(B6) RECORD COVER EXPERIMENTS

• I started doing this record cover straight after concluding my initial ideas. This was the first sort of layout that came to mind. I thought a mixture of my chladni patterns and the manipulated photographs would make an interesting design (as mentioned previously)
• The record sleeve to the left is meant to show the heavier side. Red has aggressive, chaotic connotations and seemed appropriate for the heavier side of the record and purple the softer
• The manipulated images on the heavier side are also a lot more busy and disruptive than their purple counterpart and have much less negative space
• The chladni pattern on the left is also a lot more complex to suggest the more erratic frequency
• I was really happy with this design but, I want to try some stuff out that Bradley has been doing too so it incorporates both the designs we have been experimenting with 
• Also, I am conflicted on whether the designs should differ more between front and back?
• In addition, I do not know whether to include the artist name
• The plastic cover I used is to try and make it look a little more three- dimensional and it is seen a lot in the design for the music area of graphic design

• I thought the flower Bradley had designed was interesting and would work as a logo because it links with the research he has been doing and has similar characteristics to my chladni patterns
• I tried incorporating this into my next potential record sleeve design. Using my logotype from my type experiments and first record design, I made a decaying label and placed Bradley's flower design beside the type
• I was tempted to put one of the chladni patters full-bleed behind the label but preferred in within the margins. I was stuck between the label being on the left bottom or central but, in this design, I think it looked more effective in the centre
• Then for the back, I used Bradley's posters as inspiration and took the frame he had made
• I personally preferred the type I had been using "Big Carson" but, I did use a centre-alignment for the typesetting. The song titles, I edited to create this stack to further instil the narrative of scale
• I was not sure how to incorporate the purple but, I could either change the back to purple or try another design layout

• With this one, I really wanted to visually show the scale of frequency between the two sides of the record. I felt that just one pattern per side was not enough and it might be better to show a gradual increase in complexity 
• As there are six songs, I manipulated six grids, each time making them more intricate and complex. After, I colourised two sets of three in the red and purple we had chose, according to the side they represented
• I still think the flower makes a good logo for our genre so, I included two of them for each colour as well as the genre name in my chosen typeface "Big Carson"
• As for the back, I wanted to keep everything united which would have meant a horizontal divide in the colours and song names. Visually, I think this layout looked more appealing but, I will try it the other way to try and keep the continuity
• I used Bradley's frame to fill some of the negative space because it did look too minimal for the context we are designing for. The frame adds just enough colour and imagery to not crowd the cover

• The next sets of record sleeve design are the same apart from one has the frame from previous designs on it
• This was a similar approach to the one before, using more than one chladni pattern to show the difference in the songs on either side of the record
• I did try the design with just the three patterns on either side but, I think it was too minimal and lacked the almost chaotic tone of Alternative Metal
• Like the first album cover design, I used my manipulated images from earlier in the project to add a little more imagery
• As for the type layout, it was difficult to make it fit in without either being lost in the design or taking over it completely. I actually really liked how I ended up setting the type, I used a hierarchal system where the name was the largest, then the song name and finally the band names were the smallest. 
• In doing this, all the type was very legible and fit well with the imagery 
• I cannot decide between the design with the frame or without, I feel like it might be too busy with the frame but, I still like it 

Bradley discussed the designs so far and where to go next. He said his favourite design was the third because the colours and how they are laid out looked like a thermometer. In a way, showing the scale between the two. I personally like the last design the most so, I might try reworking the two together.