AOB 4 - Evaluation

With my work in unit 17, I took a different approach with my products by completely dropping colour and taking a purely black and white approach.

Again, I took inspiration from products by Post-Grunge bands like Breaking Benjamin and 30 Seconds To Mars.

As the products are primarily aimed at audiences from late teens up to early thirties, I needed a style that would appeal to that kind of audience.

The cover appeals to the target audience as the style used, such as silhouettes and the use of simple blacks and whites is similar to those of artists like Linkin Park, who’s later albums use a lot of the aforementioned features, whilst the use of simple bars to outline the text is reminiscent of 30 Seconds To Mars’ third album, This Is War.

The use of imagery and fonts of Asian origin/inspiration was my own idea, as I wanted to add a more exotic element to the products than I had in previous instances.

Although the client commented on the album cover, they also pointed out the fact that there was no spine or back cover, which both had to be worked on before my final deadline.

Apart from this, the client commented on the cleanness of the album cover.

The products are aimed at people who listen to post-grunge and Nu Metal, and are identified as such by the album’s unusual title and the titles of the songs.

The promotional poster was based off a tour poster by 30 Seconds To Mars, though this was mostly in the layout, with the font and imagery bearing the more exotic themes mentioned above.

The client mentioned the spacing, and how the product would be better balanced if the text and imagery of the album cover were moved to the bottom of the poster, instead of being spread in a haphazard manner.

The client also suggested moving the record company logos to a place where they would be out of the way, as well as decreasing the size.

Again, this had to be done before the final deadline.

As with the album cover, the promotional poster’s cleanliness was commented on, with the client stating that the stark contrast and empty space of the black & white created a feeling of something new and different, which hadn’t been apparent in the previous albums.

The final, and perhaps the most difficult product, was the Onesheet, which is by far the most detailed part of the production so far.

The client was pleased with the overall layout of the Onesheet, which included the details of the band’s past and success, the total length of the album, the cover art, the release date, the track listing and the band’s website address.

The client’s only worry was of how the text was displayed, as there was very little spacing and not much room for the text to ‘breathe’.

The client suggested reducing the leading so that the text was more spaced, as well as reducing the font size.

The main reason why this product was the hardest to design was because I could find no Onesheets used by the artists that I was taking inspiration from.

To this end I had to improvise, using Onesheets made by amateur artists, as well as one I designed in a previous unit, to create a product that looked both realistic and enticing.

As a general rule, I responded to the client by carrying out the suggested alterations, as for the most part the client knew what was wrong and how to fix it, however, I did make a few small alterations of my own to make the products a little more appealing, rather than just ordered.

For the most part, I used Photoshop as a common tool, as the necessary techniques I needed were easily accessible and I was familiar with the software.

Using Photoshop made the products easy to edit and experiment with, providing for simple alterations to achieve the best effects.

As far as improvements go, It is hard to think of any that have not already been brought up by the client.

One possible alteration for the Onesheet could be to make the overall product slightly larger. This would allow for more spacing in the text and for the font to the slightly larger, making it more readable.

Overall, the client was satisfied with the work and the production was deemed a success, both by the client and those involved.