Spotify Mockups

I decided to create some mockups of the Spotify app using the final redesigned cover that I have created for the album Ctrl. Spotify is one of the most popular music streaming apps so I felt that it was important to show how my designs would look on digital platforms as well as the physical CD and Vinyl cover.

This Is Intern Live Insta- Week 3

Today I watched another thisisintern instagram live, this week the guest was @Stephy.Fung, throughout the Instagram live the topic of internships was discussed.

This topic was useful to get some tips on as I might have to do some more internships before going straight into a design job, given the current circumstances as things will be pushed back quite a lot (job hunting, the economy etc) due to COVID-19.

Notes:

• LinkedIn is great for finding internships and jobs, it can be often better for contacting than through email
• Research is key, it's always the starting point
• Use Instagram as an outlet to experiment
• Be selective on who you contact
• Loads of people won't get back to you but you have to keep trying and apply to all that you find interesting and that you will gain something from
• There's no rush to find your 'niche' in design as it's so wide, you can enjoy several things and still be finding yourself
• Experiment!!!
• Being creative is all about being social, that's how you network. You need to put yourself out there
• It's important to speak to people face to face and events, that way they know you better already, you can get their email or give them your business card

Cover Back Development

I have started to develop the design for the back of the CD and vinyl further through acting on feedback that I was given in my group crit on Monday from Beth.

The feedback: I really like how you’ve related the designs to the concept of the album, particularly with the title and then the lines that give it a nice flow through the whole album! maybe you could try rearranging some of the writing, like the tracklist for instance to fit in with the losing control idea a little more so they could be arranged a bit more freely, like using the whole space of the back? - Beth

I really liked this comment as I was finding the tracklist design on the back a little boring even though I'd finalised it, the idea to arrange the type more freely with the wavy lines was useful.

Original Finalised Back Design

Below shows the design for the tracklist on the back developed further, I decided to arrange the type against the lines and curved around them in a more playful way which is a lot more interesting and relates with the concept better.

Developed

Developed and Refined Further

Final

PPP feat. COMMISSION

Today we had a guest lecture from COMMISSION in which they talked us through their design projects and how they pitch projects to clients, this mainly consisted of the work they did for RIMOWA.

Overall, I found the lecture interesting because of the way they presented the RIMOWA brief and the heavy amount of work that they put it to the brief, they also elaborated on taking good photographs and mockups of projects when pitching which I think is really important for client work.

Below shows some screenshots I took during the the talk of work that I found interesting in their presentation:

Crit Feedback

Today I gathered some peer feedback in the groups which Amber allocated to us, we decided that the best way to gather feedback was through a facebook chat in which we all in turns showed one project, explained it and showed a couple of images of it.

I decided to show the redesign for Ctrl as it's the most recent project I've been working on.

My message in the chat: 

Hey guys so for a brief I’ve been working on I decided to redesign one of my favourite albums (Ctrl by SZA, if you know it) the brief was just a little one week project but I can develop it further or I was thinking of designing the CD insert that can be removed from the case? The designs relate to the concept of the album; the fear of losing control and the simultaneous scariness and liberation of opening ourselves up to others; which are represented through the controlled and uncontrolled shapes and lines combined with a soft, fantasy like aesthetic which matches the mood of the tracks and the emotional tone and lyrics. Any feedback would be great! These are the designs on mockups, so I’ve so far created designs for the CD and vinyl front and back as well the CD label and vinyl disc sticker x

The images I attached:

Feedback:

• I really like how you’ve related the designs to the concept of the album, particularly with the title and then the lines that give it a nice flow through the whole album! maybe you could try rearranging some of the writing, like the tracklist for instance to fit in with the losing control idea a little more so they could be arranged a bit more freely, like using the whole space of the back? It might end up not working but could be something to try at least? - Beth

• Love the foggy imagery, combined with the shapes, it gives off a real ethereal vibe to it. An insert would be really cool, wondering how you might push it in terms of shape, like I could see it starting of normal and then the page becomes warped? Like the shape changed as it goes along? I think that could be really cool given the vibe of it. - Lizzie

• the idea fits well with the album and the imagery is cool but think like Beth said it'd be good to include the layout of the tracklist in the same style, could you do a poster to go with it? - James

• I like the simplicity of the record cover! was just wondering to help tie that with the other outcomes even further, (even tho you have done a good job making them look very consistent)  could the lines that are in the cd etc be the mark on the record cover? Like just switch the lines out and place parts of the mark on the record sleeve onto the cd? - Jemima

Overall I'm really happy with the feedback as everyone enjoyed the designs and mentioned that they related really well with the concept, it was also mentioned that the different designs were consistent as a collective.

I'll be acting on the feedback given as it was all really helpful, particularly the re-arrangement of the tracklist on the back as well as developing the CD insert. Even though this was meant to be a one week brief I don't mind extending it further, this can be mentioned on my brief sheet or Rationale.

TEDxTalks: Creative thinking outside the box

This morning I watched the Ted Talk by Giovanni Corazza about creative thinking and how to think outside the box. Giovanni is a full-time professor at the Alma Mater Studiorum at the University of Bologna, a member of the Executive Council, and the founder of the Marconi Institute of Creativity. He teaches science and the applications of creative thinking.

'Why/Which/How/Where/What/When/Experiment. A quick jump out of the box is more insightful than a lifetime of standard thinking.'

Notes from Ted Talk:

• You need to know how to practice, how to get outside the box and how to get back in
• First of all, ask yourself why you should go outside the box? Because we feel safe inside the box, why should we risk going outside the box ?
• Which box are we talking about ? It’s not our mind, it’s a boundary within our minds: the boundary between what we know and what we have yet to discover 
• We need to value long thinking, it’s a thought that takes us far. We must do the same thing with our concepts, we can use an association and combination of our ideas. We need to be open minded 
• Look for alternatives and not for the correct answers when thinking creatively 
• If the environment punishes mistakes, no one will be confident thinking outside the box, you need to allow relevant information to come in and mix and match your ideas with the environments ideas

Updating Website

I have spent this afternoon updating my website further, I started with adding some more of my recent projects as they're stronger than my work from last year and I also replaced some of the lead images and created mockups instead of photographs as this is something Alec mentioned in my website feedback.

The new projects that I added were The Panda Project, Bratz Lookbook and Come Over Vinyl Design, these are three of my favourite projects that I have worked on this year.

I felt important it was important to show more work on my website (around 12 projects on website) than portfolio as a website is more of a collective that shows my skills and different projects whereas the portfolio is an introduction to me and my design practice which is more catered to the particular studio/designer that I send it to.

Below shows how my website home page looks now with new projects and updated images. Link to my website:  https://laveezaz.myportfolio.com

Below shows an example of a replaced image for the 'How Social Media Affects You' project on my website; I replaced the photograph which wasn't the best with clean mockups of two of the pages in the publication.

Image used before which I replaced

New images (mockups) of the publication used on website:

Final Designs

I have now finalised the designs for the re-design for the Ctrl album, consisting of the CD and Vinyl front and back, a label for the CD and the vinyl disc sticker. The vinyl disc sticker was developed through following a similar design to the CD label in order to create consistency, the design for the disc sticker was simplified slightly as it needed to work on a smaller scale.

Slight adjustments were made to the designs following crit feedback and further tweaking. Peer feedback suggested that the designs worked really well as a collective.

Overall, this one week project has been really enjoyable as I was able to re-design one of my all time favourite albums which made the whole research process more fun and personal which influenced the designs I created.

Final CD and Vinyl album front cover

Final CD and Vinyl back

Final CD label design

Final vinyl disc sticker

Below shows mockups of the final outcomes. Since I can't actually print and produce the outcomes physically, mockups were the go to option which I didn't mind as I think the mockups look strong and show the designs off well.

Group Tutorial Call

This morning I had my group call with Alec and a few of my peers. Overall, the call was useful in getting questions to anything we were confused about or work that we needed help on/explaining.

Notes from the call:

• Use websites like mrmockup if you can't print things physically now that you planned on (due to being in lockdown and no facilities)
• Keep documenting everything on blog
• Create the design strategy as a PDF: landscape and no more than 12 slides, can include links to blog on it
• Difference between presentation and design strategy isn't massive anymore since both are digital submission, still try to create presentation as if I was going to present it in person
• Design the presentation slides like a pitch, don't need to pack the slides with loads of text- the design strategy should have more text than the presentation
• Could do the presentation as a pecha kucha, play around and tell your story through it
• Give the presentation a natural feel, try to avoid bullet points if possible
• In the presentation include personal branding, contacting designers (can include interviews that I did for COP!), industry experience and trips/visits. Also include things that went wrong as it shows how you got where you are now
• Keep watching the extra curricular video's on Insta

Website Feedback

Below shows the feedback that I received off Alec on my website which I sent over a couple weeks back. Overall, I'm happy with the feedback as I didn't need to change anything drastic and I also agree with most of the feedback, especially the ones about changing some of the lead images as this is important in showing a project well.

Alec's feedback

I changed the title name for the Durex campaign project to Make It The Norm which was the name of the campaign that I created for it and the YCN x Oliver Bonas title was changed to 'The Flutter Range' which was the name that I gave my candle collection.

I also changed some of the texts as Alec mentioned so that the descriptions for the projects across my website were more consistent.

I've been updating some of the images this week as well which I'll continue to add to my website, I also plan on re-photographing some projects hopefully in a couple of weeks when I can go back to Leeds as all of my physical work is there whilst I'm currently at home.

Peer Feedback and Development

Today I gathered some feedback from peers for the front cover design as I was stuck between the hand drawn type version and the original typeface with the outline and border version. I sent a number of peers the image below and asked them whether they preferred the left or right.

Feedback showed that both designs got equal votes which isn't so helpful but I did get some good comments on how to develop further:

• Really like the left but it's not as readable as the right. However, it is more interesting
• Try the left with the border on the right- think the design on the right looks more successful because of the border so maybe merge the two.

I liked the idea of merging the hand drawn type with the details used on the other version so I applied this and also made the hand drawn type more legible. The hand drawn type also relates more to the concept and creates consistency with the wavy lines used on the back and the CD label.

Developed

Further Development

I have spent this morning developing the designs for the covers and CD further. I decided that the photographs needed something alongside them image or type wise to make the overall design more intriguing and unique, even though the photographs are already really beautifully shot.

I decided to combine the photographs with one of my initial ideas to listen to the full album and draw shapes/lines to match the mood and vibe, I did this for a few of my favourite tracks on the album and then photographed and image traced the lines digitally:

The abstract lines also relate to the concept of the album Crtl as lines aren't controlled, instead they are free and flowly relating to how SZA sings about the fear of not having control over situations.

Edited lines

Below show the lines added to the designs on the cover, the back and the CD disc.

I loved how the lines looked on the back because of the way they are losely shaped around the tracklist, I also feel that the lines look effective enlarged and in lower opacity on the CD disc, the lines create a soft, feminine aesthetic alongside the photographs. 

However, I wasn't sure on the lines on the front over as they didn't fit with the image as well.

Back

Cover

CD

I decided to incorporate the abstract lines idea into the title (Ctrl) on the front instead. I drew out the title in a similar way with the flowly lines and then added it into the cover to see how it'd look.

I wasn't too sure on how I felt about the hand drawn title so I changed it back to the original typeface but as an outline instead, as it links in with the abstract lines on the back and CD better than a solid fill. I'll ask peers for feedback on what type they think works best for the cover and develop that further.

This Is Intern Live Instagram- Week 1

Today I joined the @thisisintern insta in which Alec discussed a range of issues that final year students are facing, he was joined by Vicky Carr from Textbook Studio.

Notes from the live video:

• What would you be doing now to prepare for the future if you were a final year student?: Focus on submission, the heavy shift towards everything being online can be seen as a positive as it gives you more time to think about your online presence and digital portfolio. Use this time to reach out to people
• Twitter and Instagram are good for finding things
• Look out for discounts on creative software and deals online
• Any tips on coping with lack of resources?: There are alternatives to tools you could use, see it as great experience to finding a way around things and focus on pitching ideas really well. If you don't actually have to make anything, you can propose a really wild idea!
• freemockups.com
• Use youtube to learn new things
• Development is king!
• The portfolio is like a conversation piece between you and the studios
• Don't ever just scrap an idea, show the development (blog it and analyse it)
• Topic of mental health: take breaks throughout the day, move around, get up and dressed etc
• Do you still think there will be room for print designers now?: Definitely, a lot of discounts on print websites right now and a lot of things can be transferred to digital if needed. When all this is over, people will still be wanting print!
• People will be hiring- just give it a couple of weeks or months
• Keep in touch with your lecturers, see the opportunity in things and try to relax

Overall I found the Instagram live really useful and motivating as Alec and Vicky both discussed loads of ways around the struggles that I'm facing as a third year student right now. This was just what I needed as during lockdown often I've been feeling quite stuck and unmotivated with work as have most of my peers that I've been speaking to, so this was really good for us all.

Over the next couple of weeks I'll be using the advice and tips that were discussed in the call as they were all so useful.

Initial Development

I have started to develop the designs for the front and back of the CD and vinyl cover as well as a label that would go onto the CD- making the CD more exciting than keeping it as a plain disc.

For the imagery I decided to use the photographs from the photoshoot that SZA did for The Fader, these photographs have a very fantasy like, romantic and soft aesthetic to them which relates to the album as it's based around relationships, heartbreak, jealousy, the soft aesthetic also matches SZA's voice. Below shows the original photographs from the shoot:

I decided to use the face shot for the cover as it works as it introduces the album and SZA better than the full. body shots. The typeface I've used at the moment is LTC Caslon in Italic, I decided to use a serif typeface as it has a more feminine aesthetic to it, this particular type face is also engaging, meaning it would work well in stores where the album is sold.

I also added a pinky purple overlay to all of the images in order to enhance the romantic aesthetic more, giving a richer feel which relates to the heavy emotions SZA discusses throughout the songs.

Original

Repeated image

For the back and CD label I used the full body shots, the back cover uses the shot where SZA is facing the other way which relates to it being on the back as the cover shows SZA facing the front. Below shows different compositions of the track list on the back, I've decided to go with the 3th image with the track list in the middle as it looks most balanced with the photograph.

1

2

3

For the label I decided to add lyrics: “That is my greatest fear: that if I lost control, or did not have control, things would just — you know, I — would be fatal,” as SZA’s mother says at the beginning of the stripped-down opening track, “Supermodel.” This opening line represents to the album and SZA's feelings as a whole; the concept of losing control and the simultaneous scariness and liberation of opening ourselves up to others who are equally afraid to be hurt.

Visual Research

I have gathered research on CD cover and label designs as well as vinyl covers and discs. This includes the cover designs for albums that have been published such as the Summer Walker vinyl and Dua Lipa CD cover as well as design projects based around album designs that I found interesting.

I focused closely on album designs that use photography as the main imagery with additional detailing such as shapes, lines and text outlines to create contrast against the photograph.

I will be using photographs as the main imagery for my designs as well but I want to combine shapes and detailing to give the overall  design a subtle abstract aesthetic as well, of course in a way that relates to the concept.

Summer Walker: Vinyl

Tyler the Creator: cover re-design

Dua Lipa: Recent album cover