Graphics Evaluation

Final - Digipak

This is the final piece which evidences the design used for the digipak. The design consists of the different London paintings which I created as these relate to the band's location, London. The design also consists of the inked portraits of Carl and Pete, the design shows that Pete has been moved to the inside design as I felt that this linked with the relationship of Carl and Pete at the time of the release of the album. The text used also consists of the hand drawn type which was made during the early stages of this project, the reason for using this is that I felt that the band's characteristic suited this style, reflecting their rebellious behaviour. A parental advisory label has been placed on the front of the label as this wants a young audience that this may not be suitable for them, thus suiting part of the brief to ensure that this is suitable for the target audience. 

Back Cover Draft

This is the first draft for the design of the back cover. I think this works well however I to further improve this I think the Doherty inked drawing needs to be removed. I don't think this works particularly well and overcrowds the design for the back cover. I also think adding institutional information at the bottom will also help balance the design in terms of elements.

Further Drafting

After the first drafting stage I then progressed to create a further draft of the design. The image above evidences that the design has progressed as one of the London paintings which I created has now been included within this. This draft still needs to be further drafted as the elements within the design don't work well together and the design appears to be too busy, with very little white space. Therefore the text will be changed in order to include more white space within the design. I also think the colours of the text need adjusting as I don't think this works very well due to the colour palette used within the London painting

Drafting

I took one of the scamps I produced and began drafting a digital version of this. The image shown above is the digital version of the scamp which has been drafted. This includes the inked version of Carl Barat as I felt that due to how successful this was it should be used somewhere within the design, therefore the scamp I sketch includes the idea of positioning Carl on the front of the album. The colours work well together and this further enhances the inked drawing due to highlighting the different areas as well as the colours combining throughout the text. Even though the different aspects of this design work well together I don't think that this works well as an album cover design as it feels as if something is lacking from the design. Therefore I will take this draft and further draft it in order to produce a final design.

Print Analysis

Case Study

Background

When reviewing the scamps I produced to refer to when creating the design for the album I produced the background scenes which can be seen within the scamps. This gives me options when creating the album design, if I think this is appropriate to use then this will give me the option to use these. After reviewing the scamps I only showed one design however I decided to produce 3 designs in case one didn't work as well as I expected, allowing me to keep my options open. In order to produce the designs I sketched these out on paper and then used watercolour to add colour to these designs.  

The screenshots below shows the evidence of the progression and development when creating these.

Hand Drawn Type

As part of the design for the album I wanted to create my own typeface as this would prevent me from using secondary resources and allow me to produce my own design for the digipak. This also allowed me to experiment with creating my own typeface, this would involve creating a design and then using the correct medium in order for this to be successful.

The image above shows the design for the typeface has been sketched out and is currently in the process of being inked. In order to create this design I listened to several of The Libertines songs as well as analysing the lyrics. As a result of this I came across the lyrics "shattered the lamp", this was in response to Pete smashing the lamp in Carl's flat while attempting to break in. I thought that this lyric would be a good reference when designing my own typeface as this reflects the band's rebellious behaviour.

This image evidences that the typeface has now be completely inked and has now been scanned to Photoshop in order to threshold the text. This would allow me to clean the lines and ensure that the typeface was to a high quality.

The image above shows that the typeface has been edited within Illustrator. This allowed me to vector the text which helps further enhance the text by tidying the lines up and ensuring that this stands out. Therefore this is the final outcome for the typeface and this will be used within the design if I think this is suitable. Overall I am pleased with the typeface as it is extremely successful and is better than I expected.

Current Libertines Type

This is the current type for The Libertines which is used throughout the different albums. The type uses a newspaper/magazine like appearance which is presented as a collage, giving them a distinct style which reflects the band. I think this type suits the band due to it's appearance as it isn't too formal nor too casual the type also reflects the personality of the band members as it gives a sense of rebelliousness, which the members are often known for, especially Pete.

Digital Type

As part of designing the album I found a range of different digital typefaces which I analysed. The purpose of this was to get a better understanding of what digital typeface I would use if I was to use a digital typeface. I analysed a range of different typefaces, some I would possibly use and some I wouldn't thus allowing me to view the different possibilities.

The Libertines Albums

Before redesigning The Libertines album I decided to look at the album which I would be redesigning as well as their previous albums. This would help me gather ideas as well as analysing the current album artwork in which they use.

This is the that I will be redesigning, the reason for this is that the lyrics are mostly about drugs for example Petes intake of drugs and how this has impacted Carl and Pete's relationship, not only as friends but also as band members. Therefore this fits in with the theme topic which has been set, 'Flaws, Perfection, Ideals and Comprises as Petes drug intake has compromised his friendship with Carl as well as compromising the band as he is the lead singer. The front of the album appears to have a photograph of Carl and Pete, in which Pete appears to be smoking and Carl seems to be 'out of it'. I think the reason for this photograph is mainly due to the songs within this album, as previously said, mostly being about Petes use of drugs and how this has impacted his life. Carl and Pete also appear to be showing off their tattoos located on their arms, showing rebelliousness behaviour which the band are often well known for. I also think this photograph has been used as it sums up Carl and Petes life at that current period in time as Pete doesn't seem to be aware of what he is doing. The back of the album contains a photograph of all the band members walking within a street. This photograph contrasts the album cover as it is total different in terms of the subject matter, on the front of the album Carl and Pete appear to be out, perhaps drinking etc whereas the back cover gives the impression that the band are either going to a studio to record music or going to a gig, this is suggested due to Pete carrying a guitar case. Therefore this shows the bands split personality, from daytime to night time. The colour is also different on the back cover as this appears to have a sepia appearance whereas the front cover uses a range of different colours. Thus this also contrasts the covers in terms of colour. 

The second album cover of The Libertines uses the same approach to the previous album cover by using photographs for the overall design. The front cover doesn't use a photograph of Pete or Carl compared to the previous album cover. Instead this captures riot officers, this may be the band dressed up due to how many officers are captured within the photograph (4 which is the number of band members), the identity of these are also not revealed therefore this is a possible suggestion. The photograph used also portrays the rebellious behaviour which the band are well known for as the riot officers portray this behaviour, another suggestion could be that the band have gotten into trouble, possible drug related offence.The front cover uses a very limited colour, suggesting that the photographs was captured during the night as this could be the street lights producing the colour within the photograph. The title of the album uses a typewrite like appearance as they type appears to become faded in different parts of the letters, giving a retro appearance to the album cover. The back cover contains a photograph of Pete and Carl where Pete appears to be smoking, continuing to show his approach to life, portraying his rebel like appearance.

This album is The Libertines third album, this uses a variety of different photographs which captures the band from different aspects, one being the band and the other photograph focusing on Carl and Pete. The album uses a variety of different colours, which is very subdued and desaturated, especially the back of the album. The front album focuses on capturing the band within a frame, the photograph is very desaturated, resulting in the faces having an overexposed appearance, thus the details aren't entirely clear. The back of the album contrasts the front of the album as this has a damaged appearance, it appears as if the photograph has been ruined by water as the colours seemed to have run as well as the photograph being torn. Therefore this contrasts the condition of the front album as this doesn't appear to have a damaged like appearance. The photograph on the back of the album also captures Carl and Pete's relationship, showing how close they are. The typeface used for the back of the cover also contrasts the front of the album and this appears to use a typewriter appearance. This further enhances the rock and old style the band try to show.

Aspect To Aspect

As an additional experiment I decided to use the aspect to aspect technique to compare the different results of a watercolour painting and an aspect to aspect outcome. The aspect to aspect experiment would provide me with a more modern design due to the lines used to create the aspect to aspect outcome. In order to produce this effect I inked 3 different layers of the original painting, an outline version, a detailed outline version and a more detailed lined version (mainly all inked).

This is the final result of the aspect to aspect experiment. This shows the different colours and different layers combined together to produce a final piece. I think this works well however I think the colours used could do with adjusting/experimenting with.

This shows the first layer, the outlined layer of the original painting. The evidence shows the the layer has changed colour within Photoshop, from black to orange.

The image above shows the second version of the painting, a more detailed outline version of the painting.

This is the final version of the inked outline, this version is near enough all inked. Once this layer was edited in terms of adding the colour, all the layers were combined together within Photoshop which allowed me to use the multiply option to multiply the colours over the top.

Colour Schemes

As part of the design process, the colour scheme is important therefore I used the Photoshop cutout and threshold options with the London painting in Photoshop. This allowed me to create different colours schemes for the painting. The results are promising and this shows a very modern design, which I will consider to use for my final piece.

The image above shows that a triadic colour scheme has been used due to the use of blue, yellow and green used throughout the image. I think this version is very eye catching as this highlights the different areas of the image such as the cars, buses, buildings and the road. I think this colour scheme works well however I wouldn't use this for my final piece as I don't think this with the band's appearance.

This image shows that a monochromatic colour scheme has been used, this uses a variety of different blue tones. The colour scheme shown is very cool and I prefer this out of all the results shown within this post. I think this colour scheme could possibly work as part of the albums design however I think the colour would need adjusting if this was to be used as part of the design.

This is an analogous colour scheme as this uses blue and green and the middle tone, resulting in a cool colour scheme. This colour scheme is extremely attractive however I feel that the green is too overpowering. Therefore this colour scheme wouldn't be used within the design for the digipak.

Emulation

After copying The Black Keys poster I decided to follow up on this and create an emulation by using the style from the poster. In order to create this emulation I used one of the drawing of subject matter which I drew as this allowed me to use my own sources rather than a secondary source. The screenshots shown below show the progress and development of the emulation, by evidencing the different stages, tools used and the layers.

This shows the final result of the emulation, evidencing that the same style has been used due to the use of shadows to highlight the different areas of the elements. As well as this the emulation also uses a triadic colour scheme which consists of pastel colours, again this is similar to the copy. I think that this emulation is successful, however I think that the title, 'The Libertines' needs adjusting as this doesn't seem to be positioned correctly. This could be changed by making the title slant so that the title would appear diagonal, this may probably suit the design more. Despite this I still think the emulation is successful and that this has helped me continue experimenting with Illustrator and colours schemes, allowing me to reflect on these when producing my final piece.

Copy

Original 

For the copy I decided to copy The Black Keys poster shown above. Even though this isn't a digipak, this is still part of music design, therefore this has similar attributes to a digipak. I decided to copy this poster as this uses the vector effect, created within Illustrator. I have very little experience when using Illustrator therefore I wanted to further expand my skills within Illustrator and experiment with this effect. The poster was also eye catching due to the colour scheme used, a triadic colour scheme using pastel colours. Even though the pastel colours aren't as vibrant as vibrant and saturated colours this is still eye catching.

The screenshots below show the creation of this copying, evidencing the different stages when creating the copy such as using the pen tool, outlining the different elements, positioning the elements and colouring the copy.

    

Copy

This is my final version of the copy for the poster. I think this copy is extremely successful as it is almost identical to the original version. I tried to make the copy as close as possible to the original and I feel that I have achieved this by looking at the final outcome. As well as this, copying the poster has also further expanded my skills within Illustrator, even though the copy looks simple it was more difficult than it looks. This is due to the shape of the instruments, and layering the shapes an the different parts of the instruments was difficult, especially the drum kit.