Tape Swap Development

Today in our groups we have started to develop our ideas for the Tape Swap exhibition theme. We have began to actually think about design ideas and rules to follow as well as how the actual exhibition will be set up. We have started by giving everyone a role throughout the project so that everyone has an equal amount of work to do this week:

• Logo and social media: Jake
• Posters: Josh
• Invites: Megan
• Exhibition layout: Sara and Lewys
• Catalogue: Me and Elise
• Presentation (putting it together): John

Furthermore, we have also decided on the basic rules that we will follow when designing each element so it is all consistent and looks professional:

• Colour scheme: The blue, green, yellow and orange from the original Swap Shop TV show, however we will use them differently so its not exactly the same.
• Possibly a grid if needed, or take inspiration from the Swap Shop book cover layouts as we all found them really interesting and liked the retro aesthetic (figure 1)
• Typeface: Something retro but geometric and simple, we researched the typefaces used on Swap Shop and felt that Gill sans would be most appropriate for our designs.
• Retro border layouts used on invites and other elements where appropriate (figure 2)

Figure 1

Figure 2

Furthermore, after discussing with Ben, we have decided that we want to physically use the theme of a swap throughout the actual exhibition. After brainstorming ideas of how we could make the exhibition as a place to 'swap', we have decided that we will do this through the idea of Top Trump Cards. Top Trumps is a card game published in 1968. Each card contains a list of numerical data, and the aim of the game is to compare these values to try to trump and win an opponent's card.

We will portray the theme of top trumps throughout the exhibition through the invites and the catalogue; they will work like top trump cards. Each person will get sent 3 cards, one being the invite and the other 2 being 2 top trump cards based on a genre, the visitor will then be able match their card to a genre inside the exhibition, and then physically play top trumps by swap their cards with other people at the event. The top trump cards would include the name of the genre, a photograph underneath, and then the genre characteristics/categories (5 different ones). Me and Jake thought it would be a good idea to use star ratings for the cards instead of percentages, e.g. if the category was age, a genre from the 60s would have 5 stars as it would be the oldest, where as 21st century genres would only have one star.

Furthermore, since the invites will be like top trump cards in the same way as the catalogue, I discussed design decisions with Megan and sent her a brief template that we would use. We decided to take inspiration from figure 2.

We have also had the idea to display the flags as a clothing rail to continue playing on the idea of the exhibition being like a Swap Shop, the visitors could look through the flags on hangers on the rails. 

More J-Card Research

In order to develop my J-Card designs further, I felt that it was important for me to research into more actual previous J-Card designs and layout. I am happy with my J-Card design at the moment, however I want to try some more experimental layout outs and styles using the imagery and colours to see how it would look if it had more of a busier or minimal aesthetic. I want to experiment with adding more little details and maybe repeated pattern.

I really love the design below as the contrast between the J-Card design and the actual cassette colours work extremely well: pink and white. This will be something to consider when deciding which cassette to use, it was a good decision for me to order 5 different cassette colours as I now have a wide range of colours to choose from and I already have 3 cassettes that use colours that appear in my design. I also really like the funky illustration with the plain block colour background.

I found this design interesting because of the bright neon green of the actual cassette, with the little neon detailing on the J-Card design, the digital aesthetic of the whole thing works really well, however my genre is more retro. The collaged aesthetic of the TV on the road background is interesting, collage is something I could play around with.

On the designs in the 2 images below I think the use of 2 colours throughout each cassette design works extremely well, a limited colour palette looks more professional. this would also be better for screen printing, as mixing too many colours might get too complicated. I may limit my J-Card colour palette down as at the moment it uses 4 colours. 

I think in this design the actual cassette is more successful than the J-Card design because of how effective the vinyl/printed blue text looks on the pink cassette, it creates a really nice contrast and it is unique. However, I can't see the links between the cassette and the J-Card design very clearly.

J-Card Developments

I have started to develop my final J-Card design ready for screen printing. I have decided to develop initial idea 1 as in my opinion it was most successful in terms of communicating a retro disco aesthetic and representing the upbeat side of my playlist. Also most people in the silent critique feedback mentioned that it worked best as well.

J-Card 1 original (front)

J-Card 1 original (inside)

I have developed my J-Card design to a wider template so that I can fit more on it and so that the playlist inside isn't crammed. This also means I can use a bigger typeface for the track list on the inside as the J-Card will be really small, a small pt may become really hard to read and screen print successfully.

Furthermore, I prefer the designs in a wider J-Card template as the layout as a whole looks a lot better as I was able to stretch the images out more, where as on the first design a lot of the original design was cropped.

Badge Initial Designs

I have now started to create my badge designs for my chosen object. At first I started to create designs using 70s/80s patterns, however I felt that this was a little bit basic and generic.  I then had the idea of exploring collage through my designs, collage is one of my favourite techniques and I felt that I could experiment with a wide range of retro imagery through my collage designs. When creating my collages, I took inspiration from things that I have researched; the 5 signs, the 5 objects, the 5 textures, radio dials, imagery of artists from my playlist, retro logos/slogans (that I changed and edited from the originals) etc.

I made some of the imagery fuzzy on purpose to give them a 70s/80s photograph aesthetic, almost like the quality of an old film camera or an old 70s TV. I am also going to create stickers from my final badge designs so that they are shown in different contexts. I am happy with these designs and really enjoyed creating them, the retro aesthetic is clear to see throughout each design, however some of them do need a little bit of tweaking.

1. This design is inspired by the Jackson 5 (a group that appear in my Quiet Storm playlist, they are also one of my favourites from the genre). The imagery is combined with imagery of a disco ball which was inspired by one of my initial J-Cards. I think I will change this design as the background doesn't work as well as I'd hoped, however I will still base it on the Jackson 5.

2. This is one of my favourite designs that I will definitely use as one of my final badge designs. The design uses imagery of a 70s skater dancing on top of a old school 70s car, creating a fun, wacky aesthetic. The background uses a street scene from the time era of my genre. The contrast between the black and white and the bright colours is what makes the design strong.

3. This badge design has more of an abstract aesthetic. The design uses a 70s radio dial (my genre first started as a radio format) I have also used an image of a vintage radio. The smiley face is one of my 5 symbols that I researched; this was a common symbol which was used on t-shirts and badges. It was also known as 'the acid house symbol'. Furthermore, RUN DMC is relevant to my genres time period (70s-80s).

4. This design is another one of my favourites; similar to design 2, using a 70s street scene as the background combined with a black and white image of Aretha Franklin (one of the artists from my playlist). I also love the type used, this was from an album from the era of my genre, which I edited in yellow to match the colour of the cassette and also made it more fuzzy. The cassette is a photograph of one of my own cassettes which I ordered.

5. Im not too sure about this design either, I will either scrap this design completely or create a new design using only some of the imagery. I used an image of trolls as they are a toy which was popular in the 70s. I then took inspiration from my other designs for the cassettes and disco ball. I don't think the layout is successful, and the 'Groove' type looks a little bit too modern, instead of retro.

Badges

For my object, I have decided to go with the idea of badges. Badges were a really popular accessory/detail for youngsters in the 70s/80s, this relates perfectly with my genre. Badges also have an extremely retro aesthetic to them which I really enjoy.

I have begun researching into badges from the era of Quiet Storm and have found some really interesting imagery and language that is used on the badges. The badges that I found were often used as merchandising for bands and artists, I could create badges based on bands that appear throughout my playlist as well as using retro imagery similar to the imagery that I have used in my designs so far, but simplified a little.

Design ideas for the badges;

• The 5 objects research that I did when starting the brief; disco ball, roller skates, aviator sunglasses, radio, flower
• Radios/radio details: My genre Quiet Storm started out as a radio format in the 70s. I think imagery inspired by radios could look really sleek whilst maintaining a nice retro aesthetic
• The yellow smiley face symbol: the classic Smiley arrived in the early 1970s, this was a common symbol which was used on t-shirts and badges. It was also known as 'the acid house symbol'
• Radio wave patterns
• 70s wallpaper and clothing patterns; abstract shapes and details using burnt colours
• Band logos and illustrations of the artists from my playlist
• Simple badges which use the 5 phrases that I research: my favourites were 'hip to the groove' and 'get down'
• Cassette illustrations
• Repeated patterns using the imagery of my 5 objects
• Imagery of the symbols that I created last week

I have found a website which allows you to create your own custom badges: http://www.awesomemerchandise.com/

This is extremely useful for me as at the moment I don't own the correct materials for creating badges, and it also means that they'd be done professionally and look clean. Also, this website isn't too expensive, I could get 10 badges using 5 different designs which would mean I'd have an extra copy of each badge design. This would cost £7 if I went with 25mm, or I could either go for 38mm which would cost £9. I think going for the 38mm might be better if my badge designs consist of small details.

Object Initial Ideas

I have begun to generate a few ideas of what I could create for my object, it doesn't need to be anything too extravagant or big, just something that relates to my micro genre effectively. I want the object to represent my genre in a fun way, whilst still being cost effective.

• Idea 1: Event invites for a quiet storm themed party/event. This would be disco themed as if it was a disco themed night, I really like this idea as I could fully experiment with design, and I could create it using similar imagery to my J-card and flag to create a nice link

The idea of creating the invites in a shape
 relating to my genre; shape of roller skates,
drinks, 70s fashion items etc 

I really love this, I could play on the
cassette layout theme throughout my
invites; fitting all the details within the
cassette details

• Idea 2: Little physical elements: key rings or accessories inspired by objects already relating to my genre; e.g. disco ball key rings, aviator glasses necklace, roller skate charms, 70s imagery badges/stickers etc

• Idea 3: a Quiet Storm/70s/80s pattern inspired headband. Head bands were an extremely popular accessory which was worn in the time era of my genre, a 70s pattern inspired head band would work really well. I'd need to either screen print or digital print my patterns onto fabric or a plain head band.

Packaging Initial Ideas

I have now begun to come up with ideas for the packaging of my cassettes. The packaging needs to be something interesting and unique, instead of just a normal cardboard box. The receiver of the cassettes needs to be intrigued by instantly purely by the packaging as it gives a lot more personality to the actual cassette design before its even seen.

• Idea 1: Either a disco ball box shaped box or a disco ball texture (metallic squares) style box (figure 1). I feel that the idea of having a box in a different shape to a typical box is a lot more interesting, however this will be really complicated and time consuming to make, so I will try and find something similar online or a circular box that I can then customise to look like a disco ball. Using a normal box but covering it in disco ball texture may be more realistic and easy to create.

• Idea 2: Aviator sun glasses inspired (figure 2): Coloured glass boxes or transparent coloured boxes to play on the idea of 70s fashion, aviator glasses were extremely popular in the era of Quiet Storm. I think the transparency would look really effective, especially coloured.

• Idea 3: The idea of the cassettes being packaged in a birthday present box; playing on the theme of a party to link with the event/party invites idea that I have for the object that I could create. I really like this idea as the link between the two would work really well, I could also experiment with loads of different box colours, patterns (figure 3) and sizes.

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Group Project Idea Development

This afternoon, as a group we have begun to discuss our ideas in more depth so that we can now decide which idea we want to take forward as the theme of the exhibition branding. The idea that we have decided to take forward is Idea 6 (one of our favourites from yesterday): 'Idea 6: The idea of a cassette used to be swap. Linking to to idea 2 because something dead to one person was new life to someone else; swapping one of your old cassettes with another persons cassette, the new cassette would be completely new and intriguing to you. Ben told us about an old 70s TV show called Swap Shop. As a group we really liked the nostalgic aesthetic of the Swap Shop TV show, which would also resonate with older designers. The 70s aesthetic also links to the history of micro-genre as that is when they originated'

We have now also started to come up with ideas for names. The first name idea was 'Tape Wake' relating to the idea of a cassette funeral, a 'wake' is the event which takes place after a funeral. However, we have decided to scrap the idea of linking it to the cassette funeral idea as the idea of cassette swap inspired by the TV show swap shop was stronger without linking it to a cassette funeral. It would become too complicated, a simpler more focused theme works best.

Furthermore, we have decided that for the name we want to link it to Swap Shop by using 2 words both consisting of 4 letters each. We made a list of words that relate to the cassettes and theme; tape, swap, shop, case, show, take, play, tune. In the end we decided to go with 'Tape Swap' it is effective as it is simple without being boring, and links well with swap shop without being too similar.

We have also started coming up with ideas for all the deliverables and started to briefly decide who is creating what, however we couldn't decide too much as a few members were missing.

The original Swap Shop logo

Group Branding Project

Today we have started Studio Brief 2. The brief is to work as part of a creative team, to put together a pitch for the concept, branding, identity and promotional collateral for the Micro-genres of Music exhibition. When starting the brief it is important to think throughly research and think about the message we are trying to portray; what is unique about this exhibition? how can the content, location, exhibitors potentially inform your design treatment? who is the target audience and what do they need to know? wow will we go about engaging with them?

Important details to bear in mind throughout:
When? Tuesday 5th (evening) - Thursday 7th June
Where? Middle Floor, Wharf Chambers
Who? (the work of) L4 & L5 Graphics

When starting, we watched a video where Rory McGrath from OK-RM talks us through the studio’s creative approach and recent projects, in particular he goes into detail about the work that they did for Het Nieuwe Instituut’s Designing the Surface show.

Notes from the video;

• OK-RM work with a range of designers 
• They have always been a fan of dutch design legacy, take inspiration from this
• Every designer within a project has a responsibility
• One of the layers being a language system where fact meets fiction
• Their idea would be to create a publication, the publication would be given to everyone for free upon entry, the public get to read it as they walk round the site
• A question that appeared: what is the mood of fear and love? To answer this they first looked at and found objects, lots of RESEARCH
• The built a neon- not just any old neon, a huge neon. Think about scale
• Think about materials to use
• Find a problem to answer
• Don't over design
• Research and visit places that aren't actual art and design related- make your research wide and don't restrict yourself

As a group we have started to create mind maps and generate ideas for the exhibition branding. We started by coming up with ideas and words associated with micro-genre and music in general, we also did this by creating a stream of consciousness. This was really useful as that helped us to come up with possible themes/concepts for the exhibition- we narrowed down ideas that we all found interesting. I found this task fun and useful as all the of the group members came up with interesting ideas, it was a nice bonding task.

We came up with a range of really interesting themes that could be explored throughout the exhibition, however there were a few ideas in particular that stood out the most;

• Idea 1: Using the word 'micro' from 'micro-genre' literally. As in playing on the theme of miniature throughout the branding. Furthermore, we thought we could use the symbol 'µ' which means micro as a logo etc.
• Idea 2: The theme of a cassette comeback as things are always evolving and making comebacks through time, perhaps now it is time for cassettes to make a comeback. From this we came up with the idea of a funeral for cassettes; cassettes died down years ago so it could almost be like a cassette graveyard. We could play on the idea of a funeral through subtle details such as a dress code of black, or creating the invites in a similar way to funeral programs (figure 1). This is one of our favourite ideas as a group and may possibly develop this theme.
• Idea 3: Categorise the genres by decades by having them in different parts of the room; the idea of walking through time through music. The sections would be separated by the flag and each with their own colour and decorations specific to that era e.g. the 70s area would use burnt colours and objects such as disco balls.  However, I think this idea would become quite expensive and too complicated/wide.
• Idea 4: The idea that animals are categorised in a similar way to micro genres. This could link to fossils and have a history museum aesthetic for the designs. We researched the phrase used for this and found nomenclature (figure 2).
• Idea 5: The idea of symbols; similar to the ones we created in class, each symbol would represent each person's work and each genre. The branding would purely consist of type and symbols made on illustrator, a very minimal aesthetic. The exhibition catalog would use the symbols to make each person's work clear. This could possibly be turned into way-finding easily. To make the exhibition more fun, we decided ways of engagement could include a silent disco or light projections throughout.
• Idea 6: The idea of a cassette used to be swap. Linking to to idea 2 because something dead to one person was new life to someone else; swapping one of your old cassettes with another persons cassette, the new cassette would be completely new and intriguing to you. Ben told us about an old 70s TV show called Swap Shop (figures 3-6. As a group we really liked the nostalgic aesthetic, which would also resonate with older designers. The 70s aesthetic also links to micro-genres as that is when they originated. 

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5

PomPom Typeface

I have now created another typeface using objects that I bought based on my genre 'Quiet Storm'. I bought a range of different crafty bits that communicate my genre through the choice of certain colours, sparkles/glitter and textures, however I decided to use just the pompoms to create my final typeface. The pompoms communicate the disco and upbeat side of my genre through the bright colours and the metallic/shiny bits that appear in the pompoms.

The circles also represent the idea of a disco ball as well as 70s pattern: the rule was to only use repeated circles, this is why I didn't use the other crafty bits (they weren't circular). 70s fashion and interior was popular for the use of repeated and abstract pattern, I tried to play on this throughout my typeface.

I really like this typeface as it communicates the upbeat, fun disco aesthetic that I was trying to achieve successfully, it works a lot better than the initial typeface idea that I had. Using objects to create my typeface instead of creating it purely digitally worked a lot better as I prefer to work more handmade and crafty, I also think that a handmade aesthetic is more 70s/retro appropriate, as digital may look too contemporary and modern.

I have started to edit my typeface to see what it would look like in context as actual words. The word 'groove' in inspired by one of the phrases that I found interesting when researching: 'hip to the groove', this was a popular slang term which was used in the era of Quiet Storm; meaning down with the music.

I will now start to experiment with adding my typeface into the designs that I have created. I will need to bitmap/threshold my typeface so that I can screen print it for my J-cards or flag designs, I will try to keep all the little details in the pompoms when I edit.