PHOTOSHOP TUTORIAL

Today I took part in a Photoshop tutorial session in preparation for making my DIGIPAK cover. I use Photoshop a lot so I used this session to refresh my memory and play around with simple tools like inserting images, changing opacity and adding text and more advanced steps like changing the hue and saturation and bevelling and embossing the main image to make it stand out. 

Here is the final product from the session: 

DIGIPAK - Design Ideas

DESIGN IDEA 1

The first design of my DIGIPAK is consistent with the design music video. The photo on the front contains a photo of George playing a violin (showcasing his talent as more than just a singer) surrounded by balloons and people in masks. I'd like to think that either the masks or the balloons would be used as a motif throughout his music videos or 'artistic work' in that sense. The back would be a photo of balloons, with the track list shown on top. The lyrics book is again a reference to the romantic scene in the video and the CD would be kept plain white. 

DESIGN IDEA 2

I wanted to retain a simple idea for both back and front with just a plain black background and a coloured balloon. The balloon on the front will also contain a faded reflection of George so it isn't as ambiguous as most indie album covers but still contains an image of him to reflect the artist. The balloon on the back will contain the track list of the album. The inside lyric book contains the reference to the music video also showing the motif of the video of George playing the violin, masks and balloons. The CD tray will be a white background and the actual CD will have coloured balloons printed on it.

Music Video: FOCUS GROUP FEEDBACK

Last week I conducted a focus group with my class asking questions like: 

1) What do you think of the artist after watching the video? 

2) What colors do you think about when watching? 

3) How are women represented in this video? 

4) What image is the artist trying to get across to his audience? 

5) Was the story of the video clear? 

I was pleasantly surprised by the reaction the video received, how they perceived the artist, his image, branding as it was exactly how I wanted it to be. They understood the narrative between George and the girl, which was one of my main worries when making the video. They also saw George's image and branding in the same way that I had branded him which was nice to hear because again I wasn't sure it was clear enough. I was surprised to hear what they then thought the the video was saying about women and falling in love; as they said things like they are presented as 'animalistic', 'two-timing' and 'cheaters'.