A range of mailable products.

This set of products shows clearly how the same approach can be applied to different formats, I want to relate this approach to a similar range of products for a mailshot. I like the simple approach with the use of colour and point sizes, and also the way the logo is distributed across the pages differing formats.

business cards - Di cut and bespoke

Found these di cut business cards on the tinterweb, I would like to produce something with a cut out which compliments my logo because I think the form of the logo will work well using negative space and cut out in a business card format - it will set the card apart from others that bit more. The optimum photography is a really nice touch because the whole idea is the cutout means you are seeing through a lense - this would be a good idea to incorporate into my cards - for example let the viewer see through the eyes of a roots music record label.

Promotional tool: Myspace

The myspace designs for electronica artists and labels alike are always pretty simple, as you can see here - colour just makes them look a bit naff, the layout which is working best for me, is the top one - Monsta dubs because of its simplicity it gets its message across quicker. I think if I am going to do a promotional myspace, it just needs to act as a simple tool used to promote the artists on the label and the label itsself. I think the simpler it looks the better - because the products will speak for themselves as long as they are well documented.

Distribution: website - Tempa's website

Tempas website acts as an archive for all their releases, a showcase to promote new releases from artists and also a showcase for their artists. Tempa has :

• A news page
• An artists page
• A releases page
• A press page
• And a Roots and culture page.

They also have a search bar and the newest releases are always shown at the right hand side. The information included on every page is:

• Tempas logo at the top and bottom left of every page
• Home
• Artists
• Catalogue
• Press
• RSS feed
• Who designed the website, and who built it.

It looks like this:

This is the first page you see when you come to the website off a search engine. It shows the artists new releases. The simple 2 colour approach to the body and the type content on the website does its job perfectly because this label want the design to be functional as apposed to decorative. Doing a website in a similar approach would be a really effective way to communicate with Alius' target audience and makes the distribution a straight forward endeavour for the target market.

When you click artists at the top, you are presented with a list which then links out to:

Which ever artist you click. From there there is an image of the artists newest release and a mini playlist of samples from that release. This page acts as a promotional platform for the artist and the design of the website caters for that in a very simple but effective way, Straight forward type and page layout.

When you click releases you get a list of best selling releases along with new releases and the option to listen or buy, again promoting and selling the artist.

Tempa's "about" section is different to that of other websites I have seen, It is just a scan of influences that have been written on paper. This was probably selected by the designer because it says alot about the label without even saying anything but a list of artists.

Just wanted to put this image here to show what has been included in terms of information at the bottom of the page and how it has been layed out visually.


Tempa's website is very simple and effective, there are alot of links there which I probably wont be inclluding because tempa has its fingers in alot of pies such as radio, events managing and a record label. But the simple body of this website was really useful to look at because it shows not tonnes of information is needed on the website to make a website effective and easy to navigate around.

Roots

This image I found is probably the best way to some up the values of the record label I am designing for.
Basically a love for music with soul.

Digital sleeves on iTunes

Two of my favourite albums, the album art is incredibly simple, granted the type looks small here, but full screen the type is legible. But I like these two albums because of the minimal use of type and the one colour, simple image.

CD packaging design: relating the cd packaging to the record sleeves.

These are scans from the packaging and design templates sourcebook,published by rotovision. I have selected these 3 templates, because of their appearance ad what relevance that could have for me.

Because I am producing vinyl sleeves made from card, it would be fitting to keep the cd cases also made out of card to unify the range, but this is also economically friendly, for a record label this would be good because they may not have alot of money initially to worry about really high end materials for packaging, so card and similar stocks are really worth bearing in mind. Also the green image printed on the last case is of a similar colour to my colour scheme at the moment, and the green ink looks really good on the brown/ sandy coloured stock.

Drunk Punk

Drunk punk has done some amazing album and record sleeve design. "The Gift of Gab" looks really really good. Obviously has a space theme with referance to the ancient civilizations, but the imagery is really inspired, and well executed - I imagine producing images like this to a very high standard is not easy, but I am thinking about using imagery in my record/CD design and I do want to use a set colour scheme, like DP has used red and black as his main colours here, I want to use three greens and a black. I would love to get my hands on some green vinyl to really enhance my design, but I am having trouble sourcing a dark green vinyl record. With the Gift of gab design, it is easy to see how this design could be used across a website, on flyers and a range of promotional material like business cards. I wanted to post this up because its a really consistant design and the colour uniformity is working really well.

The future punk album is another photoshopped piece which is based on imagery that I think was recorded by the designer, comprised of engines, industrial material and landscapes. I think there is alot going on here in terms of how much type is on the cover, but I think it does work. He uses simple type that is uniform, but at different scales.

The Mike Monday album is very fun and colourful, with some amazing illustrative work on it, I would love to produce some illustrative work for this brief, but It doesnt fit with the design direction I have been going down, As I have been focusing on type and layout mostly throughout the design stages of my products.

What content goes on records/ Cds?

I picked some records up on the cheap to see what informational content was on their stickers. Generally There is the following information:  

• Artist name
• Record label name
• Release number (e.g) CPULT001
• who it was distributed by
• Rotations per minute
• Producers of the track(s)
• A side/ B side information (track names on which side)
• Date of release
• " All rights of the manufacturer/ artist and of the owner of the recorded work reserved. Unauthorised copying, public performance and broadcasting of this record prohibited."

The last phrase is normally wrapped around the circular form of the sticker itsself.
These same pieces of information apply to 7 Inch records (whose sticker is pretty much the same size.)

With CD's, this obviously differs, because the target market/ audience do not need to know how many rotations a disk does a minute, etc and often the disc will say on it; "see booklet for further information" Which does free up alot of space on the disc itsself.

This is Braintax's album: Panorama, in which there is a full bleed image, and the only information on the disc is;

• Artist name
• Album name
• Record label & date of release
• Contact details
• "All Damn rights reserved as per usual"
• Labels release number (LOW46CD)

 Doing that has given me a really clear idea of what i need to put on my products, and what i need to consider when designing them.

12" & 7" Records.

• Artist name/ identity
• Record label
• Release date
• Release number (ALS01)
• Contact details
• Web adress
• A/B side information & RPM
• Copyright information

CD

•  Artist name
• Tracks on the disc (numbered)
• Copyright information
• Release number, for discs this would be (ALS01CD)
• "See inlay for more details" - these details would be  - contact details, website adress track information in more depth - e.g producers, who mastered the track who mixed down the track the year, who wrote it etc.

So, this is my content for my record stickers and CD design. Sorted. I will also do the same for the record sleeves, myspace, website and CD case/ Inlay.

Memorable logos: Nike & Adidas

The Nike logo was designed by Carolyn Davidson who was a student graphic design student at the time of designing it. The Nike swoosh is very, very memorable and just about every human being on earth will probably recognise this logo on seeing it. The logo initially started off with the work Nike attached to it, but the company's success grew and the logo was adapted to reflect how successful the copany was becoming.

The logo changed to be presented on all products and promotion as just the tick, with the strapline, "just do it." This is because of how famous the tick itsself had become. It shows that a simple shape can be a really effective method of communication in terms of a companies identity. A shape as simple as this can be, and has been applyed to a range of thousands of Nike products, and is often amongst the defining features of a nike product.

Adidas is another very well known product, with a memorable logo which uses simple pictograms and type. Adidas has two very well known logos:

The Nike and Adidas logos both work as type, type & Image, and just image. It is this effectiveness I want to replicate in my logo design. I think doing this will make my logo design more so applicable across a range of products and promotional material than an over complicated and decorative logo.

Direction of my logo design.

Open publication - Free publishing - More presentation