OUGD504 - Studio Brief 4 - Website Development

I decided that I would mock up all of the wireframes with full images and some filler text. The first one I did was the more traditional web layout. 

Already you can tell that this layout is too busy with too many things to look at. The user needs something to focus on and this has too much to look at.  Although I do think that the textures that I have used within the site adds a 3D look that jumps out of the screen. I mocked up a wooden plank to have the type laser cut out of it and I think that this works really well. The concept of the found object really comes through in this website design. 

Next I took the same effect from the plank for the title in the first web design that I did and applied it to more text over some imagery. I really like this effect of the image of the sky with the text on wood over it. Seasick Steve himself is from California which is known for its blue skies so I feel like this is very relevant. Also I think adding his portrait onto the site in this manner is a lot more effective in contextualising everything for his fans.

Next I tried out adding one of his famous guitars as the key element of the website. I thought that perhaps the guitar could change through out the campaign and reveal something new every time it changes. I used a black background here because it provided the best contrast to the guitar. However I believe that this is now too dark and the colours connote a rock artist and not a folk and blues artist. 

Next I paired back the first wireframe and added a design similar to one of those in my initial thumbnail sketches. I also toned down the cardboard textured background which I think looks a lot better because the brown was a bit too muddy and made the page feel dirty. While I want to portray the concept of found objects I still want to keep the website looking clean. I have decided to move forward with this design as I feel that it is the most effective so far and could be developed further to produce the site that I want. 

One of my peers found a good program for prototyping websites called Justinmind so I decided that for my final designs I would use this to mock them up fully. At first I struggled to work around the settings of this program but gradually I began to pick it up slowly after experimenting a lot with it.

I tried to develop a page to show an example of a release that might be included in the campaign. So I mocked up a video player and framed it using the wood planks that I had used previously.

All of these initial pages that I mocked up feel too brown and muddy. There is no contrast between the background and the titles on the wood - it is all the same kind of brown colour. So after this I will either tone the background down a lot or remove the texture from it completely. Also with these initial designs that I did I feel like there is no structure to them. It's just a title and an image and nothing else. It lacks information for the user. So I think I need to add some sort of navigation and something that is visually interesting rather than just flat imagery on a page. 

To create more contrast and to add something a bit more special to the page I worked on a gif. I wanted to make it look like it was writing itself however all the tutorials I found for after effects were long and confusing. So I compiled a set of images and combined them to build up so it looked like the text was being coloured in. I'm really pleased with the outcome of this gif and when I took away the background and added it to my webpage it immediately made it pop.

Going off my earlier wireframes and mock ups I decided to scrap the design before after in a crit I was told to pair everything back. I decided to create an enter page for the site using the gif and a portrait of the man himself as a precursor to the site. This way people are almost greeted by the artist himself almost like a welcome to the website. I think I will carry this theme of simplicity for the rest of the site with a hint of found objects and quirkiness from the hand-drawn type.

OUGD504 - Studio Brief 4 - Interim Critique

After designing some new campaign site ideas I still felt a bit lost as how to advertise this campaign and take it outside of the website onto more traditional media. My concept for found objects was strong but I was unsure how this could translate into a suitable campaign to gain interest.

As soon as I showed my website ideas someone said that the layout was similar to that of a normal website - not a campaign one - because I hadn't summarised the information and links that were on there. So this is definitely something that can be easily rectified.
Also I explained how the first thing that I did was create the custom typeface from Steve's handwriting and though it was a weird priority my peers said that it was very effective and that it captured the essence of the man himself, which adds to the whole experience.
They particularly liked my site where I used his portrait with the curved type - as it seemed approachable and intriguing. They liked the use of the black and white photo of Steve saying that it makes it more personal and immediately relates you to him. One person suggested that I could perhaps animate the type so that it looked like it was writing itself when on the website. I think this is a good idea because otherwise the front "enter" page of the site would look very static and not that attractive.

After getting some initial feedback on my website designs I asked about things that I could do for the campaign. One of my peers said that they had found that bands like U2 set up flash events where they will have pop up gigs or appearances only advertised an hour before they happen. I feel like this is suitable for U2 because of their recognition but with Seasick Steve he isn't that well known so it might not create the same buzz of activity.
I also ran my idea of having a pop up installation in the city out of found materials - like a little shack or a little bar that would make people want to approach and explore what its about. Steve himself drinks on stage so I thought that a bar might be quite appropriate and my peers said that this might just work.

But my favourite idea from one of my peers was to create an easter egg hunt of sorts, scattering objects all over a certain city from one of the 5 main target countries (Germany, France, UK, USA and Australia). Then people would have to find these peculiar found items in order to win gig tickets, merchandise or a track or album for free. This is a brilliant idea as it would create a buzz of interest around the cities and prompt people to use a hashtag or go out and get involved with a campaign that's not just digital. I thought of using QR codes to do this, so say there was a little plank of wood with a QR code, you could scan it and get the link to your prize. Obviously these QR codes would have a limited number of scans.

After this critique I feel a lot more confident about this brief, I was a bit iffy before as I have never really tackled digital design or design for screen. So having some positive feedback has helped a lot.

OUGD504 - Studio Brief 4 - Thumbnail sketches and Wireframes

When I looked on the website for Seasick Steve I found it didn't reflect his personality or his music at all. There was nothing wrong with it a part from that it lacked character. So I decided to do some wireframe sketches to start with to alter the website for the campaign.

I started out traditionally with some sketches of some of the ideas I came up with after looking at some campaign sites and musician's sites. The first layout was a very structured site idea, similar to the one that he has now but stripped back a bit. I had this idea of using a plank of wood for the titles and laser cutting the text into them. This would add to the humble roots of the man himself as well as giving the site an edgy and unique touch reflecting his music style. 

The second idea is even more minimal - stripping the site back so that each element is revealed as the user scrolls down. I do like this idea as it is like the user is exploring the site one element at a time. Also the use of a bold title on the wood plank would look very effective as an enter page of sorts. However I feel that it does not give enough room for information about the artist or the new album.

Taking my concept of using Seasick Steve's guitars quite literally I thought that I could create a themed page for each of the guitars throughout the new album release campaign, revealing a bit more of the album with each different guitar. 

The final idea was once again a more paired back version of Seasick Steve's original website once again with an enter page. I thought I could include a portrait of the man himself because nothing says more about him than his own image. And then as you scroll down the site it would reveal a newsfeed of all of his events and social media pages. 

Next I made digital versions of the thumbnail sketches that I created to use as wireframes for templates of possible website designs using the 12 column grid that Only supplied. I started out with desktop website designs as I feel that I can easily take the main elements of a normal website design to translate it into a mobile website design or a tablet website design.

I started by plotting out my first, more traditional layout which uses columns to separate the different parts of the website, similar to the layout of the site already. But I have used a large title over the top of the site to stop it feeling so modular. The circles on the side bar would be the navigation buttons. I planned on using bottle caps for these to match the found objects them as well as paper textures for the main body of the website. 

Next I tried one of my more paired down approaches - to just use images and contrast them with text on objects over it. As a wireframe this looks rather empty but I hope when images are added that it will flesh out the design a bit better. I might add some more pictures onto this layout in order to add a bit more interest or information as I do feel that it is lacking at the moment. 

I went back to the traditional layout and decided to try and simplify it a bit more. So I took the navigation bar and moved it so it was across the top rather than down the side giving the main body of images and text a lot more space to breath. This immediately looks like a huge improvement to how it was before. I also feel that this layout would be a lot clearer for the reader because of this extra space, the navigation bar on my original wireframe may have been confused for an image. Also it wouldn't have been easy to navigate.

I also came up with some wireframe concepts for the mobile site as I figured if I had the smallest screen size layout and the largest then I could always work out the in-between screen sizes from this. For the design I thought that if the top navigation bar was static and then you could scroll down infintely without having to worry about scrolling back up to the top. Also I used the hamburger symbol to pop down into the navigation bar although I am starting to think that it should drop down to be the full screen rather than a little corner as it would be harder for people with larger fingers to click on just one of the elements in the list. 

OUGD504 - Studio Brief 4 - Website Design Research

I searched for some musician's websites that were similar in genre to Seasick Steve and who also had a unique element to their music.

I found Rivers & Robots first of all. Their site is really simple in terms of the layout. It uses muted and neutral tones to give a calming feel to the website, reflecting the acoustic nature of their music. One aspect that I really like about this website is the subtle little details that make the site a bit more aesthetically pleasing. Like the zig zag cut off of the main panel, making it look like it is a piece of fabric. Also the subtle lined shadow on the title lifts it off the background making it look again like an embroidered piece on some fabric. This makes the site seem natural and rustic which is probably the kind of vibe that you would get from the band. 

I also looked at Noah and the Whale's site because they have very similar folky style music to Seasick Steve. Their site was the definition of too simple in my opinion. They had no information on the website what so ever - just links to their social media accounts over an image of the band. However this does show how minimal some bands websites can be, just being purely visually rather than informative. 

The next site that I came across was Regina Spektor's, I really like how she uses multiple textures like the paper and fabric in the background. However I feel like this look with the script typeface and imagery combines to be a bit too much - it feels really crowded. Although I do like this use of the paper and the textures - it relates to my found object concept for the website. 

Additionally I found Red Hot Chilli Pepper's site really interesting because it had lots of interactive elements to it based on the colours of each of the different pages on the navigation bar. (See below for examples)

The layout of the different pages is very ordered, in a 3 by 3 grid this gives it a really clean and contemporary look. Paired with the use of the monotone thumbnail images and contrasting colours it makes the site vibrant and exciting for the user. I feel like this vibrancy really suits the Red Hot Chilli Peppers but with Seasick Steve I wanted to keep the colours fairly natural reflecting wood and paper to show his humble origins. 

OUGD504 - Studio Brief 4 - Campaign Research

Lost Village Festival

I was really inspired by the Lost Village website that Only showed us within the briefing. I love the use of a custom typeface with different variations of letterforms to make it look handwritten in every title. Also the minimal layout of text over imagery as it adds a mysterious quality to the site making the user want to know more and want to keep scrolling. 

Rudimental - We are the Generation

When looking for campaigns that other artists had done while advertising a new album I found that Rudimental had enabled his fans to create their own custom album cover on his site for his new album. They can upload an image and the title is applied over it to become a new album cover. The title of the album fits this perfectly as it allows "the generation" to show everyone who they are. I thought that this was particularly effective as people would want to share their creations with friends which would prompt people to go to Rudimental's website to make their own or even be interested in the album itself. I don't know whether I could use something similar for Seasick Steve, though it would generate a lot of social media interest somehow I don't feel like it is him, with his humble personality.

Arcade Fire - Reflektor

In preparation to promote their fourth studio album, Arcade Fire experimented with some guerrilla marketing techniques. It started with chalk and graffiti tags spelling out the album’s title, Reflektor, in major cities, followed by the appearance of posters in the same locations, revealing the album’s release date. The tags spread across social media, and even courted controversy when journalists questioned the safety and environmental impact of the “vandalized” buildings.

Then, Arcade Fire announced a series of small shows as their pseudo-band, The Reflektors, and asked audience members to dress up in fancy attire. The action, although reflective of the album and the pseudo-band, resulted in bad PR.

I feel like this campaign was really successful because it generated a lot of interest and hype before the launch of the album using fairly simple methods. This sort of style of guerilla advertising would really suit Seasick Steve's style. 

OUGD504 - Studio Brief 3 - Design Boards

OUGD504 - Studio Brief 4 - Seasick Steve Concept Idea

After having a good look at Seasick Steve's work I feel like I have got a really good concept to base the campaign around. Because he uses found objects to make his guitars I thought that I could use found objects to construct the new campaign site. Like pieces of cardboard for the banner and footer or a bit of metal for the navigation bar. I really think that this will build up to show the essence of Seasick Steve and his music.

I also thought that I could create a custom typeface out of his hand written type that he has used on some of his albums to give it that personal and humble vibe that Steve portrays. 

Below is the full font that I created using paintfont.com. Although some of the detail has been lost in this process I am really pleased with how it came out. It's very quirky and unique like the man himself while still being readable.

Below are some of his custom made guitars, most of the parts of these guitars I could probably find, especially some wood and bottle caps. Perhaps on the site the bottle caps could be the buttons and I could laser cut the title into a plank of wood to be the header.

OUGD504 - Studio Brief 4 - The Brief

SEASICK STEVE

Seasick Steve is a unique performer - having his career breakthrough at the age of 65 on Jools Holland on New Years Eve. He is an American blues musician. He plays mostly personalised guitars, and sings, usually about his early life doing casual work. I really like the fact that all of his instruments have stories and most of them are made by him for certain songs.

His wikipedia page has a list of all of his most used instruments. I find the materials that he has used to create them and to make the unique sounds so interesting.

Guitars

The Three-String Trance Wonder

This is a normal guitar that resembles a GHI Guitar made in Japan in the 1960s. It has an old Harmony pickup added with duct tape, and is tuned to G, A and B using an E string in the A position, a D in the G position and a G in the B position. At his gigs, he often tells the story that he bought it for US$75 in this condition in Como, Mississippi, from a man named Sherman, who later told him he only paid US$25 for it the day before. Wold vowed never to add another string, and that he would tour the world telling his story of how Sherman ripped him off. All in good fun as Sherman Cooper is a good buddy, who gave him the guitar having had it nailed to the wall as a decoration.  A lot of the time he also adds, while picking up or putting away the guitar, that it is the "...biggest piece of shit in the world, I swear." In a BBC interview Wold claimed that the guitar was found by a friend, just with the three strings on it, and he decided to keep it that way.

Hubcap guitars

When on the TV show Top Gear, presenter Jeremy Clarkson commented that Wold's car history of over 100 cars included a Morris Minor. Wold then presented a four-string guitar that his friend Davey had made out of two old hubcaps from a Minor 1000 joined back-to-back and his wife's broomstick. Wold then played it a little in the episode. Clarkson replied that it was the best use of a Morris Minor he had ever seen.

A similar guitar was made out of Hudson Terraplane hubcaps, one of them given to him by Jack White, referring to "Terraplane Blues" by Robert Johnson.

Other

The Mississippi Drum Machine

A small wooden box that is stomped upon, providing percussion. It is decorated with a Mississippi motorcycle registration plate ("MC33583"), and a small piece of carpet.

Roland CUBE

A Roland CUBE 30 W amplifier placed on a chair to his left and set to the 'tweed' setting.

Fender Bassman

A Fender Bassman amplifier, used at the Pinkpop Festival 2012.

Additionally I found a nice interview with him from Acoustic Magazine:

http://www.acousticmagazine.com/interviews/seasick-steve/

His website at the moment is quite plain and I feel like it doesn't represent his ethos or personality at all. When I watched him perform he was very humble and charming. It felt like he was telling us a story throughout his performance of his life which was very personal. Also he would explain each of his instruments when he got them out to play.

OUGD504 - Studio Brief 3 - Final Book & Evaluation

During the production of my final book everything seemed to go wrong. With my other mock ups I trimmed each page individually and by hand within the crop marks before I bound them. However with the final I tried to use the guillotine so that I could crop all of the pages at once. This didn't work out at all and ended up misaligning the tracing paper pages with the photos so they no longer lined up. This was incredibly annoying as it meant I had to line up and trim each set of photos and letters down in pairs. This was very time consuming and meant that my final book was a tiny bit smaller than I expected. Also with the final binding of the book I did more stitches because my mock up stitches came a bit loose. Also due to my struggle last time I tied the stitch on the outside and it ended up being a lot tighter which I am happy about. Overall I am really pleased with the final book despite all the difficulties I had while trimming and binding it. 

Generally through out this brief I found book layout quite difficult as I found it hard to develop designs further without coming up with new layouts. However I was overall happy with the results - I like the minimal approach I chose, it pushes me away from my usual style but I think this is good for me. I did struggle with creating the final product due to the misalignment of the tracing paper and the images after I cropped them all in one stack instead of individually. I found the binding method and the actual book binding itself fun to do as I enjoyed the hands on approach - perhaps I can experiment with this to further push my practice. I struggled with blogging in this brief as I was spending a lot of my time doing experiments or trying to get on with the other modules. I used this studio brief to experiment with methods that I have not used before such as  the binding method - I had never attempted a Japanese Stab bind and now I am very confident doing one. I wanted to experiment with foiling too and I managed to test lots of different foils even though the results were rather disappointing it is something that I might pursue in future projects.
I also further pursued my interest in screen printing which I enjoyed a lot. it was good to give myself more of a challenge by doing the cover really small so I had to work on my placement and alignment skills of screen printing.