COP - Design Project

Theres seems no better way to demonstrate and explore how important design is in the consumption of music than to create branding and promotional material for a musical act. I’ve previously mentioned how whenever an act releases a new album, it’s often like a soft rebrand or an update to their image; a new concept/idea. Creating branding for an album seems like an apt way to be able to design a few different elements such as an album cover, promotional posters, a logotype and maybe even merchandising and set design. 

So what album should I focus on? I came up with a few ideas, firstly I think its important that the album have a strong feel and concept to it, this will just assure there’s plenty of ideas and research which can be linked to design concepts and visuals. I think it would be better to pick a lesser known artist; iconic bands and musical acts are like ‘charismatic brands’, they’re so engrained in culture that there’s no way I could redesign the Sgt Peppers album cover or update the Rolling Stones logo without it feeling wrong, because these visuals are already so well established. I also think it’s important to pick a modern and contemporary artist because the design would be much more relevant and more modern design methods such as animation (e.g. for a set design) would feel better suited to it.

Connan Mockasin 

Connan Mockasin is a musician from New Zealand, he’s released 3 studio albums; Forever Dolphin Love, Caramel and Jassbusters. I’ve been listening to Mockasin a lot lately and realised that he fit the criteria for my project. His style/genre is fairly ambiguous and fluid, his music has been described as: Psychedelic Pop, Neo-Psychedelia, Dream Pop, Space Rock, Avant-Pop and Experimental Rock. What draws me to producing designs for one of his albums is this ambiguity and individuality in his sound; while I could pick a punk or metal band and have a clear visual style associated with the genre, I thought it would be more interesting to pick someone like Connan Mockasin who’s got a much more obscure style and therefore the visuals and design will be much more relevant and individual. I can take influences from psychedelic design however a lot of the design will be a product of research and looking into the album, therefore it will feel much more associated with that individual album.