Following our visit to Somerset House, in the same day, we went to The British Library to see the 'Comics Unmasked' exhibition which showcased evolution and history of comics. This was a good visit in my opinion and I enjoyed looking at the various different comic book illustrations and also learning a lot about the creation of famous comic book characters such as 'Judge Dredd', 'Spiderman' and many more. An aspect I also enjoyed was the way the comics were analysed in terms of their political and propaganda content. I learnt quite a bit even though comic books are not necessarily my favourite thing or what my FMP is about.
A great touch was the addition of the masked mannequins wearing the Guy Fawkes/V for Vendetta masks which filled the exhibition space with an eerie presence as initially I wondered if they were real people posing and often I had to look back to be sure as they were quite imposing. This wasn't random though as the masks they were wearing could be traced back to comic books and the whole idea of uprising and superheroes is common in comics past and present.
Overall, I enjoyed this exhibition but I thought some of the work was a bit repetitive and the styles were often the same which gradually made the exhibition a bit tiresome in my opinion. Honestly, I'm not the biggest fan of comic books however I could appreciate the work on display. Of the two I definitely preferred the 'Pick Me Up' exhibition at Somerset House just because there was more variety although I was definitely pleased I visited this one.
Monday, 5 May 2014
SOMERSET HOUSE - PICK ME UP EXHIBITION
As mentioned earlier, something that really made the exhibition stand out from the rest for me was the displays, shops and stands upstairs were various designers and illustrators were selling their work. This appealed to me because it is potentially something that I would love to do in the future and expose my work to the public. There was a large amount of screen printing, a technique I like a lot but have never tried, which was good to see. These displays complemented the gallery downstairs and made the visit without a doubt worthwhile.
To round off an already great visit, I came a across a room filled with record labels, covert art, t-shirt prints and album art which made my day. This was literally everything I want to do in my FMP on the wall and therefore it made for excellent viewing and was extremely relevant to my own project. They had everything form 7" vinyl sleeves to record label prints on t-shirts which was valuable for me to see first hand. Some of them were more retro and others were more recent but they all had the same template and gave me food for thought. I now have a wealth of ideas to experiment with when it comes to designing my own merchandise. This was certainly a highlight of the day and I definitely enjoyed it.
In summary, the 'Pick Me Up' exhibition at Somerset House was very good and I thoroughly enjoyed the work on display as well as the chance to see the designers themselves at work in the workshops and stools upstairs. I specifically enjoyed the record label room as this was a great source of research and motivation to complete my own designs.
Images - Author's Own 03/05/14
Sunday, 4 May 2014
FMP - WEEK 5: FINAL DESIGN
After receiving feedback and listening to the opinions of my tutors and peers, I have taken their comments on board and altered the design of my logo. The main aspect which people picked up on was the typeface for the 'RECORDS' part of the logo and the fact that the 'I' was a little plain, due to the fact that it was an upper case sans serif 'I'. As a result, I decided to make the 'I' a lower case 'i' with a dot which has a lot more character and can be experimented with more. I wanted to try and incorporate the text into the cube in some way and the dot of the 'i' coincidentally could be used in conjunction with the 'o' of the 'RECORDS' part which in the end worked out very well.
I changed the typeface from my custom made font as the majority of people I asked thought it was maybe too sharp, edgy and futuristic and to some extent I agree with this. I researched a few fonts that were sans serif and simple but with a modern edge. I found Bebas Neue on DaFont which I thought worked very well because of its bold qualities. I increased the spacing between the individual letters as this was something people liked when I asked them and ultimately, its much more clearer as without the spacing, it is too condensed to be legible on a smaller scale. To test this I experimented with the scale of the logo on smaller scales in particular. The text is legible in most however in the smallest one, the text is a little unclear which could be a design fault which I may revisit at a later time, but now with two weeks left, I am going to stick with this design.
Secondly, I picked a colour scheme to use in the branding which I think was necessary, as I would like to have a few colour versions to pick from and have the standard monotone one as a reference. The colours I chose are warm, bold and work well together which is something I wanted to convey in the logo. I went for a three colour theme to highlight the different elements of the logo.
I changed the typeface from my custom made font as the majority of people I asked thought it was maybe too sharp, edgy and futuristic and to some extent I agree with this. I researched a few fonts that were sans serif and simple but with a modern edge. I found Bebas Neue on DaFont which I thought worked very well because of its bold qualities. I increased the spacing between the individual letters as this was something people liked when I asked them and ultimately, its much more clearer as without the spacing, it is too condensed to be legible on a smaller scale. To test this I experimented with the scale of the logo on smaller scales in particular. The text is legible in most however in the smallest one, the text is a little unclear which could be a design fault which I may revisit at a later time, but now with two weeks left, I am going to stick with this design.
Secondly, I picked a colour scheme to use in the branding which I think was necessary, as I would like to have a few colour versions to pick from and have the standard monotone one as a reference. The colours I chose are warm, bold and work well together which is something I wanted to convey in the logo. I went for a three colour theme to highlight the different elements of the logo.
I also established the typeface that would appear with the logo for all the branding that I am going to carry out. Again, I wanted a simple yet modern-looking font with an upper and lower case alphabet such as the one below, AuraLight, which I feel works quite well as a typeface on its own but for the record label brand I think it had an up-to-date feel and a sense of currency is something the label is about.
Overall, I feel I have now established a logo design that I will now begin to apply to various things such as t-shirts, CD/Vinyl sleeves and online over the next two weeks. This was personally a very difficult task to complete and probably one of the hardest parts of the whole FMP in my opnion because of the many possible directions I could have gone in and the thought-provoking feedback I received throughout the process. I often changed my mind and was swayed by the opinions of others however at this stage, I feel I am somewhat back on track although the next two weeks will be crucial as I need complete my final outcomes in time and have something worthwhile to exhibit.
Images - Author's Own 02/05/14
Sunday, 27 April 2014
FMP - WEEK 4: DRAFTING THE LOGO DESIGN
Towards the end of this week, following the mid-point reviews, I started to design the first draft of the logo in Illustrator using the hand made in drawing I completed in the studio as a template. I found this method was a lot easier than trying to start from scratch in Illustrator in my opinion. I had to increase the contrast of the drawing a little as it was quite faint and doing this made it easier to trace. I started by outlining the basic shapes and playing around with the perspective and adjusting the lettering. Once I had completed the basic cube shape with the letters W, I and P I started to create the custom typeface. I didn't use a default typeface because I wanted to put my own personal spin on the design. I wanted to keep the same type of font that is on the cube to create unity between the cube and the text. This process was difficult because I often changed my mind about the size and positioning, to combat this I trialed various other fonts along side the one I created to contrast and compare. I think this design may change slightly over time and I am open to some other ideas and suggestions from my tutors to see what works the best.
I like how the cube's perspective works and I believe that the typeface compliments the cube. To be sure, I contrasted it with some other more recognisable fonts such as Futura (light and bold), Arial and Masterplan. I would also like to know what my peer group thinks also but for now I think I will stick with the font I created. Following this I started to experiment with some colour and created some alternate versions with varied colours.The reason for choosing to use a cube was because of the experience I had in the various different record shops I visited. The record 'crate' itself which holds the 12" vinyls and CD's in is a large cube and I wanted to try and represent this sort of 'crate digging' record shop feel with the cube shape. This design may change and alter slightly over the remaining weeks of the project, however I am happy with this draft.
Saturday, 26 April 2014
FMP - WEEK 4: LOGO DESIGN
Throughout the course of this week I have began to draft out some rough logo designs for my record label. I have made a few sketches and trials in Photoshop/Illustrator to give me an idea of works well and what doesn't. I plan to ask my peers and tutors what designs they prefer in my coming crit which will help me to finalise the design. I liked the idea of playing with perspective and using the 'skew' tool in Photoshop to adjust the perspective and viewpoint to create something that is seemingly 2D but in fact 3 dimensional. I looked at using shapes such as cubes and rectangular prisms to, in theory, create a multi-perspective logo.
I have also been playing around with and trialing various different typefaces that I may potentially use in the logo. There are many different styles of font to choose front from, from websites such as DaFont. A 3 dimensional logo is more interesting than a flat logo in my opinion although I will no doubt experiment with both styles. For now though I think I need to complete the logo drafts and pick a final design by the end of this week to give me enough time to do all the things I need to do. I still need apply the brand identity onto t-shirts, CD covers and album covers to present in the exhibition as part of my final outcome.
I decided to stick with the cube design and the name 'WIP Records' as I received some positive feedback from my peers in the review session. The name was praised however there is an existing WIP Records in Spain although I feel that my whole idea and brand concept is different. I may have to alter this at a later stage but I think I will continue on with this idea as I think it has potential and time is running out.
At this stage of the project (just over halfway) with three weeks left, I would say that I am slightly behind schedule but not to such an extent that I would fall too far behind with the workload. With some hard work over this coming weekend and in the following weeks, I think things will start to come together.
Images - Author's Own 25/04/14
I have also been playing around with and trialing various different typefaces that I may potentially use in the logo. There are many different styles of font to choose front from, from websites such as DaFont. A 3 dimensional logo is more interesting than a flat logo in my opinion although I will no doubt experiment with both styles. For now though I think I need to complete the logo drafts and pick a final design by the end of this week to give me enough time to do all the things I need to do. I still need apply the brand identity onto t-shirts, CD covers and album covers to present in the exhibition as part of my final outcome.
I decided to stick with the cube design and the name 'WIP Records' as I received some positive feedback from my peers in the review session. The name was praised however there is an existing WIP Records in Spain although I feel that my whole idea and brand concept is different. I may have to alter this at a later stage but I think I will continue on with this idea as I think it has potential and time is running out.
At this stage of the project (just over halfway) with three weeks left, I would say that I am slightly behind schedule but not to such an extent that I would fall too far behind with the workload. With some hard work over this coming weekend and in the following weeks, I think things will start to come together.
Images - Author's Own 25/04/14
Monday, 21 April 2014
FMP - WEEK 3: DECISIONS AND IDEA GENERATION
Throughout the course of this week, I have began to wrap up my research and started to get on with idea generation and outlining the vision, audience and, most importantly, the name of the record label. I started brainstorming a number of names that sprang to mind using my own name as inspiration in places and also general musical terms as I discovered in my research. For instance the brand 'Blue Note' refers to the characteristic blue notes that are found in jazz and blues, perhaps I could use something similar with my own label. I also used a thesaurus and other musical terms to increase the variety of vocabulary.
I decided to make the genre of the label underground hip-hop/soul as I feel I know more about this genre in comparison with jazz. This decision was important as for a while I was undecided which affected my progress, however now I feel I can really push on. I established that the record label's purpose will be to help young producers and musicians, theoretically the record label would provide a platform for young and unsigned producers to expose their music to the public as often they would get rejected by other more established labels. I think this gives me more of a specific focus.
In the end I narrowed it down to three potential names: SOS Records (Secrets of Sound), TBC Records (To Be Continued) and WIP Records (Work in Progress). I liked the idea or abbreviating the phrase to just three letters as this sounds a bit more succinct and snappy. After researching the phrases and investigating their meanings. Eventually I decided to go with WIP Records as the work in progress concept applies to the vision of the brand and refers to the development of the producers on the label, in the sense that they have the potential but they have room to develop and improve with hard work. I also find the abbreviation itself 'WIP' to be short and punchy. This could potentially change in the coming weeks but for now I feel this is the best choice.
I have now started to sketch out some potential logo designs and styles playing with shape, colour and type. Initially, I made these doodles in my sketchbook but following this I will transfer my ideas onto Illustrator and Photoshop.
Images - Author's Own 19/04/14
I decided to make the genre of the label underground hip-hop/soul as I feel I know more about this genre in comparison with jazz. This decision was important as for a while I was undecided which affected my progress, however now I feel I can really push on. I established that the record label's purpose will be to help young producers and musicians, theoretically the record label would provide a platform for young and unsigned producers to expose their music to the public as often they would get rejected by other more established labels. I think this gives me more of a specific focus.
In the end I narrowed it down to three potential names: SOS Records (Secrets of Sound), TBC Records (To Be Continued) and WIP Records (Work in Progress). I liked the idea or abbreviating the phrase to just three letters as this sounds a bit more succinct and snappy. After researching the phrases and investigating their meanings. Eventually I decided to go with WIP Records as the work in progress concept applies to the vision of the brand and refers to the development of the producers on the label, in the sense that they have the potential but they have room to develop and improve with hard work. I also find the abbreviation itself 'WIP' to be short and punchy. This could potentially change in the coming weeks but for now I feel this is the best choice.
I have now started to sketch out some potential logo designs and styles playing with shape, colour and type. Initially, I made these doodles in my sketchbook but following this I will transfer my ideas onto Illustrator and Photoshop.
Thursday, 17 April 2014
FMP - WEEK 2: FURTHER RESEARCH
This week of the FMP consisted mainly of library research, I rented out three design books on logo design, commercial art and colour graphics. All of which were very useful. I scanned a few pages and pasted them in my sketchbook to refer throughout my design process. The books provided me with a lot of information on commercial art the basics of logo design. I enjoyed researching the typography and colour combinations. All this will come in handy when I start to generate ideas for my record label logo and then brand it.
I focused on the typography and the colour mainly and made some of my own observations, sketches and analysis of what works and what is less effective. I felt this helped me a lot and allowed me to extract information from the research rather than just have it in my sketchbook on its own without any notes.
At this stage of the project, I feel I need to start making things happen now in terms of naming the brand, generating ideas and trying to work on final outcomes. My research has been thorough but I need to start making something of it and now is the time otherwise I may fall back a bit. I don't feel worried about it, I just now that I need to increase my work output slightly to make the most of the time. I have allocated some major decisions to make over the Easter break such as the name of the record label, the genre of music and its vision/motif. Once I have decided these, it will kick-start the idea generation and son on.
Images - Author's Own 16/04/14
I focused on the typography and the colour mainly and made some of my own observations, sketches and analysis of what works and what is less effective. I felt this helped me a lot and allowed me to extract information from the research rather than just have it in my sketchbook on its own without any notes.
At this stage of the project, I feel I need to start making things happen now in terms of naming the brand, generating ideas and trying to work on final outcomes. My research has been thorough but I need to start making something of it and now is the time otherwise I may fall back a bit. I don't feel worried about it, I just now that I need to increase my work output slightly to make the most of the time. I have allocated some major decisions to make over the Easter break such as the name of the record label, the genre of music and its vision/motif. Once I have decided these, it will kick-start the idea generation and son on.
Images - Author's Own 16/04/14
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