To start off this live brief I started to draw out lots of different ideas for Jessie Ware. As part of this brief we were expected to produce 30 thumbnail designs for our record sleeves.
As type is not permitted in this brief image is the only option left to use. After looking into Jessie Ware I have found that she wears a lot of jewellery, some of which I have recreated on illustrator. When looking at these images I noticed that her jewellery was a particular style. I have looked into geometric shapes and patterns in a previous post and found that it could work very well for my record sleeve design.
Earring Illustrations.
Record Development Designs
My favourite earring design was the one Jessie wore in her video for wildest moments. I recreated it in illustrator and chose to create the 2D version rather than a 3D illustration. This is mainly down to personal preference. I placed the black line illustration in the centre of the page and found that it looked simple and minimalistic which was the style I was aiming for but I also wanted it to look more visually pleasing.
Moving the image around the page and cropping it off the page was another experiment I tried out. I did like the outcome but I felt that the colours were no strong enough to have any impact.
Trying out a black background and white line illustrations gives the image a lot more impact. It also enables me to experiment with the idea of negative space.
I played around with different scales of the image. I went to the extreme of scaling the image up and having it off the page. I think it would work but not in this context as I am not allowed to use type and therefore people would not know what artist I am trying to illustrate.
After this experiment I tried out another simple earring design on a black background. I like the design but it does not work on its own.
I tried to merge two of my illustrations together, I chose my favourite design along with the Saturn ring design which is another of my favourites. I think it works quite well together in both placements but it has quite a weak link to the song.
In order to link my designs more to the song I chose to duplicate my favourite earring design and intertwine them. When reading the lyrics I get the idea that she is referring to her relationship. It would seem that she feels insecure about herself and her feelings. I thought that the sharpness off this illustration would symbolise how tense she must feel about the situation, overlapping the images refers to the relationship itself as it would seem that she has a great amount of feelings for the person she is singing about. An idea I could try with this to make it more obvious would be to add a heart to my design.
When I researched geometric patterns I found that repetition was used a lot. I used the two shapes and repeated them to make a pattern. I think it would work very well if I could use her name in the centre.
Playing with scale again I wanted to create a really simple design which featured the full illustration in the corner, I think this design works really well and I would be drawn to it on a shelf.
I favour design in groups of 3. When reading the lyrics I got the feeling that she was describing how she really feels about her relationship but it scared that if she tells the person they would leave. I was inspired by this in this design. My idea was the have the two earring illustrations acting as 'bodyguards' which she has protecting her from her own feelings. The diamond shape represents her and the saturn ring symbolises her feelings and thoughts.
After looking over my work I began to feel that it was too obvious, I do not usually like to work with colour as I think it is a big risk. I experimented with a deep red colour and found that I liked it very much. I would like to get other peoples opinions about my idea before I settle on anything.
Similarly to my previous design I believe that the saturn ring design symbolises Jessie's thoughts and emotions throughout the song. As this is an infinite cycle I think the saturn ring links strongly to the concept.
Jessie's songs are quite repetitive which I like very much. I experimented with a simple repetitive pattern of my favourite illustration. I think it works but is not as strong as one of my previous designs.
When looking at other vinyl record designs I found that a lot of them were focus on one central point. with this in mind I created a central point of focus by having shapes meet in the centre. Another thing I chose to add was the saturn ring design as I think it links well to Jessie herself and the idea behind the song.
This design was inspired by one of Jessie's earrings. It is not a strong design as it does not fit in with my theme of geometric shapes.
I wanted to try something different within this design. I have not added it to the vinyl record sleeve yet as it is a work in progress. I think it is looking quite interesting at the moment though it does have a look of a face or a character which was not intentional.
In order to link to the lyrics of the song whilst keeping with the geometric style I have adapted a heart shape replacing the curved edges with straight lines which created a really interesting heart. I added my favourite earring design to the centre of the heart and reflected the image to create a reflected overall image.
I really like this idea for one of my five variations but I think the lines are too thick and therefore make the design over crowded and bulky. If I was to use this in my final five I would like to change the stroke thickness.
Final Five Variations Pre-Crit
After looking at all of my designs and having a crit with a group of people I chosen my favourite design.
This design was the one which people felt was the most effective as it acts as many different images within an image. One person said that it looked like a love heart, then when turned upside down it looked like spot lights. Also, it features one of Jessie Ware's earrings and is duplicated to link to the lyrics of the song.
This is also one of my favourite designs as I love the simplicity of it. I am going to experiment with the stroke size and background colours before I submit.
I started out by trying a pastel pink colour which Jessie wore in her 100% video. I think it works really well but the white images are harder to see than I wished.
I tried it in a darker version of the pink I used on the background by adjusting the amount of magenta within the line. I do not like this design as I think it makes the image look tacky and unprofessional.
Trying this design with black lines increases the impact of the shape which I wanted. Although, I do think the black is maybe too harsh on the pink background.
I added a border to my design which I am not pleased with as I think it detracts from the actual design in the centre of the page.
After Experimenting with different colours and weights I have decided to keep my design as it was as I think it is the strongest out of the few.
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