D&AD - Part2

To help me with ideas generation I have looked into what makes MTV as a brand & where their target audience are likely to be targeted. Also I have sketched out some initial ideas that have been inspired by the information I have noted down::

Cue To Eclipse web banner

I have created this for my own band Cue To Eclipse now that our EP is recorded & we have copies to sell. It has been posted on our own Myspace page with the code for fans to copy it wherever they want. Because of what Blogger will display this animiation won't work unless you click it. Alternatively visit the band page to see it working.....

Our page is www.myspace.com/cuetoeclipse where you can see the banner in action & the rest of the page which I did the designs for.

The font I have used is Trajan Pro as this is the font used for most band related design (it is part of the EP design). It fits the image & sound of the band very well, as the idea behind the music is metal/post-hardcore with an epic edge. It is also a nice contrast to the logo, which conjures images of a metal band. The Trajan Pro represents the  epic side of the band. The background I have used is also based on the CD, it is the same texture but with a green tint & a pattern added. I also used this look for the Myspace design. I didn't want to just use black in the typical metal band fashion, I tried to make this band seem a bit different as the music has been said to be like nothing else out there. Cue to Eclipse have been said the sidestep all the cliches & I wanted to keep this in mind.

Back To The Drawing Board & Cherry Promotions

Outside of college I have done small design pieces for a band called Back To The Drawing Board & a recording studio called Cherry Productions.

The guys From Back To The Drawing Board already knew what they wanted, which was a small banner for the top of their Myspace page. They wanted it in a handwritten font & that was all. But to be honest i didn't want to just type their name & send it to them, but they were pretty dead set on what they wanted. I did manage to add my own twist on it slightly though & luckily they liked what i'd done. The music has a sort of pop sound to it, all played with acoustic guitar. So I wanted a slight roughness to it, but on top of a fun looking design. This is what inspired the font choice, I wanted it to seem cheerful, but to have it look like a lot of heart & soul had been put into the lyrics...

Originally, their page was the shade of blue I have used in the image above which is the reason for the colour choice. But they later decided they may change the page colour to white & wanted a black & white version of the same image......The Myspace design for Cherry Productions was a little more difficult as they had no idea what they wanted. But at the time it was a basic as you can get white page & everything was bog standard, not very attractive. So I changed the main colour, I didn't want to over complicate things, because there is nothing worse on Myspace than when someone gets all creative & changes the layout! it is hard to navigate & can create bugs when it attempts to load & doesn't work as it should. I based the new layout around a banner at the top of the page & created a new identity for it. I tried to give it an old Hollywood style look, but keep it looking modern. So I didn't want to stick with the black & white that is commonly used with that sort of design, I just wanted that to imply the professionalism of the studio. This informed my choice of font, & also the idea of using an old style microphone as the main image. The image was created by taking a photo of the mic & creating a path in Photoshop, then importing it into Illustrator to add colour & an outline to it.

These pages can be found at www.myspace.com/backtothedraw & www.myspace.com/cherryproductionsuk.

D&AD - Part1

For my D&AD brief, I have chosen the MTV project. This requires me to present MTV as some sort of virus infecting the world in its own way. I need to come up with what it would look like & how it affects the world.

My first idea was to have a before & after, for example a posh art gallery going into chaos when one of the pictures transforms. Possibly, a guitarist starts shredding away within a famous piece of art! Or the Mona Lisa turns into gwen Stefani. Now, this is the idea I have explored. But I decided to ditch the before & after as the idea seemed like it would clutter the image. Here is a rough representation of what I am thinking...

The problem with this idea is that it's not clear who it is. There is nothing obvious enough to tell the viewer this is Gwen Stefani. But I chose her because she is someone whos image stands out, so i dont think there is anyone else who would be better. I like the direction of defacing famous pieces of art like this, but this might not be the best way to do it.

Finished Website

After adjusting my site in accordance to the changes discussed in the final critique, it is now finshed & live -

www.visualcommunication.org/David_Wood/

Professional Project Ideas...

• Clothing brand > clothes > bags > shoes > catalogue > website > flyers
• Record label > website > flyers > compilations > t-shirts > letterheads > business cards
• Promotions company > flyers > website > posters > monthly listings poster/flyer
• Magazine > music > anti-NME (unbiased)
• Music channel > D&AD > posters > web adverts > website > radio station
• Student taxi service > car signs > posters > flyers > business cards > student nights timetable
• iPod earphones > longer lasting > tough > stay in your ear > headphones > next iPod design > new navigation controls
• Ad campaign against illegal downloads > CD's as a piece of art > stealing > animated web ads > magazine ads > street ads