With the fabrics all washed and ironed, it was time to get sketching embroidery designs inspired by various albums. An initial ‘sketch sheet’ of several iconic, classic albums helped me to choose an album as the focus for the project. See below.
‘Sketch sheet’ – noun.
A sheet of paper where ideas and designs are formed, explored and scattered across the entire page. Phrase engrained into by brain by my Graphic Design teacher, for 8 years, at school.
I unpacked designs for three records: Stop the Clocks by Oasis, News of the World by Queen and Rumours by Fleetwood Mac.
‘Rumours’ by Fleetwood Mac. What a record! Even though the others were equally iconic and amazing records, you just can’t beat the magic of Fleetwood Mac. Especially the magic and warmth of Fleetwood Mac on vinyl.
Released in 1977, Rumours sits towards the tail-end of the Psychedelic art and music movement of the late 1960’s. Elements such as the band logo and typography featured on the cover are reminiscent of the movement’s origins – Art Nouveau (1890-1910). Works such as Aubrey Beardsley’s The Climax (1893) inspired screen printers such as Wes Wilson, when they were designing posters for psychedelic music shows.
Left: Wes Wilson (1967) Right: Aubrey Beardsley (1893)
As mentioned above, parallels can be drawn between the album artwork, band aesthetics and sound alongside the sinuous, organic lines and overall aesthetics of the Art Nouveau movement.
Researching the aesthetics of the album, the movement it took inspiration from the band themselves, enabled me to refine the initial ‘sketch sheet’ designs – as seen above. With all the inspiration in mind, it was time to create yet another ‘sketch sheet’; designing the embroidery for the front of the record sleeve.
Ta-da! The rough version of the final design.
After scanning everything in to Photoshop, I was able to tidy up the design and add detail, before editing the design onto mock-up photos from Google – in order to quickly showcase my design in context, ready for group presentations on Monday.
There it is, edited in the context a consumer would purchase it in, as the record sleeve with vinyl inside (supported by recyclable cardboard sleeve insert).
Above shows the sleeve transformed into a tote bag and a feature panel pinned to a denim jacket: two of the easier/simpler things a customer could do with their customisable fabric record cover. Both are ready to wear and showcase their amazing music taste to the world.
