Secret 7" // Concept development

I took my design concepts to a small organised student led crit this morning and received the most positive feedback towards the concept below, it was initially my favoured design but I was worried that the concept would not get portraited.

It was suggested that it would look the best if it was mostly photography based but I may try a few different production options to see what represents the music better.

After live tracing the crystal glass, the vector created is visually really nice, i was worried that I would loose the shape of the crystal but the indents in the glass form shadows which highlight the shape and reinforce the visual message. 

My aim is to keep the colours I use as one solid tone of each, so in reality the design should have a maximum of 3 colours.

The concept revolves around simplicity and space, so keeping a small amount of non intrusive colour to give across the feeling of loneliness

I want to use my own photography for the final piece but for now, I have found this image of a man who looks like he's falling,

The digitized version of this piece was just experimenting with layout and scale of each individual element, obviously this being Secret 7" then the title of the artist and the single will not be included on the actual cover

These are the 3 options I have produced in relation to the colour options, the darker option with the navy, is there to reinforce the darkness and loneliness of my concept, but it comes across a bit intrusive, against the white/ grey of the crystal.

The 2 options below create a much clearer and impressive layout which really highlight the white clear space around the visual elements. but the option of having a border of blank background.

I took this to get the opinion of some studio peers, and it was suggested that I keep the background blank, as this really gives the impression that this glass is sat in endless space, and the figure is completely helpless while falling through space.

Secret 7" // Elbow - 'Grounds for divorce' initial ideas and concept development

Elbow - 'Grounds for Divorce'

Mondays is for drinking to the seldom seen kid
I've been working on a cocktail called "Grounds For Divorce", whoa
Polishing a compass that I hold in my sleep, whoa
Doubt comes in on sticks, but then he kicks like a horse, whoa
There's a Chinese cigarette case and the rest you can keep
And the rest you can keep
And the rest you can keep
There's a hole in my neighborhood
Down which of late I cannot help but fall
There's a hole in my neighborhood
Down which of late I cannot help but fall
Mondays is for drinking to the seldom seen kid
(Ooh, ooh)
There's this whispering of jokers doing "Flesh by the Pound"
To a chorus of supposes from the little town whores
There'll be twisted karaoke at the Aniseed Lounge
And I'd bring you further roses but it does you no good
And it does me no good
And it does you no good
There's a hole in my neighborhood
Down which of late I cannot help but fall
There's a hole in my neighborhood
Down which of late I cannot help but fall
There's a hole in my neighborhood
Down which of late I cannot help but fall
Someday we'll be drinking with the seldom seen kid
(Ooh, ooh)

Initial Ideas

The main impression I have got through studying this song over the past cople of hours is it's quite helpless and dark undertone which is brought through by the lyrics. 

The song itself is upbeat but with quite rough and heavy guitar riffs throughout but the lyrics seem to take you through the messy journey of his divorce. The main theme of the song revolves around his drinking and how in turn this has effected his marriage and home life.

The lyrics 'There's a hole in my neighborhood, Down which of late I cannot help but fall' highlight his inability to control his drinking and how this is ultimately destroying his marriage and in turn how he is drinking because his marriage is failing, 

From a visual point of view I believe some form of imagery involving  his helplessness towards alcohol which also highlights his loneliness and lack of control would be the best way of visually representing this track.

a single simplicstic option involving, a whiskey glass and a figure falling into it. This could represent the glass as the 'hole' that he 'cannot help but fall'. By just featuring these visuals on a plain / coloured background it should keep the focus on these elements while also highlighting the loneliness of the song.

Using a tiled whiskey glass at different levels of fullness was an aim to represent the daily journey of the character. It would be presented as more of a tiled pattern,  with the final glass being empty showing the completion of his day and the fact wit will just start all over again tomorrow.

This idea would be more photography based. it would feature a blurred image of an empty room, with nothing in it but a table with a glass of whiskey sat on it. the glass would be the only thing on the cover that would be in focus, the rest of the photo will clearly be an empty room but out of focus enough to give the message that the drink is the only thing that makes sense in his lie at the minute, as well as the underlying message of him being sat in an empty flat drinking away his sorrows.

The design on the right follows the same concept as the idea above but the layout of the photograph would be different, with the glass being centered and placed on the top, perhaps the blurred photo would be digitally printed but the glass would be a screen printed vector?

Elmwood // Watt? Electrician Brand concept boards

Dr. me - Flag design Concept boards

Union Jack re Design // Final Concept Boards

Brief Pitch presentation

List of written briefs and proposed deadlines for each

Union Jack Re Design // The Beautiful Meme Crit boards and feedback

The Beautiful Meme came in today to crit our proposed concepts so far, I have produced a series of options to get an idea if any of the concepts I have produced are heading in the right direction or if they need more of a re think.









Crit Feedback

One 

Positive

This is strongest concept out of the options.
Nice simple visual link to britain and the shapes of the current union jack to maintain consistency
Colour scheme works and links all three countries 
The visualisation of the crown and link to Royality is a good link between the countries of the UK

Negative

Design needs to be neatened 
The center cross that is there to initially represent St. Davids flag creates a problem as it comes across as a religious crucifix which is of course linked to the Christian religion and as Modern Britain is formed from nearly all religious backgrounds then this visual element would more than likely offend many non christian member of the UK. Even though this was not my intention and the cross really had no religious meaning at all I can understand the feedback and it was suggested I play around with the design more to make it more obvious that there are no religious connotations involved in this design.

Two

Colour scheme and design instantly reminded them of either the German flag or Chinese flag
Not the concept to continue with

Three

Positive

The use of the 3 national flowers was a unique and appropriate concept

Negative

The clover / shamrock doesnt represent N. Ireland but instead the repulic of Ireland so doesn't actually work at all.
The isuals produced are too complicated and illustrative so don't create a memorable visual for a flag design.

Four

Positive

This is the second strongest concept of the choices provided.
The simplicity of the shapes and link to pysical shape of the countries creates an interesting and unique outcome which could be developed further

Negative

The link to the industrial revolution should be scrapped as it is a bit too specific to use as the foundtion for the Union Jack design.
The design needs to have a set grid to make it neater
It was suggested that perhaps I could try to recreate this concept to scale, so each country is a scaled down version of the actual country.