Compose two styles
Rather than blending two styles into a middle, this assigns them roles: one carries the structure, the other appears as an accent. Where the two fight, it says so before you start.
How to divide the work
- Composition
- Follow Blue Note Style: The photograph pushed to one side, the freed side given over to improvised type
- Type
- Set in Blue Note Style's manner (One face used at extreme size contrasts, lines cut off at the photograph's edge), and let Factory Records Style's lettering (Set small at the edge so neither title nor artist takes the stage) appear only where you want the eye to catch.
- Material
- Ground in Blue Note Style's material (Black plus a single spot color only, the photograph's grain left intact); bring in exactly one thing from Factory Records Style (Industrial color charts and special finishes borrowed, the print spec treated as work).
- Colour
- Build on #e9e6dd, #67635d, #171615 and admit one accent from #e9e6dd, #67635d, #171615.
Where they fight
- Both belong to Music Graphics, so the difference is small. Push the roles further apart than feels comfortable.
Caution
- Blue Note Style Adding inks and cleaning up the photograph drains the tension that constraint produced and leaves a tidy music advertisement.
- Factory Records Style An unrelated plate chosen without necessity reads as mere suggestiveness and leaves the listener with nothing to remember.
Image prompt
An original image that takes its structure from Blue Note Style (Style, 1955–1967) and its accent from Factory Records Style (Style, 1978–1992). Structural cues: Grainy monochrome photographs; Two-color economy; Bold cropping; Improvised type layouts. Accent cues, used sparingly: Refusal to explain; Borrowed imagery from other fields; Restrained typography; Catalogue numbers as institution. Composition: The photograph pushed to one side, the freed side given over to improvised type. Type and lettering: One face used at extreme size contrasts, lines cut off at the photograph's edge. Let one material quality come from the second style: Industrial color charts and special finishes borrowed, the print spec treated as work. Mood: Luxury, Rebellion, Calm. Color: build on #e9e6dd, #67635d, #171615 with a single accent drawn from #e9e6dd, #67635d, #171615. Constraints: do not imitate, reference or name any specific artist, studio, brand, character or copyrighted work. Produce an original composition in the general period languages described above.
Related entries
- Blue Note Style 1955–1967 / Style / Music Graphics
Reid Miles turned out sleeve after sleeve for the jazz label with monochrome photography, two-color printing and boldly cropped type. Improvisation inside constraint became the graphic translation of jazz itself.
- Factory Records Style 1978–1992 / Style / Music Graphics
At the Manchester label Saville made sleeves that refuse to explain the music. Borrowed industrial color charts, classical paintings and waveform diagrams turned post-punk's intelligent void into a style.
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