OUGD603 - Up Yer Sleeve - Final Resolution & Evaluation

Overall, I’m very happy with what I produced in the time that I decided. It was a good exercise to do a brief with a really quick turn around after completing a couple of longer briefs. I think that it works well as a record sleeve and using her iconic look I think that it really captures the essence of both the song and the artist. I think that it commemorates Amy well too - suggesting that she could be in heaven looking over us like she had suggested in her song. Due to changes in the brief I no longer have to submit this as a printed piece, but I think the digital nature of its creation lends itself to a digital submission. However, it could be improved being printed on a nice textured stock to give it some depth.



Strengths & What I liked

I think that this brief has shown my strength in vector illustration. I really enjoy creating digital illustrations like this so it was nice to be able to produce a piece for an exhibition.


Weaknesses & What I didn’t like

I possibly could have spent more time in my concept making stage but considering this is a one off image I didn’t think it was that necessary.


Time Management

I’m very happy with what I produced in the time that I had given myself. It was a good exercise to do a brief with a really quick turn around after completing a couple of longer briefs.


Final Outcome

The final outcome I feel represents the song well through commemoration of the artist as well as visual representation to the song. It’s colours really lend themselves to the overall mood of the song, representing a sort of sad undertone.

OUGD603 - Up Yer Sleeve - Development

Taking my favourite sketch I started fleshing out the portrait of Amy. I started out trying to replicate her natural colouring, but I felt it didn’t match the look I was going for. So I changed the colours to have a blue tone to them, adding in the stars and clouds that I had in my sketch. And to represent the lyrics “I can see heaven in your eyes” I subtly made the highlight of her eyes stars.

I tried fading out her hair a bit using gradients to make it feel like it was blending into the sky, making her look a bit ethereal. Also I feel the gradient blue background works a lot better at inferring that it is a nights sky than the dark grey. At this point I asked for some quick feedback from the people around me and they suggested I added her neck in as the head on its own felt too floaty. I do agree with this and feel that this will benefit the portrait by making it feel more grounded. They also suggested I revert back to a dark hair colour, as even though in this design it may blend nicely with the clouds, it takes away some of the likeness as Amy never had light hair. 

After making these changes I feel like the design is a lot better, it looks as if she could be emerging from the clouds rather than floating now and the likeness is much better with the darker hair. Because I wanted this brief to have a fast turn around I think I will use this as my final design.

OUGD603 - Up Yer Sleeve - Initial Ideas

 I sketched out some ideas based on my research of the song as well as visually. I wanted something that represented both the artist and the song.

I started with the scottish terrier dog that can be seen on the album cover for the album the chosen song is from. I thought that it created a striking image, but I’m not sure whether it is at all relevant.
Next I thought I could play on her tattoos, I found that she had a tattoo of two hearts with text over them in a banner. I thought I could play on this with the lyrics, but again I’m not sure if this would relate back to the song.
Playing around with her iconic features I experimented with doing a close up of her famous eye liner or her Monroe piercing. These do feel like commemorations to Amy but again might not relate to the song.
I next played on the lyrics that I liked from the song - “Bright as stars that shine up above you, in the clear blue sky”. I imagined a portrait of Amy almost merging with the clouds, her hair flowing into the sky. I really like this idea and it is definitely my favourite so far.

OUGD603 - Up Yer Sleeve - Research

I looked into some inspiration for a portrait design for the cover. I found this record cover for AWA, and really liked the abstract shapes that have been used to build up a figure of a woman. The colours also clash with each other - the red and green and complementary but the blue clashes with this - creating an almost uneasy feeling but intriguing the viewer.

I also found this simple portrait. I like the wistfulness of this portrait, the positioning of the person as well as her expression makes you wonder what she’s thinking. Also this limited colour palette and the use of lines really makes for a striking image. Perhaps I could do a portrait of Amy like this in her early days to show her innocence.

Additionally I looked into the lyrics of the song while listening to it, and I found this passage that I really liked: “So am I insane or do I really see heaven in your eyes? Bright as stars that shine up above you, in the clear blue sky”. The overall song is very calm and smooth, making for a relaxing effect. Perhaps my design should reflect this in the colour palette.

OUGD603 - Unpackaged Brief - The Guide

After playing about with the layouts I decided to keep it as simple as I possibly could in order to let the information do the talking. Also, I hope that once I get it risographed the texture of the print will add a more tactile and organic feeling to it rather than what it is now, being very flat and digital. Saying this though, it could be available as a digital guide to keep paper from being wasted.

See below for the final draft.
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OUGD603 - Unpackaged Brief - Colour Scheme

After creating the final logo and doing a bit of research I decided I should think about the colour scheme of the brand. I knew from the beginning that I didn't want the brand to be the run of the mill eco-friendly look with green as the main colour. Though green has the right connotations about being environmentally friendly, I feel like it has been overused within design.

So I started looking for an alternative spot colour as it were to contrast the blacks I have used so far. My first thought was yellow. Yellow is the color of sunshine. It's associated with joy, happiness, intellect, and energy. When I think of yellow I think of positivity. This would work as a background colour very well however I am not sure if I used it on text for example it would be legible or readable from a distance.

So I thought what's close to yellow? Orange of course! Orange combines the energy of red and the happiness of yellow. It is associated with joy, sunshine, and the tropics. Orange represents enthusiasm, fascination, happiness, creativity, determination, attraction, success, encouragement, and stimulation. All these emotions are the ones I want to portray so it feels like a good choice to me. 

I tried a bright orange as a contrast to some bags that I have placed my logo on and I think that it works really well. I will definitely use orange as my highlight and spot colour from now on. 

OUGD603 - Starpack Collab - Evaluation

Strengths & What I liked

This was one of my favourite briefs to complete because of the branding and packaging elements to it. Laura and I both share the same specialisation so I think because of this our resulting design was really professional and successful.


Weaknesses & What I didn’t like

I don’t think there are any weaknesses with this brief. Because I worked collaboratively it meant any mistakes were fixed because Laura would see them.


Team Work

I think that we worked really well as a team because we shared the same vision for the final design. It also helped that we were in constant communication throughout the design process, checking each decision with each other.


Time Management

In regards to time management I think that we did everything in good time before the submission, we also went beyond the brief to create the cocktail recipe books, which again emphasises we used our time well.


Final Outcome

Overall I’m really happy with the outcome, I think we’ve hit all the pointers in the brief as well as creating a unique and memorable design. I think that the colour combinations we have used make for a really eye-catching design that successfully shows our concept of a visual representation of the flavours.