On Thursday morning we had our self-branding presentation where we had to present to 15 or so other people form the course.
As for my presentation, I think that I think better than I imagined while being up at the front presenting because as I saw other people's presentations they all seemed to start it off with themselves contrary to what I did which I thought i did wrong, however thinking back as it I think i did the right decision because it gave me a good opportunity to go straight to my references and what I'm interested in and what I want to do and where I want to go then going to my own ideas of how I can brand myself in the are that I want to work in. However, when I was up, i felt that I started to speak quite fast therefore not saying some bits which I practiced and could've helped my presentation.
Also, for feedback people said they liked how the presentation flowed from start to finish and having a variety of pictures, gif and audio to keep an energetic phase to the presentation which also reflects the area that I wan to be a part of so in a way I think I also presented my character through my use of humorous gifs and pictures. People also said they liked how I have my own niche that I can work in and something that I know very well, as well as giving artist references and explaining specific parts of artist designs that I like and how I could incorporate it in my own brand and style. Although, people also said that the downside of my presentation was the cramp information said during the storyboard slides and was suggested that maybe could've collaged it instead. And, it's something that I completely agree about because the thing I didn't like about my presentation was my storyboarding because I ran out of time in creating designs therefore I was forced to create storyboards instead to at least give some visuals to my ideas.
Also, while taking notes of how people presented themselves and their ideas I really liked how some people really found their own unique selling point such as using satire and their own humour to brand themselves and how some actually reached out to people in the industry for advice which I thought was really brave and a good way of already kind putting yourself out there. Some people also create designs which I thought really solidify their concepts and ways of branding which made their presentation really effective. I think next time, I relay ned to have a better time management and actually have some designs that strengthen my presentation as well because that was something that I felt really regretful about despite the mainly positive feedback I got.
Design concept where I envision a project with SEVENTEEN who are known to be self-producing idols who create and produce their own music, choreographies. I want to take that 'self-producing' concept help them solidify that brand identity by falling that making processes through with interaction with the fans by given them the chance to help produce the album and give suggestions on what to do for albums designing. I also thought of having an album shaped as an actual package as a kind of representation of the product that is made with items such as empty music sheets and pens to signify production processes and a phonebook that's laid out as if it's a production manual but with the members photos instead. In addition, for the music video concept I want to create a hon-video video where it shows the members in their natural state of producing and making choreographies to really show and visualise everything from designing to production of songs and product.
Reflecting the idea of Kpop groups having members with different roles and positions in the group. I wanted to create my own group of people that will help me create Kpop style designs who also have different specialities and roles e.g editor, illustrator, photographer, graphic designer.
Thinking about how I could create an unconventional business card and something that hasn't been done before. I thought of re writing lyrics from the song 'Jasmine' by DPR Live, to say about why we should be hired and our design principles and emailing them to music companies in Korea that we would like to work with such as SM Entertainment. I think it would a really great idea as it can also ready showcase t the company what we can do and the kind of ideas we can come up with even with the fact that we will see d them an email of a music video-esque portfolio.
For my logo design I based it off the name that I have given myself and the team that I want to work with - Audio Vision.
I didn't get to spend much time creating and designing it as I would like to but I did some sketches and layouts which I thought would match my name.
These are the designs that I've sketched and at the end I decided to chose the 'wave' logo as I thought it was very simple and can represent the A and V for Audio Vision as well as mimicking some kind of sound wave or wave for movement.
Some developments from the sketches where I started to choose which font to use. At the end I decided to use Courier New as it has this typewriter kind of feel and kind of also suits the music aspect of the kind of design that I want to be involved with.
I want to make people realise that the Kpop industry is much more than just 'crazy' dance and 'weird' music that people who haven't really listened to it much think. And , that design is such a big aspect of it even it terms of creating a group with selected people that they have trained for years, to creating a concept for the group their brand identity to their band colours to album packaging to music video productions to fashion choices. Design is a very big part of Kpop and I think people shouldn't disregard it but rather appreciate the design behind it and the people who create all these concepts and ideas for a group.
Ideas for self-branding which I can use in order to brand myself to the studio/company that I want to promote myself to regarding branding a Kpop group.
Idea 1
Taking the idea that Kpop idols are trained in a 'system' and have various different 'roles' within a group e.g. leader and main vocalist. I thought of creating an ideal group of people which could be in my group/studio who specialises in creating designs for Kpop albums and Kpop groups. In the group there could be a:
typographer
animator
illustrator
set designer
graphic designer
Idea 2
Maybe creating a song about a design or design principles or my design principles and making a group (or storyboarding) how a Kpop group will sing it.
Idea 3
Creating a concept for a group and thinking about what can be designed for an album packaging, music video concept, fashion concept etc. which can make the group standout and solidify their brand and identity.
Regarding how I can do self-branding for a kpop band I need to think thoroughly about WHY i'm doing it in order to have a clear resolution for my designs so that I can effectively brand myself to a kpop company which is the area of field that I want to work in.
WHY
Why I want to design for KPOP bands:
I want to visually represent their music style/genre through different mediums such as collaging which is different to current existing album designs for kpop right now.
WHY
I want the group to have their own clear brand identity compared to other groups because of how competitive the industry is.
WHY
As it is a competitive field, I think people don't really take it seriously or show much interest to it may be dud to preconceptions they have through very little knowledge about the industry or they've only seen 'absurd' styles e.g. Psy. But, the kpop industry is actually very serious and it is a very well-thought out and planned system. From big agencies specifically for training young people and auditioning aspiring singers to training them for a couple of year until deeming them ready and forming them into groups while training they form bonds with people they otherwise don't know and asking 'roles' to each trainee regarding their strengths would it be singing, rapping or dancing. The also train for other 'talents' such as foreign language (in order to promote to wider audiences) composing and choreographing in order to be able to personally craft their style and make their own songs rather than as what other people may think that most groups are 'manufactured' and 'handed' things to sing and dance to.
WHY
Also, people don't really think much about design in Kpop. But, in fact designing for a Kpop band is quite complex. Designing can include branding the groups name and music style and unique perks e.g. for SEVENTEEN as a 'self-composing' group. Being able to have their own colours and appealing to a certain audience demographic as well as interesting album packaging designs which can include photo books and cards which is quite different to western album packaging.
Also, they take particular care and planning to their music videos and spend millions on it and think of concepts and its which can create stories from music video to music video or album to album. It's interesting to see their fashion also presenting there 'group identity' and starting trends fashion wise and music wise.
1) Planning - planning time and giving yourself more freedom t o do work and not restricting yourself to any ideas.
- also plan 'guilt free downtime' to read, party, walk or see friends and family.
- tries to encourage proactive behaviour than reactive behaviour *well planned time gives space and freedom to think and create new ideas.
2) Purpose - what the world needs, what your god and and your passionate about
-SImon Sinek
-What, How and Why
-Why do you do what you do?
3) Research - client, project, company, subject, industry
- know the subjects
4) Present - BBC 4 Radio (public speaking)
-practise, rehearse, time yourself and record yourself
- it is a storytelling performance so get your story/ idea out.
*Casey Neistat Video
- Film making
- Utilise the resources that are available to you; e.g. a phone - you can do preproduction, production and post-production and distribution platform on it.
I've researched some artists that I thought are relevant to the topic and idea that I have. Firstly, I selected singers/groups whichI thought I could work the design around and they are also artists that I like and know quite a bit about.
SHINee
SHINee is a five member group who debuted in 2008 around the ages 15 to 18. Having debuted at a young age the group boasted young and new concepts which were quite new in 2008. They are know for their contemporary style and experimental genre's and also also known to start genre trends as well as incredibly hard choreographies. In 2015, they released a predominantly deep house style album which started a house style music trend in the recent years in Kpop.
SEVENTEEN
Seventeen is a 13 member group who debuted in 2015. The group is well know to be very hand-one with their music with most of the members partaking in producing, composing and choreographing their songs; as well as also write songs for other artist.They are also very well known for their fresh and young vibe and for their in-synced and precise choreographies despite their large number. The group utilised their large number by creating three sub-groups which specialises in dance, rap and vocals thus being able to naturally delve into different music genre's such as hiphop, ballad and EDM.
I pick these to groups as I think they have very distinct styles and approaches to music as well as the fact that they debuted in different years where one of the groups is very much established and are very mature and experienced and the other being new and still growing and establishing their own brand and style. I thinkI could work with these similarities and differences in order to create interesting and focused designs which reflect the groups' identity.
I've also become interested in designers and artist that specialises in Korean music and music videos.
VM Project Architecture (Low Laundry Media House) &
MU:E
VM Project Architecture is a Seoul based production company that specialises in video editing and motion visuals. They have worked with a variety of Korean artist such as SEVETEEN, Zico, Monsta X and Sik-K. They have very clean and trendy style with usage of fonts like Helvetica in most of the music videos that they direct. They also work hand-in-hand with Art Direction duo MU:E which strongly presents their work as "all about space". I like these two productions' styles as they are very clean, pleasing to the eye and works very well with the artists music style and the mood they are trying to convey.
Seventeen - CLAP
Zico - She's A Baby
Dream Perfect Regime
Dream Perfect Regime is a mute-genre group which produces both music and visuals. Interesting thing about DPR is that their chief director was a former Kpop group member himself (Christian Yu). He was part of the group C-Clown that debuted in 2012 and disbanded in 2015. Having experience himself I think gives him great knowledge on how designing and behind the scene work goes as he has first-hand experience therefore enabling him to think of designs which fit a certain artist and help bring the artist's style out even more. They mostly work with Korean Hip-hop artist such as One and with their first artist DPR Live being a hip-hop artist himself. All of Live's music videos are directed and produced by DPR +ian Christian).
DPR Live - Laputa
Min Heejin
Min Heejin the visual and art director of SM Entertainment, one of the biggest Kpop agencies in Korea. She started out working for an advertising company and alter got accepted to work in the then newly built art and visual direction section of the company. She's famous for creating the Album packaging design for f(x)'s '4 walls' album with its very clean and contemporary approach which was different to other albums at that time. She also works with the music video direction and stylists for the artist that she designs for as she wants the artists' style and brand to be complete and solidified whether though their music aesthetic or fashion statements as often music trend and fashion trend interrelates. I personally like her ways of working together with all the different people that specialises in different field as it shows her careful consideration to design decisions as well as her talking to the actual artists themselves in order to get suggestions on what they want to be included as the artist themselves know who they are best.
Other designs or her that I like is for SHINee.
Shinee released a 90's inspired album in 2016 named '1of1'.
From the album packaging you can straight away feel and see the 90's feel of the album even you haven't heard the songs before. The use of big chunky kind of hand written typography as well as the bright contrasting colours give the cover a feel of being designed in the 90's. As well as the layout and format of the typography on the cover is evident by having it slightly slanted giving it some dynamic features mirroring a kind of 'free' and 'energetic' feel; in addition, even the way the group members are posed are also planned to be 90's ish, overall making it live up to the concept that it is trying to portray.
Ut is also consistency throughout the album packaging design with having repetitive patterns on some the pages and sides of the packing and also going overboard the concept by actually having a real cassette tape for the songs thus having to actually buy a real cassette player to play the music, much like back in the 90's.
In addition, there is also careful consideration for the group's fashion concept. Having giving each member a colour to wear and the wide pants and wide shouldered and old-fashioned suits, but also at the same time modernising it as well to fit the time. Furthermore, the 90's style is also taken to the music video by having very 90's effects and editing styles such as the diamond and star shape fade effects as well as extreme zooms which really made the style believable and as if we are back in the 90's.
