Secret 7" Competition

This brief is to design artwork for a 7" single for one of the available artists, I have chosen to design for Laura Marling and Nick Drake simply because I am more familiar with them than any of the other artists.

Whilst listening to the songs that I was designing for I sketched some initial ideas that I thought would complement the feel and message of the song

I decided that a good design solution for 'The Beast' would be a bed that has two opposing bedsteads that represent the two characters marling sings about.

Laura Marling

The addition of a scruffy quilt illustrates the distance and separation between the two characters

After looking at this the next day I decided that 'The Beast' half of the bed needed some more suggestion towards it being a beast:

After returning to this design I thought that it was a little bare and would get flicked past when compared with other submissions, I have decided to add another element to it to give it more mystery and interest.

I looked into alchemic symbols that are relevant to the nature of the song which is about these two characters that are, essentially, good and evil.

To represent an unbalanced and abuseful relationship:

Trying to combine the two designs was getting quite crowded

I decided to cut the bed design in half to make it more cryptic and also the lower half of the bed looked a bit like a cat which wasn't fitting to the song.

This is the final submission for the competition:

Nick Drake - Rider on the Wheel

The Nick Drake song makes a very lonely and solemn atmosphere which seems to be about some character who's on his own, presumably on a Ferris wheel which emphasises his loneliness.

I want to create a simple design that focusses on the solitude of the character

I like the idea of a high contrast between the character and his surroundings, like he doesn't really fit in.

These colours work perfectly but fall outside the CMYK gamut

After revisiting this design I think it would be better to simplify it even more:

I think this is more effective as it is a bit unbalanced and has a light vs. heavy feel to it which is represented by Nick Drakes light music and often downbeat subject matter.