Packaging Design.

This is the design on my Packaging for my DM.
I didn’t think that an envelope would work for this as I feel it needs to have something that is more easy access so I have designed a kind of of case that is open at one end so you can easily slide out the card and that can have the address can be printed upon it.

Example below is the net design for it, it is pretty simple with the main design being on the back. This features a union jack background and the BME logo. I didn’t want to put anything with the union jack on the front of the card as though it is a symbol of patriotism, there are some groups that give the symbol a bad reputation, and I didn’t want to give a bad first impression.

This was created very simply just by gathering measurements and placing the images upon the template In Photoshop.      

The beatles Design.

Oringial Album Artwork.

My idea was to use only part of the image and extend the zebra crossing downwards on the page (example Below) I used the retangular shape tool to do this. To achive the slanted look of the top zebra crossing i used the 'warp' transform option.

I the used the lasso tool to cut out the shapes of the band on that layer making empty silhouettes of the them. On the layer beneath I added an edited photo – using the photofilter ‘cutout’ to create a pop art style- of the band to fill the gaps. I then added typography using a typeface I downloaded that replicated the Beatles logo typestyle.




Silhouettes of band.

Final Design.

I went through many different colour schemes before settling for the red-ish pink colour. I went for this colour as it reminded me of the bright pop-art of Andy Warhol but also the ‘psychedelic’ colours featured in many 60’s posters and fashion, because of these connections I thought it would help to cement the decade more.
Other colour scheme examples below.

 

Sex pistols Design.

This page is going to feature the question ‘ Which band were dropped from their record label after a controversial appearance on the ‘today show’ in 1976? ‘ in a ransom note type face with a defaced union jack background.

When developing my design I started with the back ground and tried a few different ways of creating it.

This method was to paint a union jack in water colours and smudge it as I go along and also to add black ink to it. This didn’t seem clear enough and also was a little boring so I then moved to use a different method and also chose to distress the outcome more.    

One way I tried was by using pastels on paper to draw a union jack, throwing ink onto and then rip it up so it was more distressed then my previous attempt. I didn’t like the way this turned out I seemed a little bit childish and didn’t get across the sense of aggression that the sex pistols used. And it was this point that I decided that to create artwork like the sex pistols had I would have to use the same method.







To do this I bought a union jack flag and began to throw paint and ink onto it and then took a photograph and out this into Photoshop. Once I had it arranged in the position that I wanted it looked a little too bright and happy so I used the filter ‘Dark Strokes’ to make the image darker and also to give it a more graphic artwork feel to it rather than just a photograph.

Before photograph.

Process

After Editing.

I then downloaded a few different ransom note typefaces and alternated them while writing out my question. 

Final Design.

The typographic style and image were kind of dictated by the band I was using to base the question around as I wanted to try to create my own a version of Jamie Reid’s artwork. The reason why I chose to use a grey typography colour is because it stands out from the background images and contrasts well.

Part Two: Layout and Typography.

I added the logo and font using the lasso tool to cut around each element.

I tried a few different layouts using the logo and typography of the . Examples Below.

 

I decided at this point to turn my design into a Horizontal design as this way I would be able to fit the logo ect onto the DM in a different way. Using a horizontal page I could fit the logo and name side by side which is a more aesthetically pleasing way. Also this is how BME layout the logo themselves and it helps to cement a direct link to their brand.      

Final Design for back of DM

 This is my final design for the back of my DM. I have moved the typography ’ Find answers at’ to the bottom of the page and it looked slightly odd at the top as there was no other similar type. Also at the bottom of the page it helps to draw the eye down to the website and phone number. By adding these to my design it shows the decoder a direct way of communicating with BME offering a platform for feedback and leaving the ball in the potential customers court.
I choses a san serif font as it helps to give a vibe that though BME is essentially a museum it isn’t in a traditional sense, Also it helps to tie together the logo and contact information as they are both then san serifs style fonts. Though I want the typography to flow together I did want there to be a distinction so that is why I used the font colour black rather than blue. The images behind the type work anchor that the advertisement is for a music based service, without overpowers the text or making it illegible. 

Designing the Back of my Direct Mail. Part one.

I began designing the back of the Direct mail (DM) first at it is going to be the same on each of my designs.

When I stated this process I had the idea of creating the border of the DM using a range of CD’s Vinyl and tapes (See Below) and having the British music experience logo in the centre with the typography reading ‘Find Answers at:’ with a link to the website.
I decided to take photographs of the vinyl records ect that I have and then put them into Photoshop and extract the image from the background using the lasso tool. I used this process and began layering the back ground. Though I originally liked this idea when I saw it coming together on the page I didn’t think it worked well. The images began to distract away from the typography dominating the page. At this point I decided to change the design alltogether.

When taking the shots of the records I also took shots of the artworks as I found that the album artwork worked really well in expressing different decades of music. I extracted these images using the quick selection tool and also corrected some common faults I found in them such as noise.

Screen cap of reducing Noise.  

I began layering these images on top of each, using different size images to highlight iconic artwork.
When finished I didn’t think that the outcome looked professional enough. Some of the ‘cutting out’ was a little rough and the lighting wasn’t great on some of the images. (right)
To correct this I took new images. Instead of taking individual image of each piece of artwork and editing them in Photoshop, I overlapped the artwork discs and vinyl before I took the photo (see left) This meant that each photo had the same lighting and quality throughout and looked allround more professional.

When putting this into Photoshop I arranged the image to fit my A5 page in a way I wanted. I did find that it was too predominant on the page and the typography would not so up. To fix this I added another plain white layer behind it and changed the photo’s layer style to ‘overlay’. I then changed the bottom layers opacity to make the photo layer slightly muted.       

Development begins - Ideas.

For this project I have decided upon creating an advertising campaign for the British music experience and I have a few ideas of what it could be,

Idea one - Poster campaign.

This idea came when I was listening to the song ‘That’s Entertainment’ by the jam.
There would be a series of posters and the idea would be to have the phrase that’s entertainment at the top of the poster and underneath it , iconography from the different eras. So in total I would create 4 posters, one for each decade I have researched.
This idea came from the way in which generations argue over what is music and therefore entertainment, arguments that usually end with ‘That’s not music, it’s just noise’


Idea two – a direct mail.

This idea is came from the idea of exams papers, and at first I wanted to create something that looked like an actual exam paper., But when I thought about it I thought it was a little bit dry and boring. So I then changed the idea to be more just a question and answer sheet, with the question taking up the front of the page with iconography if the movement behind the typography. Then on the reverse of the page the ‘answer’ would read “find out at the British music experience”.

This is the idea that I am going to be producing and I have mocked up a basic idea of a design to test how they would look. (Below)

I feel that this test worked well and i will be continuing this idea.
The tyography i used here is a computer generated one and although it is a little bit more uniform and perfect - which isn't in line with punk ideologys-  then what you would get out of handgenerated means i feel that it works well as it looks proffesional and high quaility and therefore more fit for purpose. The colour i used is a light grey and i used this mainly for legibillity purposes and though id o like the way it stands out of the page i may change this in my later development.

Mock up of direct mail design idea.

You know what i mean?

A lot of the 90’s brit pop artwork begins to focus more upon clear and clean cut photography than anysort of graphic elements. Some of the main players in Brit-pop Blur and Oasis depitict this trend.

The album cover it’s self in pretty simple. Using only a photo and a little type. Though no one has really come to a conclusion about the imagery used on this cover, or what the term ‘Parklife’ means the main consusnus is that it is a comentary upon the class and unemployment. The image used of a dog track is something that is seen as quite seedy and has the assosication with the lower classes.
The typography used is minimal and uses the contrast between the rounded san serif font of their logo and the more traditional serif font of the album title.
 

 

The New Romantics.

The next movment I looked into was that of the New Romantism that reached it’s peak in the 1980’s. This movemet focused upon it was based around flamboyant, eccentric fashion and New Wave music. Some of the bands that the press associated with this movement were Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet, Culture Club as well as Adam and the Ants.
This movement has been interpreted as a counter to the distressed anti-fashion punk rock style and a revival on glam rock. Another characteristic of New Romantics was where both sexes wore androgynous clothes and males often wore make-up which prompted the drug store boots to release a range of ‘make-up for boys’.


Duran Duran

This self-titeled album by durran duran released in 1981 depicts their connenction to the new romantic movement thorugh the imagery used. This press shot of the band y0u can clearly see the flamboyant clothing. The pint background may also e interpirted as flamboyant and it is a colour useually assiciated with femminineity.

The overall design is very minimlistic, using only a bands of colour  to acsent the image and typography. The typography is a simple block caps san serif font which is slightly itallised. The type and images work together well on this cover as with this style of music, the bands image was prodmoniant feature and therefore it is understandable for the photo take up most of the focus as oppsed to the type of the bands name.





Visage

This cover art for the single ‘visage’ by the band of the same name released in 1981 also relieas heavly on imagery. The image shows steve stange the fontman for the band dressed in the stlye formt the new romantic era. I feel that the typography and images do not work that well together, the type just feels as thought it was placed carelessly on the image. Though it is in a contrasing colour to the image it seems to get lost, although, as I aid previosly with this style of music it it the image that is of importance.
The typeface it’s self is quite pleasing it is a thin san serif that though it is block capitals the chatecters do sem to flow well together due to the conneting lines above and below almost framing the word.   

The Sex Pistols

The Sex Pistols were all about contversy, One of their most famous contervsial media apperence shot them into headlines. When they appeared on the ‘today’ show in 1976, they called the host ‘ dirty all man’  and a ‘f**king rotter’ while broadcasting live. The next day they were all over the headlines with titles such as “The Filth and the Fury” (Daily Mirror) and “The Bizarre Face of Punk Rock” (Daily Telegraph).   

 A lot of the Sex Pistols artwork was produced by Jamie Reid. His artwork and the punk sceen is heavily influenced  by the movment The Situationist International (SI) that had its roots in Marxists ideas and promoted different way of thinking that was anti-capitalist.

Through his artwork he attempted to make “quite tergid text, which was full of great ideas much more simplistic. Make it accsesable” – Jamie Reid. 

Some of the main ideology’s associated with the sex pistols are Anti – establishment and anti –authoritarian and these themes are expressed throughout their artwork. This is signified through the defaced image of the queen on the single art for ‘God Save the Queen’. The typography being placed over the eyes and mouth give the impression that she is muted and can’t in force laws and policies.
The ransom note style typography gives the same impression that graffiti can give. It is a rebellion against something that is also anonymous, which is something that their less ‘brave’ fans could invest In by simply promoting their liking of the music.

The materials used in the above artwork seem to be a misture of handgenerated methods are photography. The mix of both these methods help to anchor the imperfect and grimey nature of Punk (This is signifed through the textured look that the flag has and how it dosn't fill the whole frame leaving some white space) and that is why is has been used.   Personally i think that that these methods work well when expressing these theems.
    
As Jamie Reid was the main artists to work with the sex pistols a lot of the artwork that is associated with the band is in this style with the same ideologies.  Examples below –

Album Art of the 60's.The Beatles and The Rolling Stones.

The Rolling Stones- Forty Licks

This is the forty licks album art that features the iconic lips design by John Pasche in 1971. 

“The design concept for the Tongue was to represent the band’s antiauthoritarian attitude, Mick’s mouth, and the obvious sexual connotations. I designed it in such a way that it was easily reproduced and in a style that I thought could stand the test of time” – John Pasche.

The logo on this album realised in 2002 is only partly visible, showing that for the stones this logo is so iconic that it doesn’t need to be seen in full to be recognised.   The type and the images on this album cover don’t seem to work together really they seem very separate entities though the matching colour scheme does link them together slightly. They type is understated using a san serif typeface in block caps. The block caps which have connotations of strength power and masculinity helps to connote the masculine elements of the stones and the predominance of this band in British music history.

The Rolling Stones - Beggars Banquet

(Right) The image that the rolling stones projected of them has been is reflected in this cover for ‘Beggars Banquet’ released in 1986.  
It shows the rebellious nature of them through the graffiti and also how they weren’t a ‘well off’ band in the beginning; they would probably play clubs with bathrooms like this. It also gives an insight into the fans of the band, as the bands nam is written in lipstick. Though, this was not the original cover for the album, thought it was intended to be. It was rejected in favour for a Beatles esque plain white cover.

The Beatles This album cover is one the most iconic covers of all time. The photo is taken outside of abbey road studios. You can tell the decade this this has been produced in due to the clothing worn by the band member sand the VW beetle parked up on the side.
The Typography is very simple and is the lesser focus of the cover as all your attention is drawn by the image. It is a block caps, serif typeface. The typeface looks very masculine which also is reflected in the way the band member are stood as they look strong and determined.    

The 1960’s - The Rolling Stones.

The rolling Stones were formed in April 1962 in London  by Brain Jones, Ian Stewart Mick Jagger and Bill Wyman.

They were first popular in Europe though that quickly became popular in North America during the British Invasion that occurred in mid 1960s. Having released 22 studio albums in the United Kingdom (24 in the United States), eleven live albums (twelve in the US), and numerous compilations, their worldwide sales are estimated at more than 200 million albums.

At their peak the Stones depicted the rocker as the outlaw and rebels not confined the regulations of the government and societal norms. The stones were seen as renegades who were getting detained for everything ranging from drug abuse to pissing on petrol station walls. They unfortunately provided this world of rock with one of the first drug casualties in the form of Brain Jones. Who is drowned in this swimming pool on 3^rd July 1969. He was reported to have died from ‘death by misadventure’. They provided a contrast to the Beatles who were very much the clean cut nice guys of the music scene.

The 1960’s culture.

The counter culture of the 1960’s began when young people began to revolt against conservative norms of the time. And a high level of materialism began to emerge in western society.  Groups that began questioning authority and governments and demanding more rights of women and monitories soon began known as ‘hippies’.The movement was also marked by the first widespread, socially accepted drug use (including LSD and marijuana) and psychedelic music.    

From 1964 to 1966 ‘The British Invasion’ started and was a term used in America to describe the numerous British artists and bands that became popular in America such as The Rolling Stones and the Beatles and The Kinks.

The explosion of consumerism in the 60’s kick stared the Pop art movement with art work by Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein becoming sought after. 

Example art work :

  

Music icons through th years.

1960’s

The Rolling Stones

The kinks

The Beatles

The Who

Pink Floyd

1970’s

The Sex Pistols

Led Zeplin

Iron Maiden

Jam

Queen

Def Leppard

1980’s

Tears for fears

Adam Ant

Billy Bragg

Duran Duran

Pulp

1990’s

Oasis

Radio head

Blur

Manic Street Preachers

Coldplay

The British Music Experience

"The British Music Experience is Britain's only interactive museum of popular music. Our mission is to advance the education and appreciation of the art, history, and science of music in Britain. Through combining cutting-edge audio-visual technology and a world-class archive of popular music with some of the most coveted music memorabilia of all time, the British Music Experience is a must-see for any music fan."

Source - http://www.britishmusicexperience.com/about-us/

The BME logo reinforces its connection solely to British music. This is signified through the colour scheme used of blue, red and white that is used on the union jack flag. The connection to music is through the target style iconography taken from the royal air force roundel which is now synonymous with the MOD era in the1950s and peaked in the early-to-mid 1960s as well as the MOD revival in the late 1970’s.

The type works really well with this image as the B is incorporated into the target’s shape and therefore blends together well. Having the Logo on a white background and having the b in the white portion of the logo helps to make it stand out and be eye catching.

This is my Blog for my graphics brief about The British Music Experience. I will be producing a print advertising campaign building awareness for the company. This blog will document my research and design process.