OUGD504 Studio Brief 04 - Traditional Chinese Characters & East Asian Design Research

In the design for the album re-launch digital campaign I wanted to incorporate a sense of both the old and new by the use of traditional Chinese characters and modern/modernist graphic design so I looked at a book called Hanzi Kanji Hanja a book of which incorporated both of these styles. The book starts off by showing a number of different modern takes on traditional Chinese characters and how these can be used in such a way that take on a very modern style through the way the character is displayed and then goes on to show a wide range of examples of modern graphic design work of which incorporates traditional chines symbols so I believed that this is perfect research to help me with create this contrast of the traditional and modern aesthetics that I think is perfect for the digital launch campaign of this album.

The book has given me a fantastic look in to the way that the use of traditional Chinese symbols can be used with a modern graphic design style to create outstanding outcomes.

I then decided to continue my research with a look at a book that I own that is called "From Japan" by Counter-Print of which is just a display of a side of graphic design I don't get to see regularly of which is east asian design and often with a massive concentration on western designers and design studios so many different great design agencies, studios and movements around the world can be regrettably missed so I believed that this look in to east asian design may help inform the style in which I will design for this outcome.

This book focuses less on the inclusion of east-asian symbols in the designs although the majority of it still does but it just concentrates on the skill and standard of graphic design of which is coming out of a large number of Japanese graphic design agencies of which will give me an insight in to the standard and aesthetics of the work that is coming out of east asian countries and ultimately inspire my design.

Looking at the use this East Asian style of design in the book has helped me understand and further my knowledge in to how I should go about the design such as how and to what application traditional characters scan be used in design aesthetically but also the feature that East Asian design is consisted of be this the wide use of negative white space,to the comparisons between text and image but more importantly text as image and finally the colours used in design.

OUGD504 Studio Brief 04 - Digital Release Campaigns Research

Jamie XX

The research in to album launch digital campaign started by looking at the release website for "In Colour" by Jamie XX. The research in to this specific website lies with the fact that as a concept website it is well above the majority of release sites in that way that the whole concept of not only how the album and album title relates to the site through the vivid use of colour that is very attractive to the audience and that a consistent and appropriate contextual idea can be a crucial part in the professionalism and success of a campaign website but also of how the whole website works as a concept too. As a stand alone feature the simplicity of how the website works as a whole meaning all of the needed information in clearly conveyed through the website to a perspective audience contrasted with the fact that although the website is simple in how it works It is visually one of the most demanding and engaging release sites that I have seen, which is not only important and is firstly attracts the audience to the website and then when the audience are already there it does a very good job of keep them engaged creating over all what I see as a very good tactic to use in the campaign site...

Simple, Effective, Attractive and Engaging...

All aspects of the design of an album release website that I see as absolutely crucial in gaining and increasing an artists following, the colour full nature that would attract the eye of any member of the target audience combines with the simple yet effective navigation system and finally the over all very user-involved workings make this release site something I believe to be very successful in attracting and keeping the target market exactly where any artist would want them.

Adele

The next album release campaign that the decision was made to look at for research was Adele 25 and even though this album may not be strictly in the same category of the music industry as the Wu Tang Clan album that I am looking at and therefore not much inspiration will be took from the website aesthetically the look at the website will still offer me two very important aspects. The first of these is that even though the aesthetics of the website will be dissimilar to Adele's it will give me an insight in to the format that these sort of website usually take and furthermore how they incorporate user-friendly aspects in to the website to ensure that they create a whole user-based experience that allows the viewer to get exactly what they wanted from the website and be simple and easy to navigate while doing so. Also even though it doesn't relate perfectly this album is a new release in which the album is guaranteed to sell masses of albums and therefore a look at a very successful launch site has given me the insight in to what I may need to incorporate in to my designs to ensure the website is successful and finally increase album sales for my chosen artist. The website uses a very simple structure that I will need to learn a lot from if I need to translate it in to my website, it features a solo home page that includes a vast majority of information and then along side this home page there is a user-based navigation system that gets the viewer involved and makes the website easy to get around. The website home pages uses a scrolling automation so that masses of information can be seen and linked through the first page alone meaning the viewers can locate what every that need from the website at ease, but this home page include more generalised information such as Adele's thoughts about the album, the process behind the album and information of the Album release, Tour dates and finally special appearances and performances. Top navigate to the more detailed information such as preordering the album, buying tickets to the album tour, images and videos and finally social media coverage the user-involved navigation system comes in to play allowing this to happen at ease. Little touches like vector animation when hovering an scrolling ensure the attention of the target audience stays completely on the website and this is something I will need to use to ensure my album release site is successful. 

Inviting, Simple, User-Friendly and Focused!

Pusha T

Finally as the last two examples of album release sites weren't strictly in the same music genre of the music industry and therefore could have been a little more related the decision was made to now look at the release site of an album that hails from the same genre and so forth from this hopefully be able to obtain some research in to what the actual genre of music that my album release website would be competing in. Furthermore I look at this website as it tackles the process of creating this campaign website but in w very different way to the majority of sites and from this I can definitely see that I will be able to take some positive points but also some strong negatives. The website is the campaign site for Pusha T's new album "Darkest Before Dawn". The website open and show to the viewer an image of three doves, this is an aesthetic reference to the album cover and so forth means that the website remains aesthetically similar to the actual album itself. Underneath the album is a small logo, this is the logo of the record label that the album is being released on and then after this shows nothing happens, this was confusing at first but after a short time I realised that when the logo of the record label is pressed by the mouse what was in image in the centre of the page turns in to video instead, and the doves start flapping their wings, along side this more bird like vectors begin to fly around the page, and while all of this is happening an track of the album begins to play. This website stood out to me as many of the album release websites that are used even though they look aesthetically different all work very much the same and this style of website is like nothing I have ever seen before, and this notoriety is something that it needed to have people remember the time they accesses the website due to its unique nature and furthermore boost album sales, and by far this is the most unique example of a release website I have ever seen. The music in the background also gives the viewer an insight in to the album before it is even released. On the other hand even though this album is very unique in how it works it had major flaws and setbacks in the fact that It actually doesn't include any other information and so even if the album does make the target audience remember it, it still doesn't supply the audience the means of anything to do with this new interest such as the purchasing of the album, information of tours or even how to follow on social media and so the uniqueness that it brings to the table is over shadowed by its lacking facilities. To be able to harness this unique nature in my website but to also combine this with perfect functionality is exactly what I need to make it special.

Different, Exciting, Engaging! but remember Functional aswell.

OUGD504 Studio Brief 04 - Existing Digital Presence & Album Re-Launch Research

The best place to start the research for the unit was with the original album cover of which will be the feature album of the campaign launch. By looking at this original album cover I have chosen a few element of which will have to be taken in to major consideration when designing the launch website. The first of these points was the colour, the decision will have to be made to keep the colour coherent with the Wu Tang Clan style and use the bright yellow colour that they are synonymous for or to try to experiment with some other colours they are relevant to the album be it the link of the colours of the american flag to represent the artists culture or maybe a solo red colour to link the colour scheme in to the oriental feel the album conveys. 
Another major research point that I took for the aesthetic side to the design is whether to keep the historic serif typefaces that are used in all the old collateral for the artist and more specifically in the chosen album.

Now that the research in the album that was being re-released it was now time to partake in research in to the existing musical digital campaigns of which will become the inspiration and insight in to the standards and normals for this type of promotional music campaign work. I started by looking at the existing website of the artist chosen for the deliverables of this unit and here is a screenshot of it below…

Above is a screenshot of the existing digital presence of the artist who's album I am going to design the release campaign for and although this isn't strictly the best research I could partake in to gain inspiration for the layout and style of an album release website I thought it would be a good point to start by looking at the digital presence that already exists of the artist to see what themes they run and if there is any crucial parts of which I would have to take in to consideration in the creation of the launch website.

Like the album and all of the other collateral for the artist the existing website had maintained to use the simple back, white and solo colour theme and furthermore maintaining the iconic yellow colour that the artists are known for.

In contrast to the last part of the research they have decided to take a more modern feel with the digital side by the use of a block serif type font instead, this decision will have been made due to the fact that the original album was designed and released in 1993 meaning that it had become a little out dated, but I don't think in my opinion that this use or a modern style is appropriate for Wu Tang Clan.

From the research I have determined two very big points, the first of these is the crucial choice of whether to keep the colour scheme in keeping with the original theme of the album or to change the colour scheme to revitalise the following of the album by tying something new. This will have to be thought deeply about as although consistency in design is something I see as very important to build a brand as a whole but as the album has become slightly outdated a revamp and redesign in colour may be what is needed to regain not only the old followers but also to gain a new following of the artist and ultimately raising album sales.

The final important decision to be made is whether to remain with the sans serif style typeface used in one of the modern representations of the brand of which I don't believe is best representative of the music or even the traditional oriental essence of the album or whether it would be good to go back to the use of a serif typeface lending itself to the collaboration of the historic side of the album but the modernity of the rerelease, creating a harmony of original colours and old fashioned serif style typefaces with a simple colour palette and overall modern aesthetic creating the perfect balance of traditional and modern    for a new album digital re-release campaign.

OUGD504 Studio Brief 04 - Brief & Analysis

For the final unit of this module Design Production we were briefed that we were to create a digital campaign website centred around the release of a new album from an artist of out choice with the whole point of the website is to gain the artist interest and popularity with the end goal of ultimately increasing album sales. In the era we live in with the online digital presence making up a massive part of any artists album campaigns it is important to ensure that through the creation of the deliverables for this unit that the website works with an overall networking presence by sharing important information about the artist and to get not only existing fans onboard with the release campaign but to generate more fan base for the artist making sure that the correct and relevant range of information is displayed on the site while still maintaining the straight forward and simplicity a campaign website should incorporate.

There are a few considerations and limitations that must be taken in to context to fully engage with this brief. The first of these considerations is to think about the five biggest markets when it comes to the music industry of which have been stated on the brief are Australia, UK, USA, France and Germany meaning I will have to think about the brief in context to a much bigger target audience range than I am used to and these five specific countries may not be 100% correct as my chosen artist may have a bigger following elsewhere meaning I will need to think about that as well.

This is a brief of which I am really looking forward to completing due to the fact that working in the music industry is definitely an avenue I would like to take with my professional practice and also the fact that web design is a field of graphic design of which I am not as advanced in as I would like to be and so this unit with further develop my skills