alias design

Finally

This is the most relaxed class in semester one, because we dont have many rules, the class is not serious and teachers are friendly. Lectures are like a new finding classes that I can know some histories of design industry. And know how the original and famous design worked. Tutorials are doing actual activities to feel how design works by ourselves. I learned a lot from all my creative classmates when sharing our ideas. In general, the tutorial of this semester taught me most about typography that I find my ideas of creating unlocked letterforms. Additionally, I got more experiences in every group work that improve my communication skills. The challenges maybe my laziness because some of my post are not in time order because I wrote it in my phone’s reminder and I always forgot to post it on Tumblr.

1. 13

2. 2

XXX

Final piece of zine making:)

ASK ME ANYTHING // CONCLUDE

Oh how this assignment has been so much fun yet stressful at the same time. BEFORE i get into the GUTS of how i used my hands to make things, i’d just like to congratulate everyone for making it through these 12 weeks and how amazing everyone’s ask me anythings look. Im really blown away by how our cohort can produce so much creative work. M I N D B L O W N

ALRIGHT! 

So the The Marías are a band who formed in LA late 2016. The members include Maria, Josh, Carter, Jesse and Edward. Their unique style of music fits under the genre psychedelic-soul. I was introduced to them last year by a friend and fell inlove with their dreamy like composition. The reason why i decided to do a band instead of a Graphic Designer or Illustrator was because i realized that music plays a major part in my everyday life. The amount of music i consume some would say is unhealthy but i just find so much inspiration through what i listen. So when we were given the assignment of Ask me anything, The Marías was immediately on my list.

The creation of this small publication was probably the most fun ive had designing something. Since this task was driven on more interest in your artist rather then criteria, i knew this would be a great way to explore and really experiment with various medias. I started of searching my local thrift stores for items that could be of use. I happen to come across a few old books which had wonderful hard covers. I was lucky enough to find one that was red! This started the ideas flowing on how i could construct everything.

I had also found myself very interested in cassettes and cassette players. Growing up i never got to really experience the period where cassettes were booming. I found the concept of having physical music to be fascinating and oddly satisfying. Also i had no idea how tape worked so im pretty sure it was magic. Since The Marías had only one album out, (Superclean vol.1), I was determined to record it onto a cassette and find out how to do it. (with their permission ofcourse). After some research on how to record onto cassettes, i borrowed a old stereo player from a friend which enabled me to experiment with recording ontop of old cassettes from spotify. I experimented with different recording settings and Type 1 & 2 cassettes. After some frustration, i recorded the album onto a cassette and sliced the tape so it would only be the duration of their album. With 6 songs in their album, i split 3 and 3 and recorded them onto both side A & B. mmm quick math

The second medium i tried for the first time was Embroidery!!! After having difficulty finding a method to create a foil on my hardcover, i decided to give embroidery a try. With the help of a few youtube tutorials and Matilda’s wisdom, i recreated The Marías logo (which was already an embroidery but on a larger scale). and stuck it onto the front of my cover. Embroidery was alot of fun but it was definitely a risky pathway as it was my first and anything could have gone wrong. It also took a long time so a few ghibli films passed the time :’)

Designing the content within the booklet ran pretty smoothly. I knew i wanted to implement this psychedelic theme into the design aswell as their signature red. What was slightly stressful was the replies coming in 2 days before the deadline. It was another very risky gamble however it was all worth it. Since i had designed everything else, all i had to do was plonk the answers into the slots and rush to dinkums. Note to self, if ever creating another booklet, set up your documents as individual half pages instead of two pages on one piece of paper. Deciphering the correct order on what goes where is a nightmare. 

The whole concept of my project was that while you listened to the music, you would read through the booklet and create a connection between the two. I found that the experience of sitting infront of a stereo and having to listen through each song and then flip the cassette, a very warming and meaningful experience. I guess you cant really skip a song forcing you to listen to what the artist has to express. I shrink rapped everything together at the end to give the user (Andy and Karen lol) a real experience of something you would purchase from an artist. 

Overall it was SO MUCH FUN creating this and learnt so many new things from it. Id like to thank everyone who helped me with feedback and advice on making this and ofcourse, The Marías for giving me this opportunity and answering my questions. 

If you were curious on what they sound like:  https://soundcloud.com/themarias/sets/superclean-vol-i

Much much love

When Luciano Benetton met photographer Oliviero Toscano in 1982, he was shown that a focus of message over product could be more effective in launching billboards and advertisements. It was during these years that United Colors of Benetton started publishing their controversial ads, with strong messages surrounding race, gender equality, to even world hunger.

Do I fully support putting a corporate brand identity onto an image that speaks in a very confrontational way about certain social issues? Not entirely.

It’s not that I’m offended; these were taken thirty years ago and taking offense to them would be a bit too late anyway. I just think that with this PR reality, as much as the world might think that Benetton was “speaking for justice” and kind of became this social, activist warrior name who confidently pushed these issues forward, I don’t think it was their main focus.

I imagine a meeting room where the executives and creative directors discuss their next campaign, and let’s be real: Everyone’s thinking about how to sell the brand. What message they can use to spark the most public reaction, and therefore place attention on their brand. What picture will be the most talked about for a long period of time so people remember that Benetton did that.

Surely some may disagree but for me, at the end of the day, their motives were probably just 90% marketing and 10% social activism.

But it worked.

And this method still continues to work to this day.

How many times have we seen ads that are controversial these days? How many times have brands poked fun at certain hot topics or news or even political matters? How many times have brands used more “diversity” in their models to make a statement towards the fashion industry? 

The nature of marketing and advertising is rapidly evolving more than ever, and this includes them being braver to find unconventional ways to appeal to their target audience. They might still be within ethical rules, but to be fair, they do enjoy floating near the borderline.

Do I hate it though? No. In fact, I respect and admire it. Because at least they’re bringing some meaning to what they’re putting out there. Instead of being bombarded with product sales, I think being bombarded with strong, clear messages that encourage people to think socially is a much better world.

And at the end, if it does the job, which is to sell,

they have no reason to quit.