Jesus And Mary Chain is a punk/shoegaze/alternative band notorious for songs based on drug abuse and other vices, but mainly, drug abuse. All their songs are remarkably similar and as you're reading through their song lyrics, while listening to their music, you might as well be sniffing cocaine lines from your living room table and getting "messed up". Apart from getting "fucked up" from the drugs and being cool, Jesus And Mary Chain are also capable of adding irony and sarcasm into their songs, which might not be reflected in a obvious way, but then again a lot of things in their songs are not reflected in a obvious way.
The style of the Jesus and Mary Chain varies throughout their albums, some are more acoustic and some are more aggressive, but the vocabulary remains the same, which is why I focused on essential words, that were more meaningful and conveyed their message more than others, such as the words "black", "cool" and "death" (or similar words like "to die", "dead" having the same meaning). These words appeared in their songs over and over again, throughout all their albums.
I wanted to reflect the whole "drug" theme, as it is quite essential, by using pastel-like colours and making some details look very busy, but still legible, to create a feel of being on drugs (not that I have had any personal experience on that). I also used the pastel-like colours to add sarcasm into the design, for instance, instead of reflecting the word "black" with the colour black, I chose a pastel colour for it. I think the word itself, like "death", is strong enough to convey you the mood, especially when a lot of words conveying the same mood are together, traditional swatches are not essential.
The amount of lines of each colour represent the amount of a certain word used in their songs. You can try counting them if you want, but that is not exactly the point. The point is to give you an idea of what they were going through during each album, for example, "death" was pretty popular during "Honey's Dead" album in 1992 and "insanity" during "Automatic" in 1989. We can only assume that they were probably more depressed in 1992 than in 1989. The graph below the lines are more informative on the matter. I didn't want to make my infographic look too much like an infographic, as I feel like I would be kicking Jesus And Mary Chain in the balls if I did. The cross in the end means that they broke up, not their death, but they might as well be, as everybody thinks they're dead due to drugs.
For typography, I used Impact for the title "Jesus And Mary Chain", the names of the albums and the subtitle "lyrical word count" (all in caps, except the subtitle) to make it look strong and effective. I wanted to emphasize the presence of the band on the poster and really make the viewer remember which band is in question. For the rest, I used American typewriter to make it look more subtle, but also stand out from the titles. The titles are harder to read and maybe hard on the eyes, the information provided are the opposite: easier to read and easy on the eyes. In my opinion, Impact is a very strong font, and therefore more ideal for a title than the body text, whereas American typewriter is good for the body text and not for a title in this context.
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| final design (so far) |
Previous concepts that were only based on all their songs in one chunk and not separately according to their albums:
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| concept 1 |
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| concept 2 |
The design looks amazing! I definetly get the feeling of being spaced out. It reminds of an advert on t.v. where a boy takes drugs and there seems to be loads going on around him which is why I think it is great you have kept it busy and loads of colours. I like how you have added the small rectangles at the bottom of each graph which is brighter than the lines, really helps the viewer to get a clear picture of how many times the word was said during the album. The small graph at the bottom looks like somemones mind has been picked apart which I also really like. Could also relate it to the highs and lows when you take drugs?
ReplyDeleteThe typography used again is fantastic! I like how you have chosen The bands name and albums name and capitals and that the lettering is made from the lines in the graph looks amazing and is very clever! The typography stands out yet blends in with the graph behind - makes me think of double vison, out your face? The font you have chosen for the words is quite powerful but not too serious and the colours are bold and tie in with the theme.
Really really like this! A lot going on but very clear to understand!
This is a very good design.
ReplyDeleteIt kinda look calm, but on the other hand there's plenty of those lines which make you go crazy - that makes the design kinda psychedelic. Which I believe is good, since its about being on drugs!
Like Gary said, I also like how you shown those little rectangles under the lines - it makes the interpretation of the poster much easier.
I also really like the idea of lines in the letters.
The thing that worries me ( after looking at the bands graphics) is that your poster doesn't really convey the same mood. It totally different style. I think that looking at the design from this perspective, the very colorful design has shown it little better.
Its very nicely done, as always. You took care of every detail and it all looks clean and perfect.
I also like the fonts used. The impact font has an impact ! Also, the font on the time line contrasts perfectly with the bold and massive Impact, as well as looks kinds historical, which is great.
As always I am impressed with the amount of work you put into creating multipe concepts and I am not at all suprised that you have chosen a band with a major drug theme.
ReplyDeleteYou have conveyed the feeling opf the band very well. The whole graphic looks quite 'layed back' and relaxed because of the pastels colours especially, this obviously conveys the use of drugs. It is also powerful due to the typeface which tells me that despite the band being into drugs they had a very strong presence.
I think the typography is very appropriate and it works very well to convey a hierarchy, which makes the graphic very easy to follow and to understand.
Where to start. It is certainly very you and very good.
ReplyDeleteI love how you managed to convey the sense of, as you stated 'fucked up' in the vertical, varied pastel coloured lines. You have made it busy with these lines and managed to make the text over it almost subtle yet stricking! I mean in the sense it is a thick large sans serif yet it does not over power the lines which connote the drugs! I dunno if that makes much sense but I'm like WOW how did you manage that.
I like how you have made this colourful. Being alot to do with death etc it could have went down the steriotypical black and white sorrow filled way. You have made it your own given it colour and allowed the words to say what they need to say in themselves.
Finally i think the graph like bit at the bottom works well as it contrasts with the top half and is visually exciting. It certainly does what you wanted it to in the sense that it shows a journey of how they felt in making each album etc? It shows the contrasts in the emotion and communicates to me very well!
Overall its great, tad sore on the eyes when stared at for a while but then again its to convey drugs so it works! :)
I really like your work and I'm always finding it very creative! I think you've made a good decision about the band. The colours appears to be "soft" and not to vibrant so as music. The whole palette brings that psychedelic feel you wanted to show and I also like the sarcasm used! The Impact font looks good on open space and in big size as you used it. Typewriter font balances well with it, it's very light and as you said good for body text. Your work is nearly perfect...maybe instead of using words you could represent each one with symbol because the viewer have to look at the key constantly. The colours used (sarcastic) doesn't communicate this things naturally (ref. to psychology classes). And there is a small detail I don't like: "this lines..." is overlapping with the vertical lines. I like the idea of showing timeline an the bottom, it visualises how the artists changed their perception at some things in a period of time. High five!
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