Final CD booklet

To improve the booklet design I changed the background colour of each page to the same grey as on the surface design for the CD case. I also added in the hand drawings of curves and flowers onto each page, changing the opacity and fill of some so it didn't cover/hide the lyrics. Lastly I added in a few words from newspapers that I felt related to a song, the music or artist. This was to make it look more attractive as it previously looked quite plain and possibly boring.

CD Booklet Development

These are some drawings and newspaper headlines that I could add onto the pages in my booklet, to layer it up and make it more attractive.

I chose to do some flower doodles for the booklet to make it more feminine.

I chose to cut out newspaper headlines as it relates to the album name 'Talk that talk' and it adds attitude to the booklet, which also reflects the artist, Rihanna.

Initial CD booklet

Front and back cover:

For the front cover I used the original design from the album artwork and I kept the back cover plain white.

Inside I had some pages with to song lyrics on and then some pictures to go with some of the songs, but not all. I used the same font, 'papyrus' as I used for the album cover and CD design. I decided to keep the pictures all black and white as I liked the contrast and effect it had.

To improve this design i need to add more to the background as it is to plain at the moment, also i could try adding some colour to the background and add in more layers.

Final CD

CD Development

These are the 3 CD designs that I chose to develop:

1. I used the live trace of the smashed glass effect from my album cover and used the clipping mask to get it to fit onto the CD. I then added the album name in red papyrus font.

2. I added one of the pictures from my photo shoot into the background of the CD and added the album name and artist in red papyrus font across the CD.

3. I made the background of this CD design a light grey and added a zigzag line going across the CD to give a sort of cracked effect. I then added the Artist name in a big red papyrus font and the album name underneath in a smaller black papyrus font.

My  favourite design is number 1, the smashed glass effect as it matches the album artwork and look the most effective.

CD ideas

These are my 6 initial ideas:

1. This idea could be developed so the writing looks like its been stamped onto the CD

2. The album name written around the CD in a circle.

3. An image of the artist would be added into the background with the album name and artist written across the middle of the CD.

4. Abstract shapes to resemble shard's of glass.

5. Artist name in big typography so it stands out and the album name underneath in a smaller font.

6. A smashed glass effect, to match with the album artwork.

My favourite ideas that I want to develop are numbers 3, 5 and 6.

CD research

These are some of my CD's that I chose to look at to give me inspiration for making my own CD design.

5 of these CD's have very basic designs, such as the JLS CD which is plain black with one small piece of typography in white. 2 of the CD's feature an image of the artist. 3 of the CD's have a more complex design, such as the Sum 41 CD which contains some typography, a bright colour background and lots of different random images covering a majority of the CD. 

I think the CD's that are in between to simple or too complex and the CD's that feature an image of the artist are the most effective.

Final surface design

I decided that the design looked a bit too plain and needed some more layers added to it to build it up.

I added the 'Heebok Lee' style text onto the back layer of the album artwork to give it a more 3D look and also to make it more complex. On the back page I added the Rihanna fire effect image that I created previously but made it black and white and made it fade into the background so it wasn't too over powering on the text. I also added in more smashed/scratched glass effects into the background so there was no plain grey background. For the inside page I doubled up the 'Heebok Lee' text but making the second layer black and white aswell, this gave it a 3D effect and added more movement to the design.

I decided to keep this part the same as I think it works effectively how it is.

Developed Surface design

This is the outta CD cover surface design:

I made the background colour the same light grey on each side to make it flow. I added the Album artwork to the front page. On the back page I added the track list in red papyrus font, my logo, a bar code and information about the CD. On the inside page I added the piece of 'Heebok Lee' styled text and some more cracked glass effect.

The booklet and CD pockets:

I decided to make these plain dark grey to give the design some strong contrast, so each piece stands out from each other. For example the pockets stand out from the outta case and the products that slot into the pockets will stand out from the pockets.

These are the drawings that I did of smashed/cracked glass to add to the surface design:

Heebok Lee inspired text

These are some typography experiments, in the style of Heebok Lee. I decided to try it out as I felt the style would work well with my design as it adds a feel of movement and on some it gives a broken/shattered text effect.

My favourite is the third one down as it contains both movement and the shattered text. To improve it I think some of the text needs to be changed to red.

The video of Heebok Lee's kinetic typography:

Final Photoshoot

These are the pictures from my final photo shoot that I chose to make black and white, so that they match with my theme through the rest of my work and because I think they look a lot better. I will use these for my album artwork, CD and CD booklet.

Final album cover

This is my final album cover design for Rihanna's album, 'Talk That Talk':

To make this album artwork I used two different images that I layered up in Photoshop. The first layer is my drawing of smashed glass, along with the typography that I live traced over in Illustrator. I did this so the lines are more defined, making it look more professional and so I could edit the colour if needed. I decided to make the writing red as it add's a hint of colour to the design, keeping it from looking dull, this also means the writing will easily stand out. The writing also gives the impression that it has been scratched into the glass. This along with the smashed effect link in with the urban side and attitude of the artist. 

The second layer is one of the photographs that I took during the photo shoot of a girl from behind. I wanted to use this image as she could resemble the artist of the album. I erased the background from the image and used a grey brush to colour in around her outline and at the same time giving a smoky effect to it. I then changed the blend mode of the first layer to darken to get this final design. 

Jeff Zoet Analysis

http://www.jeffzoet.com

The designer of the work is Jeff Zoet, born in 1977 in Pennsylvania, United States. He is a freelance artist who works in motion graphics, digital cinema and as an editor and photographer. I chose to analyse this piece as I would like to use a similar technique for my album artwork. 

It is a portrait photograph. I am unsure of theme theme of this work as there is not much to give it away but it could possibly be people or feelings/emotions. 

A digital camera was used to take the background photograph and then another layers is added on top and edited on the computer using Photoshop or something similar. He used dark colours in the background so the face of the girls stands out. He also made all of the image slightly out of focus apart from the girls eye that shows through the hole in the glass. 

I chose to look at this design as I want to use a smashed glass effect for my album artwork and this inspires me to develop my idea by trying to add different layers or images behind the glass layer. It reminds me of the smashed glass effect tutorial on YouTube as it has been made using a similar technique.

Album artwork development

Hand drawing:

I redrew the smashed effect but this time to fit the size of the CD cover, 12cm x 12cm. I also drew the writing in red Biro this time to give the image some contrast so it stands out better.

Illustrator pen tool:

I scanned in the hand drawn design and opened the picture in illustrator. Where I then drew other the lines using the pen tool, at different stroke sizes. I did the writing separately using the Papyrus font in red. I added a grey background to one of the ideas to see how it would look. 

This idea is similar to the one above apart from I removed the typography and changed the background colour to dark grey. 

Live Trace:

For the final idea I used the hand drawn image, opened it in illustrator and used the live trace option, i adjusted some of the effects and ended up with this.

Next I used the live paint bucket to change the colour of the writing back to red.

Overall I think the live trace experiment worked the best as it kept the quality sketchy look of the hand drawn piece but made the contrast of the lines and colours look a lot sharper and more professional. The pen tool technique was my least favourite as it lost the sketchy look, which also took away the glass effect look from the design. I will be using the live trace design to develop further for my final album artwork.

Album artwork development

From my initial ideas I chose my three favourite (2,4 and 6) and then developed them further, below I used black Biro pen.

2. I drew a picture of Rihanna as the image that will fill the front cover. 

4. 3D 'talk that talk' typography that will fill most of the front cover. I decided I didn't like this idea as it it quite boring and there is not much you can do with it.

6. The initial idea reminded me of shards of glass so I decided to draw a smashed glass effect. I also added in the letter 'R' to the hole.

My favourite idea is the smashed glass effect as it is the most abstract, gives a powerful effect and has the most potential for developing further.

I developed the initial idea by using one of the collage techniques from the AS-A2 project. I cut out different sized triangles from magazines in different colours and textures and I cut out the letter R for Rihanna to put in the centre.

I think this idea looks stylish and bold but I wouldn't want to use it for my final piece as it is a bit to simple and easy to do.

Paper cut out

Rihanna fire effect

1. I cut out the background with the background eraser.

2. Desaturate the image, adjust the levels panel and brightness panel

3. Invert the image and then merge all the layers together

4. Select the 'RGB' layer in the channels tab and copy it into a new document with a black background.

5. Lock the transparent pixels and then paint over the image with a 'light yellow' brush

6. Add a red outer glow to the image and change the opacity to 50%

7. Paste the fire image into this document in a new layer and copy/paste it around the image of Rihanna.

8. Merge all the flame layers together.

9. Use the eraser brush to erase any unwanted flames that are overlapping the image.

10. Finally add a new layer above the black background but below the other layers. Select a large brush size (1000+) in 'darker red' colour and click once in the middle behind Rihanna.

Initial Album artwork ideas

1. For this idea I'd have the album name at the top in a big bold font so it stands out. Then the picture would be a photograph of a girl, to represent the artist. To develop it I could add some effects to the photograph to make it more interesting.

2. The album name cover most of the album cover. I could add different textures to the letters, use a collage technique or cut out the lettering so the layer underneath shows through.

3. This idea could have two separate images, one above the words and one below or one big picture with the words across the middle. The pictures would also be of girls posing to represent the artist, that i could then add effects too. 

4. For this idea there will be one image/photograph that will take up the whole cover. I chose this because most RnB and pop album covers that I looked at have a simple photograph that is used as the album cover.

5. For this design I will cut out the rectangles and add a photograph behind to make it look like it is behind bars.

6. I got this idea from one of the collage pieces that I had done previously. I could use the same idea of cutting out different coloured pieces from magazines or I could cut out the shapes so that the layer below would show through.

7. This idea is in the style of a newspaper, with the headline being the album name 'talk that talk' and the image would be of a girl, to represent the artist. 

8. This could be a speech bubble shape or a thought bubble that will have the image/photograph inside.

9. This is a simple idea that features the album name and the name of the artist in the centre of the album artwork. I could then add some effects into the background to make it more interesting.

Research: Album Artwork

For this album artwork research I decided to look at albums with the same music genre as my chosen album,  this is so I can general idea of what I should aim for.

This is a collage of lots of tiny images that make up the face of Eminem.

This is a graffiti design made using spray paints, by Ron English for Chris Brown's album.

A black and white, close up, photograph of Rihanna with a little bit of typography featured on it.

An edited photography of Tinie Tempah to give it a surreal effect. 

A photography of JLS with the background edited out and another image put in its place, also big typography is added on top of the photograph, possibly to give it a 3D effect.

Another close up photograph of the artist (Trey Songz) with a layer of water running down in front along with some typography.

This is a vector based design, with part of the artists face being made up of the shapes.

In conclusion, I found that all of the album artwork's feature the artist's face in some form and they all contain at least one bit of typography.

Album Artwork Mindmap

This mind map is to help me realize what makes a good album cover and to give me ideas when making my artwork.