All great art we see today are, to varying extents, influenced by past artists and history’s monumental art movements, Renaissance, Bauhaus, Art Nouveau, and Art Deco to name a few. For this class assignment, I was tasked with designing a vinyl album cover for a musician of my choosing in the style of a historically famous artist. The artist’s aesthetic and corresponding art movement had to work to amplify the musician’s songs and message.
My end goal was to design a front and back album cover, and the corresponding vinyl. Requirements were a track list, thoughtful typographic decisions making, and an excerpt about both artists
This search for a liberal designer lead me to Hannah Hoch of DaDaism, which began in approximately 1916. The entire art movement was a monumental diss to stifling social norms, often invoking outrage, shock, and confusion. As a woman, Hoch has faced great misogyny and crafted her message by scrapbooking cute and whimsical themes into gruesome imagery.
At the time of creating this piece, I was a big fan of Melanie Martinez and her ability to mix societal criticism with grotesque visuals, while maintaining her coquette aesthetic. I wanted to find an artist that delivers the same cynical humor as she does, but also invokes thought and raises awareness for unjust social norms. Both women are very opinionated, making art about consequential topics society tends to muffle because they’re “uncomfortable” to speak about.
After my research, I wanted to amplify the modern day’s double standard towards women by centering the imagery around Martinez’s song, “Potato Head,” and its music video. From the music video, I saw a that pink or blue setting was used to show significant mood changes. Some common motifs I saw were roses, medical equipment, and sweets.
To imitate Hoch’s scrapbooking style, I selected two of her works to base my design on. She often had solid-colored background or a minimal depiction of depth by layering solid-colored sheets of paper. She also frequently used cutouts of various body parts, and inanimate objects to form a jarring humanoid figure.
My first iteration mostly conveyed my image. However, the extra texture and overall placement of the text was dull and not very legible. It looked too “photoshop-y,” and Hoch’s style was lost.
In my final iteration, I tweaked some image and text placement and added a quieter texture to the overall piece.
In the end, I learned that less can sometimes be more. I was very ambitious with my research and photo editing, making my first iteration much messier than it should’ve been. Furthermore, I’ve learned that typography is just as important as visuals. Typography is an “invisible” art. However, the effect it has on mood is greater than one may imagine.
Design a vinyl album cover for a musician of my choosing in the style of a historically famous artist.
Create 5 18’x11’ posters that establish a timeline and highlight the importance of the innovation and its corresponding inventor.
Create a functional 4-piece stationary system consisting of a 8.5”x11” letterhead, 9.5” x 4.125” envelope, a 3.5” x 2” business card, and a 3” x 3” sticky note pad.
Design an attractive coupon, tailored to each customer’s preference and respect mailing guidelines. Requirements were to include variable images, text, and coupon offers on a 6” x 4” postcard.
Create a website that visitors can use to find important information, such as the menu, operating hours, the yearly holiday schedule, as well as campaign details and assets.
Launch a TransmediaTM campaign that tells the business owner’s story with unique story elements spread across three or more media platforms.
Create a comedic animation, that show basic understanding of animating a humanoid object, such as squash and stretch, arc movements, perspective, and anatomy.
Provide cost estimations for the client’s desired print production job, in addition to a report on their sales forecast.
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