Wide Eyed Records Design Boards

Wide Eyed Evaluation

Evaluation.

The branding for Wide Eyed Records went really well. The idea of creating a brand that shows something new and fresh, but also like a wonderland, works really well for Wide Eyed. The brand itself is fresh and new this reflects in the logo. After doing this brief the client came back and wanted more merchandise doing, and wanted to expand his brand online and create an online presence. The range of merchandise created was appropriate and the client was happy with it all. If I had more time on this brief I would have suggested producing record sleeves and vinyl labels for when he starts to get his vinyl’s made for his tracks, although he said that he would always come back when he needs something else designing. I am really happy with the branding itself I think that it really suits the concept of the brand and works really well. More than that the client loves it and the reaction towards the record company have been amazing. Wide Eyed Records has now made onto beatport, which is for online underground house music, something that the client has been trying to get on for a long time, but it needed to be established, have a brand and artwork first. This shows how successful the branding has been.

As well as this it has lead to many other people approaching me about branding their new businesses after seeing the Wide Eyed branding, such as RayNite. Also creating the event posters for clubs in Verbier which Wide Eyed were appearing at. These were great opportunities, as I was then invited to Verbier to the launch party and visit the club, which I had been doing promotional posters for. Wide Eyed is a Record company that I will stay in touch with and always be a part of, the client suggested that he would always come to me for any design work needed. Having this as a live brief allowed me to experience working with a client and working to someone else’s needs. It has given me a lot more experience with working with clients and open doors to other opportunities.

Overall I am really happy with what has been produced for Wide Eyed Records, also the positive feedback and opportunities that have come from it has been great. I have gained a range of skills for working with clients and how to handle decision making, but also it has allowed me to see how much I enjoy building a brand. If I were to do this brief again, there isn’t a lot I would change, although maybe some decision making on changing some of the materials I used for things like the caps. They didn’t heat press well; therefore I would have tried to get them sowed on in the first place. But this was development for the process, and I would have done everything else the same way, as it works well.

Publication Development

Design Publication.
After deciding the concept for my publication, and deciding what I am going to do with it, I started to work on the images that I am wanting to include in the publication. For each section I want to include spreads about the briefs that I have produced, why imagery is important to this subject and the studios that I have been to during third year that relate to this.

The first section of my publication is about image making and why it is important therefore I decided that it would be good for me to include my 100 days of...monster challenge as the main purpose for this brief is making an image a day. After researching into different things for the publication, I found Ricky Gervais's flanimals book. This lead me into thinking about dissecting my work into stages, like he dissected his flanimals and explained them. Doing this would show my methodology and the way that I work. Showing how I go from nothing to the image that I create, then also showing how I apply it to different areas of design.

Development.

The process of image making for me after the research and the thinking of ideas for a brief or project, would to be doing the initial drawing either on paper or digitally drawing it, although I would usually digitally draw things. Then I start to decide on the colours that I think are appropriate. Next is the adding of the contours, making the image less two dimensional where appropriate. Then finally I add the details that finish the images off. This will bring them to life a bit more. This is such an important process in the way I design. I think that dissecting the the images and annotating them, showing the stages that I go through will work really well for the publication, showing different examples of the way that I can then apply this to different areas of design.

After dissecting the first monster I started to get a grid system going about how I would produce the images for my publication. I wanted to create my book in the way that I would create any other piece of design, therefore each illustration would form a piece of information graphics about my images.

I think that showing how some of the briefs that I have been doing have developed is important, as it shows past the image making process, and shows how the image making progresses into how it is applied and adapted. I think that this is a really important part of my methodology, therefore it needs to be included in my publication.

For each of the areas of design I will include two double page spreads about a brief that I have done during the third year, that shows my methodology. Starting with the development process, then into the image making, followed by final pictures of the brief itself and the outcome that I have made.

This structure and grid system has been applied throughout the whole publication, so that it all fits in together as the publication is forming. I think that having the publication be in a certain order and have a grid system to it is important as it enforces the way that I work, as I like stucture and works in an order.

I decided that I would create the layout for the image making process pages in the illustrator and using a grid system in there so that it was easier for my to figure out where each of the images are going and how they will be annotated. Also it would help when I was actually dissecting the images.

Starting the publication with my statement/manifesto is a good idea, as this will introduce the reader to who I am as a designer and what I am interested in. Then moving onto the net page of my methodology in a diagram, also reenforcing this by repeating it on the back page. This will give the reader a good idea into what the entire publication is about.

Showing that the grid system is the same throughout works well for me, as it shows that my methodology is consistent throughout my design process, through keeping my grid system consistent throughout also.



This is the final digital copy of my publication, I am really happy with it and think that it is a really good way of showing me as a designers, as well as the process that I go through. As well as this being a publication showing my methodology, it can also be a good thing to show to studios, as it shows a lot about me, my designs, and the process that I go through to get there. This would give the studios a thorough understanding of me as a designer.

Wide Eyed Brand Guidelines.

Wide Eyed.
Brand Guidelines.
As Wide-Eyed is a branding brief I think that it is appropriate to design brand guidelines especially as this is a live brief. This means that I can give it to the client so that he can have his guidelines so that if he gets anymore design work done, he has the brand guidelines to follow. Although he has said that he wants me to continue doing his design work, and when he needs an EP cover, an album cover, or any event poster, I think that it is still a good idea to have a hard copy of the brand guidelines for future reference.

Development.

Including the logo do's and don'ts in the publication is important. Especially including the exclusion zones, this is really important as it isn't an obvious rule unlike the fact that you can't stretch or quash the logo.

I think that there should be a page on the typefaces that I have used throughout the brand. But as well as this it is important to say how I used them. As for the Headings and main titles I tracked the typeface and made it so that the letters were only just touching.

The colours that are used throughout the brand are black and white, although there is also the teal colour that is used. It is only used for smaller details, and the website and online presence. This is so that there is a distinct detail that stands out amongst the rest.

Playing with the layout to make sure that it follows the brand guidelines is important. Therefore playing with the different layouts is important, making sure that the page isn't too cluttered. But also make sure that there is enough information on it.

Making sure that the layout is balanced is really important. I think that the body copy is slightly too large in these guidelines, therefore I need to make the point size a bit smaller.



This is the brand guidelines publication without the cover. The publication is going to be a single page publication bound by a black bolt to keep within the brand guidelines I need it to be black or white. Overall I am happy with the brand guidelines, I think that they are really important to a brand and that the brand is demonstrated well throughout and shows enough without babbling on a lot.

EP Covers

EP Covers.
When it came to the second part of the Wide Eyed brief, Oscar needed an EP Cover for his first release of Wide Eyed. I was given the names of the songs, Necesita and Swerve. I was also told that the Wide Eyed logo needed to be on there and he wanted it to have in image in the background. From this I started to work on what I was going to do for it by starting with making the names of the songs with the type that I have made for Wide Eyed.

Development.

Using the image that Oscar had previously sent me for the website, I decided that this could be a good way to subtly show the records and Oscar himself, showing how much knowledge and research he has done for his EP cover in all of the vinyls that he has. I think that putting a black box with an opacity of 80% over the top will allow the image to be subtle. Although sending this to him, he said that there is something missing.

I decided to add a white box around it, just to give it more detail, but in keeping with the same style of the brand, using the grouped fireflies again as a pattern. I thought that this would brighten up the EP cover and make it stand out a bit more, and maybe decrease the opacity to 70% so that the image is slightly clearer through the black.

This is not something that Oscar wanted, as he wanted it to be to darker version. Although started to suggest that he wanted something that reflected him less and reflected the song more. He decided that he wanted it to be to do with the name Necesita, which is a Spanish for something to do with a women, I am unsure what it actually meant but I know that he wanted it to be to do with something that he drew. Therefore I asked him to send me the picture so that I could see what he was thinking.

He sent me this image that he drew, it is something that is personal to him, but at the same time it is relevant to his EPs. This is what he is going for.

This is what he was looking for with the imagery, therefore it is something that I am moving onwards from. Although after working with this its looks a bit plain and too white in my opinion, I think that things on a plain white background often look quite tacky and cheap. This was also the opinion of the client. I think that having a darker background will work better.

On Photoshop I decided to invert the image, this would just give it a better effect with the dark image, which is what the client is going for with his EP cover. Using this image as the EP cover works really well, the client is also really pleased with it, also having the white type on the black image follows the brand guidelines for Wide-Eyed.

Photography

Photography.
After attending my portfolio review, I found that a lot of my photographs in my portfolio were quite low quality. This is something I already knew, and is something that I want to fix. Therefore for my Wide-Eyed branding brief I though not only will this look better for the client. As I will send them these images before they actually receive all of the merchandise. Also it will look so much better in my portfolio being photographed properly and well. This is something that I haven't done a lot before therefore having the photography staff close, helped me a lot.

Photography.

Above are a few of the photos taken, and when I got back I realised that the lense must have had dust on it, as there are four large pieces of dust on each image. Although this is easily fixable.

Final Edited Photos.

I am really happy with the images taken, as is the client. I will definitely be using the photography studios  for the rest of the briefs I will be doing throughout the year. And go back to photograph some of the briefs I have previously done and not photographed properly. From this experience I will remember to wipe the lense before starting next time.