A2 Media Studies Advanced Portfolio in Media: Planning for my digi pack

In order for the construction of my digi pack to have the best possible result now that i have researched the product, i will select the most desired photos for my digi pack, edit them, decide the layout of them. I then will add details to the digipack of the bands name, which i will create myself and find a signature font for them too. I will also create a unique record label and logo, track names, copyright information, bar code and website for the band's album. These conventions are visible in the majority of albums and digipacks so i plan to incorporate them all into my own product, so that its professional and follows these conventions.

The creation of my band's name

Even though I am using a bloc party song ' So here we are', I need to create my own band and pretend that they sang the song to avoid copyright and to extend my creativity too. I first looked at different band names from the same genre of alternative/indie rock music. The generic indie bands usually have a name starting with 'The' like 'The kooks', 'The Libertines' and the 'Arctic Monkeys', so i first brain stormed ideas about possible names beginning with 'The' to be also be generic and follow the conventions of indie bands. I first came up with name 'The Spirals' which i really liked as it followed the conventions and creates imagery within the mind of spiral shapes and could reflect how their music progresses and almost spirals out of control. I thought this would be very relevant for the band's music but when i checked if there was a band already with this name there unfortunately was. I had never heard of them before as they aren't well known and simply stream their music online on sites like my space. However i still really liked the word spiral and its connotations so i was determined to incorporate it into my bands name. I researched more bands names and realised that indie/ electro bands which are more specific to my bands genre have more abstract/ random band names. I came across unique band names like 'Metromony', 'MGMT', 'Look sea proof', 'Friendly Fires' and 'Passion Pit'. These inspired me to be less generic and in fact challenge the conventions of indie band names, and seen as my music had a similar ideology of been different and breaking mould I felt it was a good idea to be more abstract and random. I came up with the name 'Turning spiral' which I felt was very original and unique. It creates delusional imagery in your mind and almost confuses you with a double meaning. It could describe a spiral shape turning or in fact something changing and spiralling out of the norm. So this is how i came up with my name, and a prime example of how creativity can occur accidental but more effective in the end.

Possible signature fonts for my band's name

I now want to create a signature font for my band so that the audience can create a relationship and associate that font with the band like a trademark. In order to create a unique style and font for the bands name, i edged away from generic text fonts on Microsoft programmes and searched for them on a website called DA FONT.COM. I choose to use this site as it offers a wide selection of different, creative and unique fonts and i was already familiar with this site from using it last year for my music magazine. However there was difficulties when using this site as it costs and it takes quite a while to print screen the font you desire and paste into paint in order to create it into a Jpeg file ready for my album cover. Also you cant change the colour of the text and are restricted to just black and white, but as i will be going for a sophisticated digipack this shouldn't be too much of a problem. Whilst searching for a possible font, I took into consideration the imagery and connotations of the band name and based my font on these ideas.

I narrowed my selection down to these few fonts:

I liked this font because it has a 3-d effect and almost created the illusion that the letters are turning around which would echo the name of my band 'Turning Spiral'. However i decided not to use it as it doesn't stand out enough to an audience and would not be right for the bands signature font.

I liked this font at fist as it looks very artistic and original which is the theme i was going for. However i decided that its quite feminine and wouldn't be suitable for a band of males. Furthermore it doesn't reflect the genre of music very well and i feel would even be more suitable for an RnB/pop artist or band.

I then finally came across a font that ticked all the boxes for me in its bold presentation, original/unique style and suitable connotations. It reflects the actual name in the way that its broken up into segments when it curves as if it was spiraling and breaking the smooth curves and lines of the text. I feel it would stand out on an album cover well, and i would probably keep the background of the text white like this so not to lose the boldness. Its a shame that this particular font did not allow me to use capitals at the beginning of the words so it was grammatically correct, but i wasn't given that option which is another disadvantage of using DA FONT.COM but overall i really like the font and wasn't prepared to choose an alternative as i feel i have found the one for my band.

Record label name and logo

I now need to create a record label and accompany logo in order for my band to look authentic and professional. I researched the look of other record label company's and their logos for inspiration, but also not to infringe their copyright by accident if i had a similar idea. I came up with the name interchange records which i feel is relevant as it sounds, sophisticated, professional and also its unique. I also feel it reflects music in general as it changes, flows and interlinks genres and bands etc. I also found a relevant font too using again DA FONT.COM to create it. I also needed to create an additional logo to accompany it which was quite hard at first as i cant draw myself even the simplest things. At first i found a symbol already on DA FONT.com of a world which i was going to use which looked like this:

But after feeling that it wasn't original and not my own design, i wanted to create my own logo. I found this difficult at first as i cant draw very well. I then tried using the programme paint but still found it skillfully hard to construct a logo. However, i did make one Microsoft publisher as this enabled me to use pre-made auto shapes like arrows and circles which i needed for my design. The design is of two circles in black and white, with two arrows interlinking almost to reflect the record label 'interchange records'. Here is what the finished product looks like: