Development and final design cd
- 1. Matthew Teagle – De Montfort University – New Media Design Portfolio Record Cover Development and final product
- 2. With my first attempt at making a record cover, I wanted to use my research to inform my final product as much as possible. The most important aspect of my design therefore, would be a simple image that had a certain aesthetic quality and would convey the conventions of the Indie genre. The image I used of a freight train felt like something that an audience would expect to see on the cover of an Indie record due to its grainy texture, it is also a pretty enigmatic image alike the images used for the covers I have researched and therefore I liked this concept. I got my inspiration for the band name from the train itself, I felt that Rio Grande was another enigma in itself and based on my knowledge and research of Indie/Alternative Rock bands, one that I felt worked with the genre. I also tried to find a font that I felt complimented both my image and my research. At this point of development, my record cover was at its most basic stage, but I had used my research to inform me and been able to put together the foundation layer of my cover.
- 3. In order to develop my record cover, I first of all edited the image that I’d used in a similar way that the covers that I had looked at for my research had been edited. I firstly used the levels tool in Photoshop in order to adjust the brightness, contrast and the tone of the image as well as using the fill tool to fill the inside of my text and used the effects on Photoshop to drop a shadow behind the text. I also edited the vibrancy of the image to reflect the energy of the Indie/Alternative Rock music genre. When looking back at my research, I felt that this image in particular, due to its brighter colour palette, might look better with a border design so that the image appeared circular. In order to do this, I had to draw a rectangle over my image and use the ellipse tool to draw the circular shape. I then assorted the shapes in the layers tab so that the rectangle was below my image and that the ellipse tool was above it with the image as the top layer. I then created a clipping mask between the image and circle to create the circular shape and the border that surrounds it.
- 4. For my final product of this particular attempt, I decided to change my font because despite the fact that I felt it was well suited to the genre, I wanted something bolder that would stand out more like the examples I had looked at for my research. I again used the photoshop effects to drop a shadow behind the text as I felt that it added more depth to the record cover. For the name of the album I chose ‘Track To Freedom’ as I felt that it should reference the imagery of the cover. Also, because of the train reading ‘Rio Grande’, the name of the band on the side, this suggests to the audience that the band are the driving force on the track to freedom. Freedom of expression through music is a key feature of Indie/Alternative Rock music and therefore I thought that this was a significant choice for my cover. The font for the name of my album also resembles a train on a track, and I used photoshop effects on this also to bevel the text and add depth to it, making it look more three-dimensional. I wanted to wrap the album title around the circlular shape of the image within the border. This decision was informed by my research and in order to achieve this effect I had to create a warped text effect. This allowed me to bend my text around the border by using an arc and adjusting the bend of my text.
- 5. For my second attempt at a record cover, I wanted to use the research I had done on some of the more iconic Indie/Alternative Rock record covers to create something even more authentic than my initial design. In order to do this I realised that I had to simplify the composition of my design even more and adopt an eye-catching aesthetic. Rather than searching for an image to use for my record cover, I used one of my own photographs that I had taken of a hotel on holiday. I thought that this image would be effective as the sky appears dark and gloomy but is contrasted by the light from the street lights, similarly to a few of the covers I researched and I also felt that the aesthetic of the hotel block was something that I could work with for an Indie/Alternative Rock record cover. The original photograph had the qualities of the covers I had researched in the sense that it was a simple image that was aesthetically enigmatic. I also felt that the colour scheme of this shot was very similar to those used in the covers I had researched with the dark and dismal tones contrasted by the artificial lighting. However, I decided to highlight these colours more by again using the levels tool to adjust the brightness, contrast and tone of the image. Similarly to with my first record cover, using the levels tool gave the image a more vibrant and energetic feel which reflects the free-flowing and fast-paced style of Indie/Alternative Rock genre, however I felt that having this vibrancy within a darker and duller image represented the genre more and reinforced my research more than the original design.
- 6. I felt that this design was simplistic yet that the potential to be placed alongside the covers I had initially researched without looking out of place. The image holds a similar aesthetic to those records and in order to finish this product and ensure that it reflected the Indie/Alternative Rock genre, I had to think of a relevant name for the band and album. I referred back to my research and noticed that the names of the Indie/Alternative Rock bands were all extremely varied, in many cases making absolutely no sense without knowing the context behind the name such as ’Arctic Monkeys’ or ‘The Kooks’. I finally decided to reinforce the imagery of my record cover by calling the band ‘Four Star Hotel Room’. The font that is used is actually called ‘Rockout’ and one that I felt worked really well, not only on the cover but based on my research, also worked well with the genre of music that I was designing my cover for. I decided that the album should be named ‘The Metronome’, a metronome being a device that musicians use so that their music can maintain a particular speed. The font used is called ‘Airstream’ and I also felt that this worked really well with both the genre of music and the cover itself. Finally, I referred back to my research and noticed that although my image shared a similar aesthetic to other record covers, it lacked the grit and grain of the others, and therefore I decided to add a film grain effect to my image. In order to do this, I found an image of 35mm film grain and layered it above my original image. I then simply lowered the opacity of the film grain to create the grainy overlay that my final product shares with other Indie/Alternative Rock record covers that I have researched.
- 7. Final Design I chose this as my final design as when referring back to my research, I felt that this was the stronger of my two designs. This design closely follows the conventions of the other Indie/Alternative Rock record covers that I researched. Whereas I tried to incorporate those conventions into my initial design, I feel that the colour scheme of the image was too bright and I also prefer the simplicity of this final design. It adopts the grainy effect that is evident on the covers that I had researched and also a darker colour scheme with the contrast of artificial light from the street light. The simplicity of the composition is something that also resonated more with my research than my first design and therefore, due to the fact that this record cover appears more informed by my research than the original design, I have chosen this as my final record cover design.