Secret7 - Final Outcomes and Evaluation

Final Outcomes

S729 / CHVRCHES - CLEAREST BLUE

S731 / JACK GARRATT - WORRY

S733 / JOHN LENNON - IMAGINE

Submission

My files are all saved at the correct dimensions and do not exceed the file size limit. There is a space to write about your design inspiration for each image you submit and this is only 140 characters long including spaces. I revisited the blogpost where I established my concepts in words and thought about how to simplify this down. I spent a while using twitter as character counter, constantly rewording things to minimise wasted letters. I think I have said what I need to say about these and hopefully the images will speak the rest for themselves. I am not sure how much attention the judges will pay to this written aspect because they make it clear that artwork is the priority but I didn't want the opportunity to go to waste.

CLEAREST BLUE - This is a simple, abstract portrayal of certain lyrics in the song. I have invested my personal response to the music into the aesthetic. (137 characters) TOO VAGUE
(or) 'The perfect star' is 'not enough' and meeting 'more than half way' form the concept. My response to the track is invested in the aesthetic. (140 characters)

WORRY - The calm after an emotional storm but still not in the clear. Immersing yourself in the unknown (the ocean) in order to move on. (128 characters)

IMAGINE - The design represents integration, harmonic bonds between humans and a sense of belonging. Everyone on earth is united by the sky. (130 characters)

Evaluation
This is one of those things that I am finding it really hard to judge whether the outcomes are successful or not. I have got across the ideas that I was trying to portray through my imagery but because music is such a subjective thing I suppose there will always be mixed reactions, especially to more abstract work. 

I am happy that I have pushed myself out of my comfort zone and done something different but still with a media that I enjoy working with. It has given me an insight to a different process of researching, more primary research and interpretations rather than relying on factual information. I think I could have explored each song further and with a variety of media to get a deeper insight into how I connect with it. 

In hindsight I feel I should have done more experimentation with media overall, I did want this to be a small, quick brief so I suppose being efficient with time meant making decisions quickly and sticking to them. 

The research I did of album covers was quite vague, I was looking more at the concept and how the designs relate to the song rather than taking actual visual inspiration from the images. I basically realised that anything goes, there is not a formula for a good album cover, if it works, it works. 

My ideas merged concept and visualisation of words to produce images which had a connection to the lyrics but also a slightly deeper meaning too. I think the quality of my ideas is quite basic in hindsight, I don't feel like I fully explored the meanings behind each song and I feel I have settled to easily for some cliché concepts. 

Because of the simplicity and style of my images, I think the overall quality looks professional. I think I have let myself down with the imagine cover because I don't think it is very visually appealing. I think in the research stage of this project I should have looked into graphic design concepts and how to lay things out on a page so they are placed with intention. 

I think I have managed my time well for this brief seeing as I only allowed myself three days to do it and I managed to complete them all on time. I think the time I had definitely influenced the style I went for because the image making wasn't labour intensive. This is not a way of working I can see myself using in the future but it was good to try something different and break the boundaries of what I usually do. 

Also because of the short time frame and the fact it didn't overlap with any crits, I received very little feedback on my work. I did ask a couple of other students for an opinion but the response was quite generic and I didn't find it very useful. I suppose music is very subjective and this brief required a more personal response than others. 

Overall, I am pleased with what I have achieved in this limited space of time and outside of my comfort zone but also feel I could have pushed myself a lot more and delved deeper into the conceptual side of the brief. I probably should have spent more time on the image making side and being more experimental and explorative.