Which sketched ideas best suits the song's upbeat and colourful melody?

The idea using wax and watercolour works well to represent the songs melody. To progress with this idea, illustrations will first be made then experimented with. Th

3. Which ideas don't work as well?


Despite preferring such ideas as the folding heart and... , my group felt that aspects of each sketch worked well and could be brought into my developed designs. This included using typography seen on music videos and the artist's website and experimenting with mixed media.

After taking part in this critique I have decided to develop three different ideas. These are the unfolding heart, the wax and watercolour paint of Sharon Jones and the typographical response using lyrics from the song. Focussing on three different ideas will give me the opportunity to choose the most appropriate idea through feedback later in the project.

OUGD503 - Up Yer Sleeve - Research

I have decided to note down my initial observations from when I first watched the video sent to me by Cameron as felt these could be helpful within the design of my album cover.

I also looked over the lyrics of the song as felt they could influence some of my initial ideas. This helped extensively as I was able to take a few lines for further use.

These were Wait a minute

Maybe I need to slow it down just a little

100 days for this heart to unfold

100 days, 100 nights

To know a man's heart

But one day

I looked around

That old man

Was nowhere to be found

I started the research for this brief by looking at previous album cover for Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings. The consistent use of orange works well to portray the upbeat song and her powerful voice and would be appropriate for my own design. 

I looked on Sharron Jones' website for inspiration and found the recurring use of western style typography. Using a similar font within my work for this brief would show a distinct link between the artist and record cover.

I also found similar typefaces being used within album covers of the same genre as well as alternatives that would work equally as well for the artist.

Other album covers

Finding typography from soul and funk albums has led me to look at other album covers from these genres.

The recurrent use of colour, especially blues and reds stand out and are popular for albums like this. The two examples above have background beams of light behind the subject in the foreground. This works well, especially for the genre and era the albums come from. I feel that an updated and more modern version of this would work well and will be looked at within experimentation.

Whilst looking at soul and funk record covers I noticed that many recurrently used mixed media. This usually focussed on photography and illustration together. This is used within Sharon Jones and the Dap-kings album: Naturally.

OUGD503 - Up Yer Sleeve - Brief & plan

Last year I was fortunate to be able to take part in Secret 7, a competition to redesign the album cover of a choice of 7 songs. Unfortunately, this competition isn't available this year and so 3rd year graphic design student Cameron Wolfe has created a similar competition for students at LCA. Unlike Secret 7 where I had the choice of which song to work on, I have been given 100 days, 100 nights by Sharon Jones. Having a more restrictive brief like this forces me to push my ideas further for this one song without spending too much time caught up on which song I want to redesign.

I have decded to give myself 5 days to complete this project to test time keeping abilities within a brief. I have created a vague time plan that I hope to stick to across the five days.

Day 1
Research
preliminary sketches
feedback

Day 2
pick 3 ideas to develop
develop sketches from feedback

Day 3
additional research
start final pieces

Day 4
feedback
develop finals and aim to have complete
by the end of the day

Day 5
finalise project, finish writing up