Outcome of CD Cover

[FRONT]

[BACK]

[FOLD - LYRICS]

[TRAY 1 - TRACK]

[TRAY 2 - VIDEO]

[FOLD - PICTURES]

The Magazine poster will be designed after the CD Cover has been completed because it must be the same design and theme or else it would look poorly planned. The poster will be very similar to the CD cover, the only difference is that it would look more like an advertisement but with the same colour scheme, theme and pictures. 

The CD digi-pack is completed, the final product images are above. I created and designed it by hand instead of digitally because I thought it would go better with the genre of the music and the style of the band. 

The CD cover did turn out the way I imagined and planned, however, I was afraid it might look too messy and rushed, which it did on the main cover but I didn't plan it to look neat and tidy so it looks similar to the plan. I gathered images from The City Lightz website and created a polaroid effect for one of the folds. 

Then the second fold included the lyrics, for this I used the bold font to match the newspaper cuttings. I did change a few things that I had planned to do but didn't get to do. Such as for the back of the cover I wanted to use the skyscraper silhouette and fill it with the details as I did with the first cover. But at the time I created what I thought looks best, I didn't want it to look overdone. 

I also planned to add illustrations quite a lot on and around the cover. However but whilst I was creating it there was not much space to add illustrations but on the back fold I added illustrations on the wires continuing off the page, so it wasn't actual illustrations, just a few effects.

I am pleased with the outcome of the whole CD digi-pack. but I would say I would change a few things, because after creating it, I have spotted out a few mistakes and things I would change. But I cannot re-create it due to time. There were little things I had to change just for the size of the CD cover, such as the lyrics that I typed out took up a whole page so I had to cut it down and put them in sentences so it would fit the square sized cover. 

" Personally, I think this is the best CD cover I have seen for an unsigned band, ever. It's gritty, subversive and dirty. It captures the mood of the band fantastically, and I'd be delighted to have it as a cover for an album or single."  

                                                         - Sam Lewis, (Band member, drummer for The City Lightz)

CD Cover Research

I have done a lot of research over the past few weeks for the CD cover digi-pack. In this section I explain how I got hold of the images, music, lyrics and themes of the band to lead me in the right direction of the music video and digi-packs and to see if what I have created so far fits in well with the band. To get to know a little bit more about the band I visited a couple of sites about the band to get into more depth on what music they listen to and what style they like.


The link below is the Myspace page on The City Lightz including samples of their music, images of the band and information and updates. The City Lightz had an official website but it has been removed by the band.


http://www.myspace.com/thecitylightzmusic


I got a band member Sam Lewis, who is also my team member for the music video to write down the lyrics to the song, so I can include it for the fold over section in the CD Cover.


The lyrics to the song 'Drink' are below:


"I was out with the lads on the riz,
we were fully on the siz as in
neville we were fully on the level.
Drunk my drink fast, now i'm blowing out my arse
Acting like an arse really make myself
Joke's sweet so much, might set toothache
My friends tellin' me B see ya next tuesday.
I work hard so I feel on weekends,
Too entitled to be burnin' the candle at both ends.


[Pre Chorus] Life's different when your looking through
a beer tinted lens,
Cause through any blues your friend recommends,
We rave till the sun comes up,
All the way round,
Till it goes right back down and then we...


[Chorus] Drink - till we hit the floor
Then get up and then drink some more.
(Fill up my cup I'll it one x2)


Probably weren't a good idea to mix my spirits
with my bees.
I'm merry like i'm at the end of my year.
I'm here with my bevvies,
taled up with my bessies.
They try to close the club but we're just not ready.
We ain't gonna stop,
Take the party back to ours,
Go to the bar that serves 24 hours
Not even thinking 'bout bed, or nursing 
our head - we'll get up in the morning 
and do it all again. 


[Pre Chorus]


[Chorus]


[Breakdown] 2 vodka shots, gimme a pint,
Sex on the beach girl we'll be alright,
JD on the rocks, sambooka shots
Everybody's lookin' like they're kinda shocked
like aftershock, down in one
Gimme three sours and a Jager bomb
2 tequila shots don't need lemon + lime
Wash it all down with a bottle of
wine and Drink


[Chorus] x2


[Breakdown with lyrics from above] "






The images that will be included for the cover will not be of the band, so I will cut out pictures of alcohol, instruments, live shows and scan them in the shape of the skyscraper that I had planned. It will not be the typical album cover by a band, it might have cut out images of the band scattered somewhere around the cover but not just a single one that takes the attention off the detail of the rest of the images and text. I have also decided to add a bit of illustration to make it look a little more humorous like the music video and show it from the characters point of view on what his idea of grunge is. I will draw certain things like a cigarette in a comic style and mix it with actual images to make it add together instead of having cartoon and reality separate. Another idea I had was to draw over the images and edit them over the original pictures using ink which might look a bit more organized. 

Creating the CD Cover

I have researched some CD covers to give me ideas for my CD Cover design. I have planned the idea of having a skyscraper outline across the cover mixed with another idea I had of 'sex. drugs & rock'n'roll', with the bottles, cigarettes etc. So I thought about using both ideas to produce the final piece. I want to keep it quite simple and make it very easy to understand but still interesting to look at. I have planned the design of each side of the CD. My aim is to make it look really raw and grungy, so I will use ripped up newspaper and creased polaroids to give the effect. I have also chosen not to create it digitally, this will make it look clean cut and perfected where as I am aiming for the opposite. So. I will create it on paper with cut outs and then scan it to look as messy as possible.


I have collected a few fonts that I thought would look good on the magazine poster and the CD cover. The front of the CD cover will not have a certain font as I will have collected cut outs and stuck them on. But, for the spine of the digi-pack, the lyrics fold and the back I will need the same font to keep it consistent.


Below I have chosen a few fonts that in my opinion will go well with the rest of the CD Cover and Magazine Poster.

THE CITY LIGHTZ
-Helvetica

the CITY LIGHTZ "drink"
-Trebuchet


The City Lightz
      DRINK
-Verdana


The fonts I have chosen above are all very similar and simple. I didn't want to make it more complicated or fancy because there is already enough detail on the cover.




Below is a plan of the CD cover that I have sketched out to give me an idea of what it will look like. This will also show me if there are any changes to be made.

The image above is a scan of the plans that I sketched out for the CD cover. I drew out a detailed version of what the CD will look like or what I would like to to look like.

The image above is the continued scan of the image above showing the other sections of the CD cover e.g. the folds, the spine, the CD trays.

The image above is a scan of ideas that I have created for the magazine poster, The image below is also another idea for the magazine poster, both are both related to the CD cover, which is what I am aiming for. I would prefer to create the magazine poster more like the scan below because it is more similar to the CD cover and will look more consistent.