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Design Autopsy #2: Ayria’s Hearts for Bullets
By Destroyx | December 26, 2008
Last week I discussed the artwork I did for Ayria’s Gun Song Ep. This week I’m going to discuss the process and outcome for her follow up album Hearts for Bullets. This is one of the favourite pieces of design I’ve done this year, and I’m very lucky to have been able to collaborate with a fellow artist and friend. I think the outcome is a great union between people that have a shared vision (and happen to like pink!).
BRANDING
The artwork for Hearts for Bullets was to retain the same branding and visual style as The Gun Song. Consistency is key when it comes to branding, and it was important that there was a visual connection between the two CDs. So it was decided that the album would also be pink in colour, as well as retain the a visual language developed for the EP. For this reason, I didn’t have to make another mood board and texture board.
HEART GUN CREST LOGO
I always think it’s a good idea to come up with a specific logo inspired by the album so that it can become the centrepoint of the albums visual identity. Once developed, the logo can be used on merchandise (stickers, buttons & t-shirts), in press kits, business cards and for onstage graphics. The heart gun crest logo was the one I came up with for this album.
The inspiration for the logo came from a photograph that Jenn sent me of a necklace she was wearing in the photoshoot, which was a heart surrounded by two guns. I used the photograph as a base for the vector graphic of the logo. Later on in photoshop I added some texture, drips and swirls (which are meant to represent gun smoke). The pink splatters convey the ‘pop violence’ aspect of our culture, which is a recurring theme in the album. In the picture above you can see the progression of the logo, and how much it changed from its initial stages. You can also see how it can be adapted and applied to various uses such as a t-shirt.
THE COVER
Selecting a successful cover image of a CD is the most important decision a designer will have to make in the design process. An eye-catching image is crucial in effective marketing of a CD and for this reason, a lot of thought must go into picking the best image. Jenn already had an idea about which image she thought would be best for the cover and how she wanted the image treated, so my job was made easier in this stage.
I also made a few rough thumbnail designs (above) to start a dialogue between Jenn and I about whether my vision fulfilled her brief. It is always a good idea to do this before proceeding into the detailed and time consuming design phase. Jenn had the idea about illustrating hearts popping out of the gun in the photo and I rendered it up and sent it to her for her approval before designing the final version (below).
THE LYRIC BOOKLET
The very juicy part of design work for this CD was definitely the 16 page booklet which I put a tremendous amount of effort into, because I believe that if the artwork is treasured, it adds a lot of value to the CD. I know this encourages people to purchase the CD instead of downloading it. I keep this in mind while designing, making sure I create something with a lot of detail so that people can look at it repeatedly and gain something out of it.
One of the challenges was figuring out how to use type creatively to convey the meaning of the lyrics within the confines of the space. I only had 16 pages to work with, so I knew it was going to be a challenge because I had to fit 12 songs into the booklet and I wanted to fit as many promotional photographs of Jenn inside, because they were gorgeous!
What I decided to do was to forgo using a traditional grid layout for the type and favoured instead an expressive freeform layout because I felt it was more appropriate for content. I tried to convey as much meaning into each song title through the use of creative typography. For example the word ‘invisible’ has been degraded and faded away to emphasise the meaning of the word. The song ‘my poison’ has a dripping ‘o’ to convey the sense of seeping poison.
Above: Examples of expressive typography
Overall I tried to make the artwork as organic and dynamic as possible without sacrificing legibility of the lyrics. The typography attempts to enhance the meaning of the lyrics in a graphical union between type, textures and photographs.
FINAL DESIGN
Above: CD Tray and Inner Tray
LIMITED EDITION BOXED SET ARTWORK
PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE ACTUAL PRODUCT
If you like the look of the CD, it sounds ten times as awesome as it looks! So please support independent artists and check out her website or record label.
Topics: Design, Design Autopsy, Uncategorized |
December 26th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
I got the standard version for xmas and its great! Both music and artwork have a kind of flow and relationship wit each other- brilliant work DX! (and Ayria of course) x
December 26th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
boomfucker!
“i love munitions” “mirror” & “the gun song” ooze designsex.
that’s it, i’m ordering the deluxe box instead!
December 26th, 2008 at 2:18 pm
Videokid- thanks sir! I’m glad you liked the CD. The music is brilliant isn’t it?
k0mmizzar- yeah.. order the deluxe set. you get a whole bunch of cool goodies with it too, like a postcard, poster and wristband I think.
December 26th, 2008 at 6:00 pm
DX, my fav songs are “blue alice” and “the gun song” i realllly cannot get into “six seconds” though :|
x
December 26th, 2008 at 7:53 pm
I’m actually addicted to Ayria’s music
But i sadly don’t have this CD yet :(
But I have The Gun Song EP, and the other stuff
so that will do for now :)
But the design work is absolutely stunning!
You’ve done an amazing job :)
xx
December 26th, 2008 at 9:04 pm
Pretty, a very interesting cover, and that booklet’s a beauty! =)
But again; the trouble is: I.Am.Broke.
Grr..
December 27th, 2008 at 7:21 am
What the hell Nolux Tame?
Anyways I love seeing where the logo came from. That’s so cool =D
December 27th, 2008 at 7:46 am
VideoKid- hey those are my favourite songs too! I also like 1000 transmissions and bad list.. =)
Blitz- Thanks SO MUCH for your compliment. I hope you manage to get the new CD because it’s a real treat. Jenn would also be happy to hear you like her music. =)
Lady Hypocryte- Hopefully one day you’ll get to hear it.. maybe even see her live in concert, she’s really good!
Keith- Yeah it’s interesting to see how logos can progress and how an idea can come to fruition.
December 27th, 2008 at 11:52 am
Hi, I stumbled across your blog the other day and just thought I’d say hi!
By the way, your design artwork is truly incredible. Well done on the CD cover, logo, and booklet, they all look amazing :) I’ll have to keep an eye out for her album, haven’t heard of her before.
December 27th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
Gem- Hello! Welcome to my humble blog! I had a peek at your blog and I liked your review of Twilight.. I wanted to know what all of the fuss was about!
Thanks so much, I am glad you like the art. =)
It’s a bit hard to get her CDs in Australia, in fact its nearly impossible because there isn’t much distro.
December 28th, 2008 at 3:43 am
I am in love with Ayria. And i actually discovered Angelspit through Jenn when i began following her tour with you guys and the Cruxshadows– so it was really neat to see this collaboration.
And your design work is incredible, DX. I would find it impressive if i just stumbled across it, but i love it even more because of your design work on Krankhaus and Blood Death Ivory; i love seeing artists who can work with such different themes and don’t just regurgitate the same kind of style over and over again. And your right–it definently makes me want to buy the cd instead of just downloading it. Great job!
December 28th, 2008 at 5:58 am
Rae- Thanks for your compliments, that’s very sweet of you to say.
I’m glad you notice the attention to detail I put into everything =) I’m a bit of a design nut like that.
December 28th, 2008 at 8:17 am
I LOVE the design, it’s exactly the kind of design I’m always looking for. I have so many pictures saved to my computer with the same elements.
Unfortunately it sounds like I’d be unlikely to see this in person because I’m in NZ.
I love the rest of your blog too, and your style.
December 29th, 2008 at 12:00 am
Ms Constantine- Cool! I’m glad you like the art.
I hope one day she can tour Oz & NZ, but it’s hard because it’s so expensive. The only time we can see her is when we play shows with her overseas!
I’m glad you like the blog, thanks for visiting! I also checked out your blog too! Good stuff =)
December 29th, 2008 at 1:26 am
NIce design Amelia its fucken cool X), where did you and Jennifer meet?
December 29th, 2008 at 2:08 am
Rie Rie- We met on tour last year in the USA. I wrote a bit about it in my description of the artwork I did for her EP
http://destroyx.com/2008/12/16/design-autopsy-1-ayrias-gun-song-cd-design/
December 29th, 2008 at 2:52 am
I love the job you did on the graphic part *_*
I’d love to get the cd, but I’ll have to check out the stores here (I’m also an Ayria fan ^^)
December 29th, 2008 at 9:35 am
Eee! I am forever going to love you for your magnificent designs! It gives me a lot of ideas myself. ^_^; I have a really hard time getting them into works, though. Traditional art is getting me down, lol.
December 29th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
Murdercute1994- Thanks so much! I think though, its easiest to order through Alfa Matrix from belgium, because I’m not sure about it’s distro outside of Europe & USA.
Catherine- YAY! I’m glad you like my work and that it inspires you =) Traditional art is hard, but I’m sure you can do it well.
January 4th, 2009 at 9:40 pm
Very Great Work !!
(i’ve got the “SPECIAL EDITION 2CD BOX SET”
January 5th, 2009 at 4:18 pm
FMR- YAY! I hope you love it!
January 5th, 2009 at 9:44 pm
of course i love it
greetings from here
January 7th, 2009 at 1:12 am
Love it babe! Thanks for this write up! I’ve cross posted it to mySpace and blogs, etc! ;)
Jenn
AYRIA
January 7th, 2009 at 12:50 pm
Jennifer Parkin- YAY!! BTW.. I think we are going to start stocking your CD in Australia because everyone is asking me where to get it from =)
January 11th, 2009 at 6:05 am
i bought the limited edition when it first came out and it looked amazing. i was automaticly impressed. :)
January 19th, 2009 at 1:56 am
The artwork is absolutely incredible DestroyX! It looks so completely amazing! You are a extremely talented artist DX :)
xx
May 3rd, 2009 at 4:25 pm
[...] style and design work, she has meticulous attention to detail. I am particularly in love with this CD cover she designed, I am in love with all designs of this style, especially the ones in pink and black! [...]
July 27th, 2009 at 7:26 pm
I really like it :) I couldn’t help but notice the similarities between the front cover and the back tracklisting, with Blood Death Ivory.
March 19th, 2010 at 1:28 am
Awesome…
Absolutely awesome…
I admire your work and it inspires me a lot. I’m studying Graphic Design and founding out what your work is about makes me want to improve my skills…
I LOVE your music too…
Nothing else to say than You and Your work is really great!
Love ya
+PSY+