LEVEL 6

  This is a publication documenting different architecture in black and white.  The small images amongst the text was an interesting feature that engages the audience throughout the text, it could be an idea to do this in my designs like small icons as visual reminders of the gothic building element. For example, when I am explaining about flying buttresses, I could have an icon that is a photo of them  It is interesting how the front cover has the potential to display huge amounts of colour yet, the images inside the book are black and white. I do think that the lack of colour in these photographs allow you to focus on the structure of the building rather than its decoration.  The shape of the book is very narrow which is an interesting production feature, it must have been for a reason because it is not the typical shape of a book and I think this is what has led to photographs being placed across double-page spreads as if there is not enough room for them.  I...

  Drop Dead is a brand associated with the lead singer of Bring Me The Horizon, Oliver Sykes. The brand is completely separate from the band however, the aesthetic and personality are within both the music and the clothing. Most fans of the band will buy an item from Drop Dead as well as the typical 'band tee', to support the band. It also gains a following from people who do not listen to the band and acts as promotional material from its association with the frontman.  The content released on Drop Dead's social media is not dissimilar to that of the band and Oliver himself's socials. This allows for a lot of freedom with the design because it does not have to associate with the band because that connection has already been established. Incidentally, the band's merchandise is very varied and considered which could be explained by Oliver's experience with the fashion industry.  I said to Bradley that this is how we should approach our merchandise (especially the...

We decided to look at different album covers and T-shirts from alternative metal bands, to get an idea of what sort of design is being done for them. I chose to look at these six in particular as they are the bands/ albums that our six songs (selected earlier) are from.  Rise Against - Appeal to Reason  Illustrative almost collage-like with bold shapes/ silhouettes Sepia, black and red colour scheme  Rough, decayed serif font T-shirt is basically an inversion of the album cover  Nothingface - Skeletons Illustrative like before but, more hand-drawn design  Sepia look, black and red colour scheme again  Hand-rendered, inked logotype T-shirt is the album cover design without the background  Bullet for my Valentine - Poison  Illustrative looks more like a digital illustration Red, black and white colour scheme  Bespoke, serif logotype with ornate illustrations Band tees and other merchandise sport the logotype or full album design  Stone Sou...

Nirvana "Nevermind" Punk had been around for a while, and much of the music was beginning to sound too much alike. The rock ‘n’ roll genre of music was dying out and needed something new; this is when grunge arrived driven by bands like Nirvana. The album ‘Nevermind’ and its odd album cover design (Figure 3)  is what made grunge become mainstream and end up being extremely popular in the ’90s and early 2000s. The album’s design had quite a peculiar origin, the lead singer of the band, Kurt Cobain had the idea after watching a documentary on water births with their drummer David Grohl (May, T. 2018). Designer Robert Fisher considered this idea but, many of the stock photographs of water birthing, as can be predicted, were too graphic to have as an album cover and would be extremely expensive to license. Fisher then commissioned Kirk Weddle (photographer), who went on to take some bespoke images. Fisher went on to edit the chosen image by adding the fish hook and dollar bill. T...

I basically presented my project plan and asked if my survey sounded good or if it seemed like I was doing it for the sake of doing a survey. The group said it sounded fine and would probably help decide the path the practical would take. I had explained my initial ideas too and all of them said they would be interesting outcomes and that the publication is a great idea but, understood the limitations that covid has made that could impact production. 

This was one of the briefs I had written in the summer that I did not want to change. I said in my Statement of Intent that I wanted to experiment more with design for music, which was further amplified by my CoP3 project.  This brief is very similar to a brief we had done in the first year (one I enjoyed a lot) but rather than just a cover and a flag, we wanted to be much more inventive and also see how much we have progressed since the beginning of the course. I will be using a lot of practical research from my CoP3 project as it is extremely relevant but, also with new research specifically conducted for this brief.  We picked six songs for our project that will be on the record (we chose records because people still buy them for the aesthetic and nostalgia of record playing - this references my essay for CoP3). Bradley devised a survey to ask people which songs they found heaviest because we thought about perhaps using scale and contrast as a theme for our designs. 

  Some source images of St Micheals in Headingley, noticeable pointed arches and pinnacles around the site. Found some examples of Gothic Architecture around small villages (not famously Gothic but, still examples of the presence of Gothic Architecture) Charys lives near Leeds Minster and sent me these photographs (my favourite Gothic Building in Leeds), this is by far the best example, in this location. These statues were at a garden centre but, I thought they were a good imitation of the gargoyles present in many gothic buildings. The images may be used as a reference for the practical stage of the project. These photographs are of buildings I have spotted that show example key features of Gothic architecture. Once again a good source for a range of examples.  This collection of images is of the Grade I listed building, Chapel of St Mary The Virgin in Clumber Park (Notts). It is an excellent example of Gothic architecture and although I am focusing my project of the Gothic b...