OUGD406: Design Practice 1 - 'Design is about doing' Critique

As this was a live brief, which will ultimately be available to the general public as part of the 7" competition it was important that the feedback we received was from the audience in which the secret 7" competition is aimed at which is the younger generation t inspire them to take an interest in vinyl.

We were therefore put in groups of five/six individuals and asked to bring along our initial design sheets and our five visual varitions. The aims of the brief was enable each member of the group to deicide on which of the five variations we will be submitting for the competition

I am happy with the feedback I received about my designs, as my group were complimentary about my designs and acknowledged the hand-rendered techniques I had used to produce the final outcomes.

The general consensus throughout the group was that the 'Boots' design was the strongest of the five variations as it is quite a simple image which portrays the song however, It was suggested that to improve this design I could possibly try to add some colour and/or a new media such as the cut-out card which I used to produce 'Jet' design which the group also liked.

For the competition, I decided to submit the 'Electric Boots' design as I felt it was the most appropriate visual representation of the song. As well as representing the famous lyric in the song 'She's got electric boots, a mohair suit' the illustration also represents the glitz and glamour of the 70s music scene which Elton John describes in the song.

Overall, I am happy with my final outcome for the Secret 7" brief. My design effectively answers the brief set as it was specifically inspired by the themes and lyrics of the song.
I also like the simplicity of the illustration as it unusual for a record cover to have so little information which I believe would intrigue the audience.

If I were to do the brief again, I would put more of an emphasis on experimenting with a range of initial ideas and outcomes which communicate Bennie and the Jets before producing the final design, as this could have resulted in a more developed final outcome. I also believe I could have experimented with a range of placements and sizes for the 'Boots' illustration to find the most visually engaging layout.