Poster concept

- I used the website FlipSnack to visualise how my zine would look once printed and bound. I am really please with the outcome - I think that it looks cohesive and there is a clear stylistic theme running throughout. 

- I did, however, like the idea of laying out all of my pages and creating a poster. I tried this, and I think that it would need some adjusting to work. At the moment, I don't like the empty gaps at the top and bottom, and it doesn't feel like a poster - more like a layout or draft. 

Crit

- The handwritten text is a nice detail 

- There is opportunity for each zine to be have similarities but look unique through colour and texture

- The colour is quite muted and could be brighter, however, I think this is down to personal choice 

Possible Final Zine - Designers and Studios

- I think that I can call this my final zine for Studios and Designers. I like how the theme can easily be translated into the other zines by using the same process with a different colour, and I'm excited to get started on them.
- I chose to use a monotonal theme throughout in order to bring all the different designers work together. I thought that having them with their original colours would cause the zine to all together be too disjointed as a whole. The cream background colour also resembles the colour of paper stock that I wish to have used.
- The other benefit of having one colour throughout is that this mimics a screenprint, which is what I wanted to do if I had the facilities and links to the processes used by many of the designers in the zine.
- As well as this, I think that the hand-written type and added texture, although smaller details, further visually communicate the tactile qualities of a screenprint and the very hands-on, personalised process. I like how all together these create a very personal outcome, along with the details such as the library book stamp and cropping my favourite parts of the designs.

First Zine Development

- Digitally producing my zines, I have tried to emulate a screenprinted feel by sticking to one colour and therefore producing a monotone outcome. I wanted to create the feel of layered screenprints on top of one another, and I did this through bitmapping each image and layering on Photoshop.
- I like the outcome because I think that it does have a screenprinted feel, however, I do worry that it looks quite flat. I'm unsure on how to add depth in digitally - perhaps I should add texture and dust using vectors?
- I think that the dust idea could be an interesting detail - a lot of what I am inspired by has a retro feel (like Maple Forest) or is straight up retro design, so this could link quite well.
- I have tried to make the details so far as justifiable as possible, like the screenprinted theme coming from my favourite process and the handwritten text linking to my love of hand-rendered design and hand made objects. However, I still feel that this is not enough? The outcomes in a way are simplistic due to the monotone-ness and negative space, but this again links to the style of design that I like, so I am quite conflicted.

The Creative Independent

As I felt like I was starting from scratch, I decided to do a quick bit of research into zines and what actually goes into them. The Creative Independent had a really good article on the history of zines and how to make them - and it gave me a lot to think about in terms of what my own zines should represent. Reading the article made me realise that the zines I produce should represent the strong connection between the content and myself, from the colour scheme to to typeface. My main aspiration is to make it feel really personal - and there are a lot of limitations (like the size, paperstock etc.) as I am not actually printing them, but I hope to communicate this visually enough.

Change of Direction

Due to the CoronaVirus I have returned home and am unable to physically produce my zines as I do not have a printer. I am still, however, going to continue with the production of my zines digitally - it just means that the final outcome may not look how I previously have thought it might. 

I have made digital books before using the website Flipsnack, which turns PDF's into books that you flip through. This is one possibility, or I could simply collate my zine layouts and create posters, like the examples below. I think that either would be interesting alternatives to actually printing my zines. 

In terms of how they will look, I no longer have the scanner at my disposal to overlay images and text how I wanted to - so I have to rethink how I am going to assemble them and I how I can do this digitally. I still really want to include hand-written text and a warm colour palette, as the zines are all about my relationship with graphic design and therefore should reflect what I like. 

I can no longer include transparent inserts in my design and also won't be able to rely on the nice grainy texture from the scanner but I am going to try and make up for this within my digital designs.

Francis Wolff Inspired Photography

In Francis Wolff's photography he focused on Jazz musicians (specifically those who were signed to Blue Note Records, as his photographs would be used by designer Reid Miles who made the album covers for Blue Note). His legendary black and white photographs captured the vibrancy and personality within the music and accompanied Miles' exuberant designs so well. 

I was so inspired by Wolff's capturing of the Jazz age that I bought some black and white film and went to The Domino, a local underground Jazz bar. Although Wolff focused on the musicians within his photography I focused on capturing the environment - signs, objects, the decor, the people etc. because I was thinking about one of my chosen tracks - Existence by Brugge Wesseltoft. I think that within my final design, as well as visually communicating a key idea or fact, I would like to capture the 'Existence' of jazz - like the places and the people surrounding the musicians. 

Overall I am really happy with how my film turned out. One thing that i'm really happy about is that the scanner picked up on some dust and dirt and when you zoom in on the images on Photoshop this is still visible - so I am excited to crop some down and make some outcomes. I intend on taking these images further by cropping and collaging, and hopefully can come up with colour schemes to saturate them for screen print. 

Feedback

- Focus on specific and interesting facts, for example, Thelonius Monk getting up in the middle of performances and dancing. This could produce a modified typeface that distorts halfway, or the layout for the type.
- The Cab Calloway research and Hand Signals research goes hand in hand and could create some amazing outcomes. Think about how you could create physical animation and incorporate this into the packaging.
-You could make a Zoetrope or a Phenakistoscope. The latter would be easier as you could use it as the circular vinyl sticker and even use a sleeve that has a hole in to draw attention to it.
-Would be really cool to see an animation of a ghost moving up and down or simply the type levitating. Could also animate the hands to make the hand gestures.

Modifying an existing cover

-  Taking the cover for Thelonious Monk's album which features Shuffle Boil and modifying it for the cover of Laurent De Wilde's version.

- Experimenting more with bitmapping and overlaying, creating interesting colour combinations and compositions due to the extreme cropping.

- Some of the compositions are random and I like this because it links to the importance of improvisation in Jazz. 

- However, the third is loosely based on rules from the dance the Charleston (two back, two forward) and this creates a more structured and complex composition. 

- The Charleston is relevant because the Jazz made dance halls popular and pushed dances like the Charleston into the mainstream. Monk was also well know for getting up in the middle of performances to dance (badly).

Vaughan Oliver

- His work demands that the viewer meets it halfway, and in this regard it is the antithesis of most graphic design and nearly all advertising. He said: “I try to make images where you don’t always get ‘the message’ straight away. But these things leave a hook in you. Leaving some space for interpretation is important.”
- his use of typography, often layering different fonts and employing linear divisions across the album covers, was as striking as his ambient imagery and would prove influential.
- Although Oliver's genre was not Jazz and more punk, I am inspired by his layering and the ambiguity within his work. His iconic cover for Pixies is a perfect mix of structure and chaos with the layered textures and grid. This imagery could easily be screenprinted and would produce some nice layered results. 

Contemporary Covers - Jay Vaz

- Jay Vaz is a graphic designer that creates contemporary album artwork

It's Nice That:
- Designer Jay Vaz combines his love of music and analogue art in a colourful and textural portfolio
- His early years, exposed to “amazing jazz and soul music” has influenced and informed his career which sees him producing music and DJing as well as creating visual matter for gigs, nights and festivals.
-  It was music that first captured his imagination; Jay explains how from an early age he was “obsessed with my dad’s vinyl and cassette collection that consisted of beautiful covers from legends such as Change, Luther Vandross, Aretha Franklin, Patrice Rushen and George Benson.” However, when at age 12 he started his own collection, he would “pick up records to listen to purely based on how engaging the cover was.”
- At the age of 13, Jay became heavily involved in one of his brother’s projects which consisted of “collaging and illustrating over disposable photos from his tours around the world with the jazz band he was part of.”
-  “I love working with analogue techniques such as collage because it brings back nostalgic moments from my childhood,” he remarks, concluding: “I feel like I am still developing my style, but recently I have enjoyed working with animated graphics and experimenting with colour and texture.”


- I love the nostalgia in Jay Vaz's work which he introduces through texture and marks. 

- His use of type is always interesting and different, as are hist textures. 

DR ME Talk

- Experiment with 
Extreme crops
Complex overlays 
Different colour combinations
Bitmap
Grids 
Simple / extreme compositions

Their inspirations: 

- Vaughan Oliver - Pixies 

“The back cover is as important as the front cover” 
This makes the whole package sing and gives more visual language to what you try to represent 

- Hypnosis - Led Zepplin, Pink Floyd 

Anti-record company, well thought through design 

- There's not that much money in record cover design, have to adapt to that. Changed the way that record sleeves are designed

- Talking heads - remaining light 

- Mollie Neilson

Always screenprinted, always monotone and symbolic, always approaches a different artist 

- Skeletons: People 

- David Rudnick 

Super cheap stickers with blank white cover 

Their own work:

- The Dutch Uncles 

The medium of collage, not flat, hand made 

Representative of the music 

Everything is tactile and handmade 

- Triangle Records 

Experimental, dark 

Always print things out and scan back it, grainy tactile qualities from the printer and shitty bit of paper
Bjorks album covers - cinematic, dark 

- That’s Harakidi

Leaving in the red lines 

- Evian Christ 

Kanye, Bjork 

Influenced by an over horizon radar that detected planes coming in during the Cold War

Listen to the music over and over, make a playlist of that sound 

- Concrete poetry - Dom Sylvester 

- Plastic bag - screen print type or pattern onto it 

- Iterate - there’s power in having more than one idea. If you think you’ve made something good, put it aside and make something else 

- England Lost - Mick Jagger 

Make work that you want to see as the cover and be respectful to what others will want 

- “The best form of affordable artwork everyone can buy is a 12” by 12” vinyl” - they try to not include the track title and artist name for this reason 

- e zine - electronic extra 

- How they manage their time:
lists :) 

Break up the time into smaller deadlines (false deadlines) 

- Go to process to approach a brief: 

Sketchbook - thumbails of ideas 

Collage, scanning, print things out to scale 

Don’t go to the computer straight away, jot down ideas, go for a walk. Experiment - use different tools 

- When they're stuck for ideas
stop working and go for a drink (do something else)

Study Task 3

- Experimenting with using British Library Archive images that are copy wright free.

- I chose to use images of space and science as well as people dancing in order to visually communicate Brugge Wesseltoft's track Existence. I wanted to use images that would communicate society: people and philosophy etc. 

- I experimented with bit-mapping as this is what is used in preparation for screen printing. This gave the images a really nice textural quality that I think represents the techno elements of the genre well. As well as this, the building up of layers and textures communicates the electronic production of the music. 

- Reflecting on this, I think that I could use imagery that represents the jazz side of the genre, and then modify them using this technique of layering and adding texture to represent the electronic side. 

- I much prefer the yellow design because the bit-mapping is more subtle and textural, I think that the colours also represent the dark, atmospheric tone of voice better. 

- I am really struggling with type setting for this project and the idea of the cover being image only is very tempting. Neither of my chosen tracks actually have lyrics, so this could be representative of the fact that the genre does not often have lyrics. 

Design Boards