OUGD406. Design Practice. STUDIO BRIEF 1: PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE. Design Is About Doing. Secret 7"

today we were introduced to the first brief within the new module. this brief is a live brief and so is a real brief open to any designer wanting to produce something for it. there is an official deadline and, although it is assessed within college as a module brief, it is also assessed as a real competition that may result in commercial promotion and publication.

first we had to choose an artist and their related song to base our designs on. having listened to all the songs a couple of times i had narrowed it down to 3 choices:

Public Enemy. ive always liked public enemy and i do really like the song but i feel as though the hip hop movement is something i know a fair bit about. ive studied and designed for hip hop and rap and wrote my essay on the graffiti movement which was heavily related to, and a part of, the hip hop movement. i feel as though it is something im comfortable with and would be very comfortable in designing for. for this reason i decided not to base my design around public enemys track as i want to branch out and explore new potential themes.

Elton John. i hadnt heard the song before this brief but i do quite like it. the piano carries the rhythm well and the lyrics are fun and insightful but i think the song is a bit empty in all and it didnt really speak out to me in terms of design inspiration or motivation.

Nas. for the same reasons as with public enemy i decided not to work with nas' track. also i didnt really like the track he supplied, i thought it was highly commercial and not really in line with nas' famous and grounding style. the track has little true or moving content and what does exist is so in line with mainstream pop hip hop of today, a disappointing track from nas.

Jessie Ware. id never heard or her before except for remixes or features in other artists songs. i like the percussion and the harmonies quite a lot actually. i think the message behind the lyrics is quite truthful aswell but a bit cliche and typical of new age pop music concerning love and relationships. overall a bit of an empty track but one that i might consider designing for.

HIAM. this was my first exposure to hiam aswell. a really unique and original style that i like but that much. i think they are all fantasticly beautiful singers and the song is pleasent to listen to but it didnt really interest me that much and i felt some of the mixing of genres was a bit over done. i like the breakdowns with harmonies a lot though. but still not really a final consideration for my design.

Laura Marling. ive liked her music for a long time and think she sings beautifully and offeres a truthful and moving message in each of her songs. a clever singer/songwriter who plays the guitar very well also. i think the story in the song is really interesting and clever and i really like the blues rock style the song is done in. its a fresh style that works really well for her but she still maintains her indie rock/lullaby style to a perfectly working extent. her song is a top ranking potential for my design.

Nick Drake. an absolutlely lovely song with such feeling and depth. the guitar is so subtle yet so fantastically intricate while the story sung is of multiple meanings and holds great significance in many situations. another definate maybe.

having listened to all the songs once more over i made a decision to base my answer to the brief on Laura Marling and her song 'The Beast'. i really like laura marling and the song and think her song will be an enjoyable thing to work with. the main reason i want to focus on her song is because, although i like and know her music, its not a scene or style that i would normally investigate or experience and i want to try something new that will present me with new challenges and directions.


i started by looking at the lyrics to the song and tried to get a feel of what the song is about and what messages it presents. having looked at her previous artwork i liked the fact that most of it included some hand rendering or illustration and so i wanted to go down that route. i started by designing a load of thumbnails of potential ideas based on my knowledge and understanding of the song. i wanted to keep them simple and hand rendered and all to have some reference to the song themes or content.

i thought that my reaction to the song, in terms of the thumbnails, was quite approriate and having listened to the song a lot of times i feel as though i am familiar with its content and meaning to a certain extent. the beast being the main focus in many of them but i was trying to puul influence from all aspects of the song and so considered a variety of themes.

from these thumbnails i went on to consider my five favourite/most successful designs that i could then move forward with. i picked on the basis of what was most appropriate to the song and what looked most aesthetically interesting.

the  left idea relates to the passage about "I'm pulled by the rope" and depicts a woman being pulled along by a beast looking man. i quite like the perspective in this one and think it lends a depth and movement to the design. the right image relates to the beast in the clouds and mountain top as though the head is also the moon shining through the clouds.

the left image relates to the theme of "Did you catch yourself in the mirror?/Look at yourself in the mirror" as though the beast is looking at himself in the mirror. the right image links to the bit about "Hold my head high, just by the tip of my toes" and its like shes holding the beasts head as opposed to her own becuase its him thats controlling her or always near. i like the hands in this illustration especially the crease between the thumb and palm. 

my fifth idea was the most intricate and thoughtful depicting her in bed but the other half of the bed empty then in the mirror the beast is in the bed with her as though it doesnt actually exist but is always there with her and its like you can spot it in the mirror which links into the lyics as well. i quite like the use of alcohol markers for colour as the bleed leaves a roughness to the illustration which i think works well with laura marlings style.

from the group crit i was advised that that was my best design and so i decided that i would just use that because i wanted to maintain its rawness and illustrative style. i thought about putting it into illustator but that would have lost the original touch.

we were asked to give proof of our submission and thats below.

i was quite happy with my final esign but i feel that i could have spent some more time to make it more realistic and less cartoony. i like the colouring and the line work but its still abit rough and simple.