Further refined visual research for Secret 7

Further refined visual research for Secret 7 

Based on the genre of music and analysis made I thought looking into quite abstract and psychedelic patterns within album artwork would influence some ideas and the concepts I have arrived at to work from.

3 concepts to develop visual scamps & gather refined inspiration for

Look into working from the term Born Slippy and how it contrasts and interacts with its British Slang translation Quick & Alert. Visualise both terms in a contrasting way influenced by the lyric "Shimmering & Dirty".

Emulate the 90s as an iconic generation and era through feelings of nostalgia and recognition using influence's from:

Neon Signs and Neon Colours

90s Fashion & Fads (Striped sweaters, Gingham, Bandana, Graphic Tee's, 90s video games, Windbreakers, Bucket Hats, Tommy Hifieger, Ralph Lauren, Starter Jackets for a few examples) 

Emulate a whole weird and random feel that references a drug experience through exploration of Anxiety, Euphoria and Music. 

Influential material 

French designer Lucas Donaud feature on itsnicethat.com was a good starting point, using collage, optical illusion, abstract aesthetics, analogue imagery and type he creates an aesthetic similar to the 1960s & 70s album art masters. Wes wilson, Mouse & Kelly and Rick Griffin. 

He describes his work as "aiming to relate a sense of kaleidoscopic aliveness and emotion". He definitely does this through trippy and abstract design within album art work. 

The mash and clash of colors is something to take from this, the use of clashing and contrasting color in these 2 examples creates abstract aesthetics maintaining that Psychedelic feel but also creating impact. An important factor for album artwork to draw the target audience in. 

The use of warped imagery and collaging of random images gives off a weird vibe, something that connotes well with the Trainspotting film "Born slippy" is featured on and relates so well too. So emulating this weirdness is something I want to play about with within my developments. 

Abstract & psychedelic aesthetics can be achieved through limited color palettes so its important not to ignore this in conjunction with weird imagery and warped typography like seen here. These 2 works outline that it doesn't have to be photo montages to create abstract effects, vector patterns and shapes can be used to achieve similar effect in a more clean cut output. 

Another feature on itsnicethat.com with the work of Ben Wilkerton Tousley. His consideration to application of typography, pattern and photography within his work makes me want to start exploring these mediums through analogue and digital methods as a way in which I can visualize concepts. 

Using pattern as a method of emulating concepts and ideas is a very simple yet effective method, this example doesn't show much in the way of weird and abstract aesthetics but its easy enough to do with pattern so I plan on exploring this technique again in digital and analogue methods. 

 

Although this is the back of an album, I chose it for its simple use of typesetting, a bold woodblock serif font that maintains a traditional letterpress feel supported by a simple 2 color scheme with the golden color representing the "Golden Suits" album name, It shows how colors contrasting in tone and hue can be equally effective and simple as pattern, these simple color palettes and presentation of traditionally maybe something worth investigating.  

The use of photography can be a very intriguing method, provoking thoughts and ideas within the target audience having them guessing what the images could mean. An interesting idea for the Born Slippy track, I could play about with hinting at the track through photographs that represent iconic elements of the song, or just create a random & provoking reaction from the target audience. Both will draw in attention and be a good method of visualizing ideas I gather when I analyze the song. 


The super clean use of clear packaging and analogue typography is very effective in creating an abstract aesthetic yet maintain legibility. I can't write the track name on the album but playing around with this style of analogue typography within mediums like photography, pattern, shape or color maybe a good idea.


Marco Papiro is a graphic designer and musician, he effectively merges musical knowledge with typographic experimentation using geometric elements & stripped back shapes, bold bright tones & hues that contrast and compliment to create very high impact and aesthetically pleasing album artwork. His diverse style is something I want to learn from starting with this project, through experimentation he creates work I see as random, abstract and psychedelic but with structure and order. A hard thing to balance as I know from future projects, so trying this balance out will allow me to emulate the weird style of the song with graphic consideration and accuracy.

The strong consideration of color to communicate a message is something I will take forward to emulate aspects of the track and also for my Pantone brief. 

Comparing the album artwork to the posters I see a varied design style, Marco uses his abstract use of shapes and geometric elements to effectively communicate information in original ways. This use of shapes within typography is something I explored before and it maybe a viable option to expand on within this project. 

 

Robert Hunter uses simple analogue illustration to create powerful abstract artworks showing abstract imagery doesnt have to be complex and confusing so considering a fine line between the two or playing about with both ends of the scale will help me develop a refined outcome. This use of analogue lines is something to experiment with and contrast it with digital imagery.

Two diverse pieces from Luke Brown. The album artwork shows how monochrome color palletes contrast well with bright tones and hues creating effective impact with minimal use of shape, these simple shapes create a powerful and high impact outcome drawing in attention in an abstract way.

The magazine cover for arc however shows a complete diverse style, merging together analogue script style typography with contrasting vertical aligned typography with a photomontage to create a clashing aesthetic that still maintains composition and structure through the careful consideration and alignments of these 3 completely different application of image and type. These exploration and relationships between different mediums (Photo, analogue type/image & digital type image) is exactly what I want to explore. 

 

90s album artwork

To maintain that feeling of nostalgia I saw it important to look at a few albums from this era to take inspiration from. 

Influence I'm taking from these is the use of photo montage as mentioned in my previous ideas, so its convenient that this current thought will be relevant to reflecting on 90s album artwork.

Same with the abstract aesthetic, although alot of these have quite a grungy and gritty aesthetic, something worth thinking about when thinking about the connotations between the film trainspotting and the born slippy soundtrack. 

The strong use of clashing colors will be taken forward like previous examples.

The general weird vibe is something I wanted to portray before looking at this artwork, so after looking at these I see this as a good way to go. 

Wes wilson, Mouse & Kelly and Rick Griffin. 

Looking through the eras of the 60's, 70's and early 80's for further influence into psychedelic art these icons provided great visual reference for idea exploration, some more so than others.

Wes Wilson

Iconic to Wes Wilsons style is the bubbly hand drawn letterforms that make up the image aesthetic of the poster, clear reference to the 60's within the use of color and this style of typeface, bold colors used but not overly used in a clashy way, relying on a set palette using contrast within the hierarchy of information to draw into the most important aspects. 

A more abstract and psychedelic example.

Mouse & Kelly

These are my favorite, the style experiments with the use of image and typography in warped and weird ways, not only do the aesthetic and composition suggest psychedelic artwork but the actual images used are slightly weird and questionable, so considering what images I used within a montage is important. 

The colors and how they interact with each other is also something I want to explore, not just working together or contrasting thy provoke emotion. An important consideration to help strengthen ideas and concepts presented through type and image, something I will play around with to visualize my concepts for the Born Slippy track. 

Rick Griffin

Not keen on these at all, far too extreme and grungy, I don't think they fit in with the genre of music I am designing the album cover for. Far too many negative and aggressive connotations as apposed to Mouse & Kelly & Wes Wilson that has more positivity through the use of color, type & image. This highlights the point I made about how colour, type & image can effect how emotion is perceived and presented.