Rachel Victoria - EP Cover 1

Concept/proposition:

• Evident of vulnerability which is evident throughout the music itself.
• Influenced by the artist's personal take on her music and opening up the artist's music to the audience.

Background:

• Independent musician writing her own music based on personal experiences.
• Describes her music as alternative pop, closest generalising genre.

Target Audience:

• People who have reflective tendencies.
• People who have had experiences similar to those in the music itself and find it relatable; thus, making the target audience people of a similar age group. 16-30 would be the key age of listeners, considering the way the music is going to put out to the public as well; mainly online.

The tone of voice:

Thought Evoking

Considerations:

• Not triggering to the target audience, bringing up reminiscence rather than bringing up negative emotion.
• A ­­New artist so the work needs to be able to be visually relatable to a large audience to gain initial notoriety.
• Must be low cost throughout the whole process as it is a new artist with no big company with financial backing.

Mandatory requirements:

• Visually represents the title of the EP.
• Imagery that also represents the artist just as much the EP itself.

Deliverables:

1. Digital EP cover to be used over digital means such as Spotify/iTunes.
2. Printable CD sleeve cover.
3. Printable vinyl cover.

Visual Research:

Kate Bush, Hounds of Love

Kate Bush is an artist who inspires the client’s style of writing, as well as having a similar tone of voice, both in musical style and in what they are trying to portray as an artist. Therefore, it made sense to look at the style of album art that she as an artist released. The client wished to use a similar kind of style within her album art. This cover portrays Kate Bush with two dogs laying down to create this interesting point of the angle, portraying almost a scene of romance, further enhanced by the use of a light purple/pink colour. This is visually bringing the title of the album to life, in a very obvious way; which for her style of abstract music I believe is needed as it clarifies content to the audience which they may lose through the music itself. Supporting the content and bringing it together as a whole.

David Bowie, Aladdin Sane

In order to gain a better understanding of some of the most recognisable album artworks out there, I decided to look into some of the great classics from a similar era to Kate Bush, as this is the aesthetic the client would like to capture within their own EP cover. In this cover the artist has used colour in a way that enhances the features of the face and head itself, bringing the audience’s attention close to the artist as a focal point. The red is highlighted by the striking lightning bolt the context of which cannot be fully understood until post understanding of the music within the album itself. Although the client wishes their cover art to be clearer, in terms of being more visually representative in an obvious way of the content/title, it is an interesting visual reference point in terms of the way the colour has been carried out to other elements of the cover. This technique ties in the different elements of the piece to create an overall consistent cover, as well as again drawing the attention to the larger focal piece of where the colours are originally drawn from.

 

In Clover

This cover is a more unknown artist and also a more modern album art. I found this visually interesting because of the powerful imagery and the way in which simplicity is used. The used of deep blacks and greys contrast against the sharp bare white border drawing attention to the image as the key focal point, but also keeping the white space available for the title and any other information to sit comfortably, whilst still having a strong impact on the audience. This is also an interesting visual reference for me to investigate as it the imagery represents a sense of vulnerability that I am trying to recreate in my design of the EP cover. This is done here in the use of open skin in the frame, further enriched by the use of the hair being up, allowing for more skin to be shown. The only covering here is the same and thin-stemmed plant and bra strap, both are small and appear inferior to the amount of skin shown therefore bringing it out as a further focal point of the piece. This idea of enhancing themes within the music through the use of preconceived visual literacy linked with the particular themes is something I will be exploring in my design.

 

Stevie Nicks, Lady

I have chosen to look at Stevie Nicks as she is an artist which the client finds again influential in her own work and would like to capture the essence of this similar already existing visual literacy within her own cover to be able to give the audience an idea of the style of music from first glance.

This cover plays on the contradiction, rather than the other covers which I have looked at that try and create visuals that coincide with what the musician has titled that album/cover. The contradiction comes into play in terms of the imagery shown in the piece, the artist is crouching in a sheer black dress, showing the audience skin. Both the position and the imagery itself relates to a sexual nature, exemplified in the way the room is lit showing the way in which before the photo is taken it was in darkness, challenging the traditional ideals of the word ‘Lady’.

Initial Ideas

In order to meet the client’s requirements for the brief, the design needs to mainly show vulnerability to visually open up the EP for the audience to be able to understand what the content of the music itself is, opening up the feelings and experiences of the artist to them through the song lyrics.

Through an online discussion with the client, we explored the ways in which we could capture this on the cover. As the cover will be taken using photography, as the artist is new and wishes to gain facial recognition for notoriety and association with the brand, we must take into consideration of this discipline.

Visual Ideas:

• Nudity
• Exposed
• No makeup
• Purity
• Hiding, behind hands etc.
• Looking away from the camera, exposed body language
• Black and white taking away the focus of colour from the imagery

The imagery must be relatable to the audience to give them the ability to attach themselves to the music through the use of another sense, visually. This could be done using visuals that are previously identifiable with the audience, and also by using a visual identity that is related to the particular media. For instance, in this occasion and composition and layout that the audience is previously comfortable with.

To in fit with the needs of the brief the client and I have decided that the best process to be able to create content for the cover is photography. By using photography, we are able to create content for both promotion and the cover itself. Studio time will also allow for some experimentation with videography, allowing there to be another form of promotion and brand identity other than just printed.