OUGD601 - Practical research - Modernist/Mainstream music

I decided to visit a HMV store to inspect how music is packaged and sold to consumers, this would help me think of contrasts to the modernist models that exist in the music today, and what I can do to make the Kraftwerk albums stand out. But also to examine design which I find eye catching on the shelves.

I noticed a trend throughout the store which must aim to attract consumers by offering them a complete package of the artist. The artist is presented in all forms such as CD, vinyl, calendars, books and posters, which is a fine example of product, range, distribution in the music industry. It shows the extent graphic design can be used to communicate and showcase the music. I also found these stands similar to the point in the essay about white labels, and how the music is packaged and transferred the into the mainstream. These stands in HMV are an accumulation of the mainstream but made me consider what would be the polar opposite to this and how it'd work.

I looked more closely at CDs in the store as these are the most sold forms of the music, and noticed a majority of the packaging is a cardboard gatefold wrapped in a plastic film. Economically this may be more suitable for labels but I also believe it has a more aesthetically pleasing element to it, unlike the plastic cases. Another benefit of the cardboard gatefold is that it has two packaging styles in one I believe, as the film can have stickers which give the design flexibility but also a hand made touch.

A number of CD sleeves stood out to me from a design point of view including Sleep Well Beast by The National which was designed by Pentagram. Ive seen this project on blogs like ItsNiceThat over the last few weeks, and I found it odd to see a indie band asking a branding agency as big as Pentagram to design the cover and other promotional material. Furthermore, I thought the cover was ironic being very branding led with what looks like a logo being the main aspect of the cover. After seeing the cover in HMV I looked more into the design and discovered it intended to be a riff on corporate branding so that explains the abbreviated name and logo.

The band’s name is shortened to a corporate “Ntl.” logotype and is used to brand merchandise, which in addition to the usual band merch includes obsolete corporate supplies like staplers and tape. The band even had a corporate identity standards manual made which is very unusual for a indie band. I can take influence from this, as I aim to create something unusual and against the grain. As the irony of a band wanting a corporate identity and asking Pentagram to do so is inspiring in my mind and I can link this to the irony of Kraftwerk's covers.