Album Art 1

I decided too look into the album covers which Domino had released for their signed artists. I wanted to look into the range of colour, layout designs, imagery and type.

Im looking into the covers for bigger artists signed to the label which get more publicity and backing. The artists that i chose to base my research on were:

• Four Tet
• To Rococo Rot

Below 1. Four Tet's - Everything ecstatic album cover which is an image based design, which uses a bright eye-catching colour pallet. The font is a lowercase, serif which is designed with a more curvy and playful look. The design is very busy in the top left which is the key area to be legible. I like the design although i feel the layout of the text has let it down slightly.

Below 2. This cover is completely different from the previous. The design looks to be based on a grid of 3 columns (a lot like you could see in a magazine layout) The title is sat in the first placed in the first column. The type is Bold and set in uppercase which immediately catches the eye. I am then taken down to the image which is set across 3 columns and uses a two tone colour pallet of black and white. This is a unique design in terms of album cover art - the layout is of its own. I will take a lot from this design in terms of layout and use of upper and lowercase type.

Below 1. Once again, Four Tet have gone in a different direction for another album cover. Based on a photograph the type has been set subtle in the image. The murky white canvas makes the objects in the image stand out and allows some of the text to stand out in their own white text box. I like this design for its subtleness and way it delivers its message.

Below 2. Obviously this design focused on the image. I like the cleverness of this design in terms of colour pallet. The text is set in a gradient which uses the same colours and tones of the image. Layout does not look amazing but it was fundamental in making this design work.

To Rococo Rot - is once again unique in terms of its album art. Once again i will evaluate each cover below in terms of layout, colour pallet, type and imagery.

Below 1. This cover is purely typographically based. With what looks like hand rendered and stenciled letter forms laid out to make an aesthetically pleasing piece. The essential detail left in the cover is that of the bands name and album. Colour wise - the design is very bland. It uses no in your face colours - only subtle tones. I really like this piece for its originality.

Below 2. Another cover which is laid out on the canvas of a photograph. The image is drawing and immediately makes the eye explore. Using an image of curled up wires set on what could be a hammer and other objects - your eyes cant help but look. The text is very subtle - using a sans-serif in lowercase which is set in white. But to make sure this does not stand out from the image - the type has the opacity set at different levels for different words. This allows for a more subtle title and it also allows the colour from the image to be seen through the type.

More existing labels

Again looking into current label designs - but this time looking at designs with a colour pallet of just black and white. Below are several of my favorite designs that i found on the internet.

• Wot Records - Through using a simple outline design with detail such as buildings and dripping paint this design is already very distinctive. The 'WOT' is a Sans-Serif with a bold weight. 'RECORDINGS' is an italic sans-serif with a light weight. I like the design for its unique style and ability to stand out wit just one tone colour.
• Airtight Records - Very well developed design. Using a simple vectored image and using the space aligned space to fit the text in. Once again this design uses a sans-serif - stencil font which gives more impact to the text.
• Ultra Records - This is one of my first examples which is purely type based. It is obviously a downloadable font which is a bold, italic sans-serif, which is very striking with 'Records' in a bold, regular sans-serif below. I do like this design but i wish mine to have more too it - some sort of vector or photographic image.

Record Labels

Looking into competitors and fellow record labels I found a huge range of brand designs. From full colour to black and white. Photographed pieces to hand rendered designs. The first 3 examples i have given below show a wide range of different outcomes for the same target market.

• Whirlpool productions - The image is very dark, with details such as chains and smoke. It is a very eye-catching design, professionally finished to a high standard. The font is Helvetica and in the text 2 weights have been used - Bold and Light. The white text does well to stand out amongst this piece which uses a very minimal number of colours.
• Visionary Sound - Another design which uses minimal colour. This design has a very simple illustration which could be an eye lid? Although I'm not certain what this is - it does well to catch your eye. The font is San-Serif at a medium stroke. By keeping the illustration and the type the same colour the eye does not get distracted to any other part of the design. This could be because of the simple gradient affect used for the silver backdrop.
• Armada - Very bright and in your face design. However not the most aesthetically pleasing. I can see the logic in the design however on a first glance it looks like a holiday rep logo. The design has a cheap, last minute feel about it which is not helped by the image which looks like the sun with a kite drifting in-front of it.

Below I have taken a look into 3 very different logo's to see how the font makes a difference to the final outcome.

• Electric-02 - This design is one of my favorites. It is eye-catching, unique and very playful. In reality the designer has took a standard typeface and cut here, extended there and produced an ace design. When i look at this design i think of creatives who are music orientated - it has some sort of appeal and subtleness which appeals to its target audience.
• Beatportal - This design has an immediate feel of music. The font used is commonly used or imitated in the design world. The electric green backdrop with several gradients really is an eye-catcher, which works well with the stone white font. A simple touch is the volume levels pointing down from one of the letters - not necessarily needed however it does help the design.
• Subplot Records - This design is very eye-catching due to its collaged image and solid colour. Obviously music orientated once you spot the drum for a head and supported by what looks to be a downloadable font which has been modified to include '+' symbols. The design uses only two colours in its pallet but works very well. It stands out to its audience and would be easy to adjust to many different products.

Domino Records (rebrand research)

A major part of my brief - is to redesign (rebrand) Domino Records of London. I thought my best bet would be to look into current record labels around the UK to see if there are any current trends, styles or themes to their logos. The first set of logos I have below are all black and white using grey scale for shades and depths. The logos attached are a selection of the best brand designs i could first find in my initial research:

• MySpace Records is one of my favorite designs. Keeping in theme with the MySpace logo using the silhouettes of people with large headphones is simple, affective and recognisable.
• 2 Tone Records have a different approach to their logo. Taking an image of a classic vinyl and adding some collage images with classic type. It makes a very unique and distinctive design - which I feel is one of the best I have researched so far.
• Evermore Records has a brilliant logo. Using a custom typeface and a hand rendered vinyl image it produces and affective and innovative design.

The designs above using tones of green are all mockups for different brands. I chose to take this from my research to show how creative you can be - and how simple. I do like a couple of the designs above:

• Lomax - the design consists of a large curved typeface which is also 3D. It also has two arrows and paint running from the bottom of the design. I like the design as its simple yet eye catching - layout is essential in all design work, if the arrows were in a different location or the type was smaller the design would not work as-well as it currently does.
• Rubik Recordings has another simple yet affective logo. Using the basic lines from a Rub-ix Cube and a unique, eye-catching typeface - an affective logo was produced.

Domino - Other Designs

I have decided to do some very basic research to start with and see what I find. The word 'Domino' is immediately associated with Dominos Pizza - I think you will agree. So i decided to look deeper into other brands, shops, restaurants etc with the name Domino. I found around 15 examples in my research 3 of which were simple clip-art designs which I have decided not too include in this.

The examples below range in terms of design. Some are very simple, cheap and cheesy feel - where as some are designed with nice type, colour, layout etc. To some up the majority of the designs below: I will take a lot from looking at these designs e.g.: colour, scale, type, layout and imagery. I will also take this chance to see that it will be hard to make a logo for Domino Records - without some sort of association with a domino. Emailing Domino Records could help here to find out if there is a story behind the name.

Below: This design is very professional. Beautiful design using very nice font. The font itself however i associate with music - more specifically the d&b genre. The design however is nice and works its part to attract customers. By adding the simple 'Galeria' text at the bottom the logo becomes more specific and legible.

Below: This is definitely my favorite design which I found relating to Domino. Its bold vibrant background colour and stone white type is immediately eye-catching. The layout of the text and general design is very well finished. Although i see this design working more towards television - possibly for an ident, i still feel its a good piece to work from.

Domino Records

Domino Recording company, generally known as Domino Records is an independent record label based in London. There is also a wing of the label based in the USA in the Brooklyn offices. Domino Records was founded in 1993 by Laurence Bell and Jacqui Rice who cater for solo artists, bands and groups in the Indie rock/pop genre. 2003 saw the label's 10th anniversary - there were a number of new releases, as well as a compilation album and a series of gigs in London under the 'Worlds of Possibility' Banner, to celebrate the label's first decade in October of that year.

Domino Records has worked with big artists in the Indie world and remains a huge success as far as record labels are concerned. Working with artists such as:

• The Arctic Monkeys
• The Fall
• These New Puritans
• Four Tet
• The Kills
• Franz Ferdinand
• The Last Shadow Puppets

The record label works with well known artists and I feel they need a more themed logo.