ASK ME ANYTHING // CONCLUDE
Oh how this assignment has been so much fun yet stressful at the same time. BEFORE i get into the GUTS of how i used my hands to make things, i’d just like to congratulate everyone for making it through these 12 weeks and how amazing everyone’s ask me anythings look. Im really blown away by how our cohort can produce so much creative work. M I N D B L O W N
So the The Marías are a band who formed in LA late 2016. The members include Maria, Josh, Carter, Jesse and Edward. Their unique style of music fits under the genre psychedelic-soul. I was introduced to them last year by a friend and fell inlove with their dreamy like composition. The reason why i decided to do a band instead of a Graphic Designer or Illustrator was because i realized that music plays a major part in my everyday life. The amount of music i consume some would say is unhealthy but i just find so much inspiration through what i listen. So when we were given the assignment of Ask me anything, The Marías was immediately on my list.
The creation of this small publication was probably the most fun ive had designing something. Since this task was driven on more interest in your artist rather then criteria, i knew this would be a great way to explore and really experiment with various medias. I started of searching my local thrift stores for items that could be of use. I happen to come across a few old books which had wonderful hard covers. I was lucky enough to find one that was red! This started the ideas flowing on how i could construct everything.
I had also found myself very interested in cassettes and cassette players. Growing up i never got to really experience the period where cassettes were booming. I found the concept of having physical music to be fascinating and oddly satisfying. Also i had no idea how tape worked so im pretty sure it was magic. Since The Marías had only one album out, (Superclean vol.1), I was determined to record it onto a cassette and find out how to do it. (with their permission ofcourse). After some research on how to record onto cassettes, i borrowed a old stereo player from a friend which enabled me to experiment with recording ontop of old cassettes from spotify. I experimented with different recording settings and Type 1 & 2 cassettes. After some frustration, i recorded the album onto a cassette and sliced the tape so it would only be the duration of their album. With 6 songs in their album, i split 3 and 3 and recorded them onto both side A & B. mmm quick math
The second medium i tried for the first time was Embroidery!!! After having difficulty finding a method to create a foil on my hardcover, i decided to give embroidery a try. With the help of a few youtube tutorials and Matilda’s wisdom, i recreated The Marías logo (which was already an embroidery but on a larger scale). and stuck it onto the front of my cover. Embroidery was alot of fun but it was definitely a risky pathway as it was my first and anything could have gone wrong. It also took a long time so a few ghibli films passed the time :’)
Designing the content within the booklet ran pretty smoothly. I knew i wanted to implement this psychedelic theme into the design aswell as their signature red. What was slightly stressful was the replies coming in 2 days before the deadline. It was another very risky gamble however it was all worth it. Since i had designed everything else, all i had to do was plonk the answers into the slots and rush to dinkums. Note to self, if ever creating another booklet, set up your documents as individual half pages instead of two pages on one piece of paper. Deciphering the correct order on what goes where is a nightmare.
The whole concept of my project was that while you listened to the music, you would read through the booklet and create a connection between the two. I found that the experience of sitting infront of a stereo and having to listen through each song and then flip the cassette, a very warming and meaningful experience. I guess you cant really skip a song forcing you to listen to what the artist has to express. I shrink rapped everything together at the end to give the user (Andy and Karen lol) a real experience of something you would purchase from an artist.
Overall it was SO MUCH FUN creating this and learnt so many new things from it. Id like to thank everyone who helped me with feedback and advice on making this and ofcourse, The Marías for giving me this opportunity and answering my questions.
If you were curious on what they sound like: https://soundcloud.com/themarias/sets/superclean-vol-i
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