Visual Reseach

To get going It would be a great idea to throw some visuals in there of Above and Beyond and their shows and to of seen them before, I know how magical and touchy they really are.  Below are some photos of the infused bright colours used not only in their shows but a trend in their art work appears too.

The Above and Beyond logo, very important to keep this identical to what it is

Group therapy Radio logo

A live set showing the Anjuna logo

A live show, showing bright coloured green lasers

This image was from their last Group Therapy huge show In New York.

A & B are known for their white text messages during their shows

Art work following one of their singles

Like the Group Therapy loo, this ribbon effect is very widely used as their 'signature' icon

Another live show, another message

ABGT100 in New York, lights and lasers. 

Another live message

A live show

Again the ribbons of the same colours entwined again

The ribbons are seen here again only within a live show

A live show that looks like its at a music festival

The hand in the above photo represents the main image off their new album 'We Are All We Need'

Ribbons entwined 

The show from New York again, showing blue lasers 

Another photo from the show

The venue 

An amazing photo showing green lasers

Another touchy message presented on stage

My favourite 'Life is made of small moments like this'

The live show

Above here is We are all we need album cover.  The use of the hand is very identifiable and I love how they have used words to make the image.

Summery:  The vibrant lights used within their shows is almost a must at this stage to include within the poster series and promo video as this is their scene.  I need to remember that the posters and video are promoting their 150th Live radio show and to celebrate this is taking place at the Allphones Arena in Sydney so I don't want to go over the top with huge colour.  I love how they use the ribbons to affect of as I think, everyone is different, thinks differently and we are our own person however, we are all connected and the same at one time.  As the ribbons are different colours this suggests we are all different, however they are all linked together in the middle.  The text they use to type with at live shows is really touching because they care for their fans and they think of themselves of everybody as a family.  Their record labels Anjuna Deep and Anjuna Beats both have logos which is shown in one of the images above and that is perhaps something to think about to incorporate into my designs.

Project Brief, Written

I chose Above and Beyond because the electronic, dance music scene has such a particular direction of imagery.  Ive been to many rock, metal concerts including Download festival in 2013 but I want to know what I can create within the dance scene.

Below is my written brief:

For my independent I would like to design and re-brand for band Dj’s Above & Beyond.  They are a British based electronic dance music group.  They own their own radio show called Group Therapy Radio in which every week broadcast to over 30 million listeners globally.  When they hit a 150^th episode in September they will be performing ABGT150 (Above & Beyond Group Therapy 150) a live show in a specific place around the world. (First was London, second was New York).  I would like to design and create a series of promotion posters for this milestone event as It’s considered a huge step in Above & Beyond’s trance music career.  I want to make the posters visually very exciting and engaging as fans have been waiting for this passionate moment for a long time.  In the dance/trance music scene, Above & Beyond are a very well respected & successful group. Being the first British electronic dance group to sell out an American venue, Madison Square Gardens in New York, preforming AGBT100. 

My plans for the posters are to create a series of four posters.  These are to individually combine the selected cities’ culture & dance music culture and bring them together to make a visually engaging design.  I will do this in a way what will emphasis how amazing this event is going to be and they will all link together as a series.  I will also combine bright, colourful tones of colour to demonstrate the lights and lasers used in the shows.  As my audience is worldwide, I will have to choose my style carefully which will fit and work on a global scale. 

Alongside the posters, I want to create a minute and a half video promoting the event, suggesting this will be a memorable and special show which wouldn’t want to be missed.  I will use sourced video content plus, various affects which I will create myself in AfterEffects.  I will also use previous shows and events combined with my own style to come across as an exciting, non missable event.  I want to come across as dramatic and create a sense of excitement throughout all pieces.  I will use a combination of Photoshop, Illutsrator and After effects.

I would also like to re design their own music label logos, AnjunaBeats, AnjunaDeep and Group Therapy Radio. I will do this considering their background, music genre using the gestalt principles as my main inspiration to create a graphically pleasing design that’s easy on the eye.

Outcomes:

A series of Four posters

A minute and a half video using sourced content plus my own added affects

Three reproduced Logos

I finalised these ideas with George and Andrew and I had the go-ahead to get started.

I have 8 weeks to produce these outcomes and it might be tight considering I have many pieces to make.

Project Brief

Ever since hearing of this brief I have been excited to come to a decision as to what I want to create considering I my strengths and aspects that I would like to improve.  Theres a few things that come to my mind when I heard about creating out own brief. They were:



Movie Poster

Album Cover

Video/Film

Music

These are the things that instantly popped into my head after hearing the brief.  I then had lots of different ideas flying around my head as to what I want to achieve.  I loved the idea of creating an album cover I have always hoped to do that over the 3 years at uni but it never came around so I thought about different artists.  I thought of different genres of music that I liked and the artists within that frame.  I think my passion lays within digital art work using Illustrator, so I really wanted to pursue my skills and see what I can come up with.

For rock I had 'EarlyRise'  Early Rise are a small band from LA, they create their own music and have produced excellent covers of others.  Their identity is pretty dark but have very abstract, calming art work to their name.  Here are a few:

Idea 1

I thought of re-creating these album covers, 'What If' and 'Narcissistic Cannibal'.

I wanted to keep the style of having an abstract but beautiful scenery but these were just initial thoughts.  I would of also like to re-create their typeface, even know I really like it and I personally think it suits their image very well.  

So brief 1 was re-designing and re branding of Earlyrise.

Idea 2

The designing and re-branding of Djs Above and Beyond.  I have seen Above and Beyond before in Brixton and that has swayed me towards this project brief.  I think that they are so directed in terms of art work as the type of music is trance/ progressive dance music.  So already I am thinking bright colour.  Heres a few images:

As from these above, you can see colour is a huge game if I choose to use Above and Beyond to design for.  I love the idea of using colour and experimenting with their identity to come up with something.  

After thinking a while which is opt for, I just knew I wanted to design for Above and Beyond.  The colour, lasers, insane live shows just did it for me.

Final Independant Project

Out final major project has come around and the brief is as follows:

This module is intended to test your ability to work independently. The successful synthesis of all modules delivered throughout the course promotes the ability for self-directed study. One substantial assignment brief is set, typically eight-weeks in duration, giving scope for interpretation using the underlying themes of the course as described in the course rationale.

By this point in the course, you have experienced sustained practical and theoretical elements of study and become progressively used to self-initiated work. It is expected that you have achieved a personal balance of all of the separate course elements and combined these into a personal visual language that can be applied to a given brief reflecting an expression of individual interests, beliefs and opinions. As the course progresses, more of the nature and content of work produced is your responsibility.

The ability of you to cope with this responsibility is tested by this module. It is not the final assessment tool of the course but it is a useful guide to demonstrate how much you are capable of tackling independently a set of given constraints. You are encouraged to follow relevant individual paths, and to develop high-level skills and test progress against your own criteria. You will have access to tutors’ guidance throughout the duration of this module, though the nature of this is fundamentally different to what might be expected at the beginning of the course and certainly in comparison to FDA Level. Discussions with tutors are primarily conducted with reference to concepts, the architecture of proposed projects and possible research contexts. 


I like the idea that we can design our own design criteria and brief to then go and get on with.  Below are the outcomes of this project.

1.     Research blog demonstrating appropriate theoretical and visual research

2.     Part 1 proposal form

3.     Part 2 evaluation form

4.     Workbook containing idea development, storyboards, plans etc.

5.     Final Digital Artifact Submitted to Server