Studio Brief 1 - Secret 7 - Idea Development of Max Ritcher

One of the ideas I'm moving forward with is the concept of balance to represent Max Richter track Dream 3. I've already conducted research about meditation and The Bauhaus Art movement to influence my concept in a visual resolution. To move on with my initial idea I began to start mocking up my concept based on my research findings but to also effectively communicate the meaning of Max Richter's track.

The Initial sketch

By using the meditation technique of balancing stones (above) I tried to replicate this composition in the design for Dream 3. Instead of the stones, geometric shapes have been used in it's place to convey more of an artistic approach and a contemporary style. 

Below was the first visual mock up for the concept. The geometric Bauhaus shapes have been applied to the structure, the design also incorporates a few primary colours to bring the design to life but also it was a popular technique for the Bauhaus movement to apply primary colours to their shapes. 

Overall, the concept in it's basic form is communicates effectively. The composition is easy to understand but visually it's not as contemporary or modern as I would of liked. I wanted the design to have a feel of Bauhaus while incorporating the sense of balance and tranquillity but visually I don't feel the design portrays this. It looks out of proportion and the size of the shapes don't work well as a set of a counter balancing structure. 

It's still important to take in consideration the physics of balancing objects. If ignored the design could lack authenticity which could damage the design and also showing a lack of research into the meditation technique. Some of the shapes in the mock up are to bulky & are not realistic enough to hold the structure. I also think the colours of red and blue are taking away from a clean modern aesthetic, underpinning the message of tranquillity and calmness. A peaceful aesthetic to me is very minimal with limited colour and interference.

I began looking at different ways I could change the look of my design to express more of an modern/contemporary feel to the whole thing. In last years secret 7 exhibition there was this one sleeve that looked like a piece of Bauhaus architecture (below). It had a modern aesthetic with a futuristic and mysterious look about it. I'm not sure how it was made, whether it was drawn or digitally produced, but I felt like this was the style I could embed within my own design.

I asked my peers about whether or not I should stick with what I already had or go down a route that Incorporated more of a Bauhaus theme to the design and take influence from the above sleeve, the majority agree that I should. Taking this encouraging feedback on board I began to redeveloped the composition, taking in the physics of balancing shapes and to represent a clean, timeless aesthetic.

Below is the developed sleeve. The composition is still pretty much the same but I stripped back how many shapes I used to allow the design to breath and speak for it's self. A neutral colour scheme expressed a calm nature to the sleeve demonstrating a modern architecture approach similar to that of the sleeve I had taken influence from. 

I decided to shade the objects manually using a tablet instead of using block of colour to shade. Hand shading technique gave the design an organic and raw feeling to it. Meditation is very organic and is heavily linked to nature and this is the design decision I took to represent this aspect.

In the first two design I added the word 'Balance' to sum up the concept. It doesn't give away the song title but It allows the user to think about the connotations behind the word and If they have listening to the Max Richter's song then hopefully they would make the connection. However, I do feel like the text may be to distracting and unnecessary. It takes it's simplicity away from the design, blocking and already explaining the message even though It's quite self explanatory what the design is trying to represent. Therefore, the last mock up has no text but is more harsh, with a strong black to white gradient and my decision behind this was to incorporate a contemporary feature to the sleeve. Gradients are a current trend within design so I felt I could easily embed this within the design without disrupting the overall aesthetic and message to much.