Album Cover
In this assignment our class was required to find a musical artist and album of our choosing and update said album’s cover art, labels, and create a zoetrope animation. I chose the album Victorious by the band Skillet. This particular band piqued my interest because of its unique juxtaposition of their hard rock/metal genre and underlying Christian message. To challenge my design skills I chose to encorporate the design elements of materiality and pattern. The materiality is captured by replicating the style of ancient illuminated manuscripts in the art work and using photography to create a textured background. Pattern is used to further this allusion in the artwork as well as establish a border on the edges of the cover. I used hierarchy of scale, color, typography, and placement to guide a viewers eye through the piece. Using hierarchy helps to create deliberate focal points such as on the illustrations and the titles of the band and the album itself. I think my final piece is well balanced and not too busy so it keeps the attention of the viewer while also displaying the important information.
Class Final Design System
Revised Final Design System
Rhythm and Pacing
The Rhythm and Pacing guiding principle is a powerful way to control a viewers perception of a design as well as guide their eye. Rhythm and Pacing is created by repitition of contrasting elements throughout a design. This creates a self of movement that the brain wants to percieve with a sense of rhythm. With a consistent rhythm a viewer’s eye can easily be guided across the composistion and it creates energy and activity within the piece. An irregular rhythm confuses the brain and makes viewers feel uncomfortable and lost. Rhythm and Pacing can be incredibly powerful in conveying a meaning through a naturally percieved thing.
The Rhythm and Pacing used in the design is formed through pattern. The pattern is used in the border, the cross, and the drop caps. The pattern creates a consistent rhythm throughout the piece and makes connections between various figures. The rhythm created resembles the fast and formulated rhythm of the music while also leaving enough space in the piece to capture the depth of the meaning in the songs.
Materiality
The Materiality guiding principle is an illusion that can create a concept based on the material used in the piece. It creates a sense of imagery by being able to capture certain senses through familiar looking things. This can make the viewer much more integrated and engaged with the piece. Rather than just a viewer they become a creator of the story because it is partly up to their interpretation.
Materiality is shown in this design by creating a digital allusion to ancient Christian illuminated manuscripts. This was captured through the leathery-paper background, the flat illustrations that are defined by line rather than shading, and the pattern that is often used to border the manuscripts. This materiality is mainly to capture the Christian messages that the artists communicate.
