Katherine evaluates her ancillary task of designing a CD cover and inserts for the fictional band Fire Drive Tiger. She summarizes the design process for each element, including using inspiration from real band covers and layouts. Key design elements included a cartoon tiger face, orange and black colors, and matching fonts. Katherine believes the final ancillary product captures the pop/rock genre, appeals to their target audience, and complements their music video well through consistent use of the tiger icon and colors across all pieces.
2. The Products... CD DigiPak: Advert: I feel our ancillary task suits our final music video well. It captures the essence of a teenage pop/rock band and is fun enough to link in with the “teen film” genre of the music video.
3. The Front Cover... The main images I used for inspiration to created this Front Cover are as follows: As you can see here the layout of the front covers are pretty much the same. I have gone for the same cartooned effect however I have chosen not to cut out their faces as fully due to the status of the band. A band like Blur is well known and recognised so people already know who they are, Fire Drive Tiger however need to be recognised in order to gain popularity. I really liked the simplicity of the image and know it would be a good one to use as it is memorable and iconic.
4. Continued... I decided to put the Band title in the middle to give a sense of symmetry. The font I used I found on www.dafont.com. I decided to use this font style because I liked this image – I thought the way the thick font stood out against the images worked well, so used something similar. I used the more spiraled font for the album name at the bottom because I felt it contrasted with the name and was subtle but still stood out. Finally I decided to insert the tiger’s face onto the image to link in with the video itself. During the video there are several moments of superimposition and this looks similar on the final image. The image of the tiger itself is also present a lot in the video and gives the audience something to recognise. I also changed some of the colours on Photoshop to make them stand out more against the very dark background. For example the orange in the hair and the eye colour, these colours also tie in well again with the pop/rock genre.
5. The Left Insert... The main images I used for inspiration to created this Left Insert are as follows: I found this image of the band members in “The Libertines” interesting because the colours and style is very down stated but the image itself is powerful and memorable. Its also quirky enough to work for a pop/rock band. Amy and I photographed the band in a reasonably similar image and then using Photoshop I changed the colours on the picture.
6. Continued... I decided to border the image in the colour orange because not only is the colour one of the main themes of the band but its vibrant and eye-catching which is what we wanted for this inside cover like this: I also liked the font used on The Libertines image and it was very close to the font we used on the cover. We then used the same font for the “Let Me Hook Up With Your Brother” slogan at the bottom to again, give the audience something to recognise.
7. The Right Insert... The main images I used for inspiration to created this Right Insert are as follows: We decided to use the band logo for the CD holder as the shape worked well and we thought it looked striking enough. We also felt it link all of the pages together well with the colours and the use of the tiger face on the front and the back.
8. The Back Cover... The main images I used for inspiration to created this Back Cover are as follows: Amy and I really liked this image of Rihanna when we first saw it because it looks like tiger stripes and we instantly knew this would work for our piece. We like how it was sexy yet used a similar cut out effect we had used on our front cover. We incorporated this into our back cover by photographing the singer in the same pose and adding a shadow to the back of her body. We wanted to use orange instead of red but we wanted our piece to look more interesting than a plain background. We brought the tiger into the image and thought it made the whole image look more vibrant and professional.
9. Continued... It also now looks apart of the overall CD DigiPak. We next changed the colours on the singer’s hair and dress, we made the hair brighter and more out standing and the dress less green and more orange than red. This made the image blend with the background. We changed the contrast on her face so she looked cut out like Rihanna. Next we used the same fonts as before for the title of the band and the track listing, this again gives the CD a rounded off feeling. To then make the CD look even more professional we added some logos and a bar code. This simple effect made the CD look as if it could be sold in a shop.
10. The Advert... The main images I used for inspiration to created this Advert are as follows: Although this image is not one of the official Paramore album adverts I liked the layout of having the band at the bottom and the name at the top with a simple release date, it’s to the point but effective. I also merged this image with this one:
11. Continued... I liked the idea of having an image of the CD on the actual poster. However one thing I felt was that the poster would need more colour on it to suit the rest of the ancillary. In the end I used the same fonts and images from the ancillary and changed the contrast of the band members to make them look more outstanding. I then used the layout and ideas I’d found from my research to design the final piece. I also decided to use the tiger in the background again as it is a main part of the ancillary design and worked well as the background.
12. Conclusion... I believe our overall product has worked really well, it represents not only the music genre with the bright colouring and the bold lettering but appeals to the same audience we aimed our video at. I think the tiger is unique and is iconic for the band, it also relates to the name. The orange colouring works well too not only with the tiger and the name but with the lead singers hair. It makes the band’s image all that more striking. I believe the ancillary looks very professional and we have used our research as well as developing original ideas well. The product also works well with the music video itself.
