Firstly, I started the project in the studio by experimenting with various materials and letterforms, playing with scale and techniques, before seeing how successful the outcomes were.  After listening to ‘Dustbowl Refugee’ and quickly searching for previous record designs for the song, I had an idea for the front cover of the sleeve and I sketched out a few thumbnails on file paper.

Since ‘Dustbowl Refugee’ is about losing your home, I thought using letterforms to create the shape of a house on the front cover would be successfully ironic. In the studio, I experimented with the positioning of the letters in Woody Guthrie’s name to make the outline of a house and I developed the idea at home.  This time I used serif letter blocks for the words ‘Dustbowl Refugee’ and the outline of a house shape was clearer and the letters were bolder.  I then experimented with how to create the words ‘Woody Guthrie’ and I had the idea of using small letter blocks to print the letters in different directions, echoing the shape of smoke coming from a chimney of a house.  For the inside of the record sleeve, I used the lyrics ‘Cross the mountains to the sea, come the wife and kids and me’ and to refect these lyrics about the dustbowl refugees, I wanted to convey a journey with the letters and words in the design.  I used torn paper, stencilled letters and letter blocks to create this visual journey, angling the words and letters in different directions across the inside of the vinyl sleeve.  I then created my vinyl sleeve design using the photocopier to layer elements together.

I wanted my design to be minimal, using white space effectively.  However, when I had my design finished, it didn’t instantly grab attention.  With the guidance and advice of my tutors, I decided to make a few last minute changes to my design.  I filled the entire front cover of the record sleeve with my original house design, angling it slightly so the design looked like an arrow, with some letters breaking the frame.  I then put the words ‘Buddha Records 2020’ inside the arrow on the front cover and positioned Woody Guthrie’s name on the fold-up area inside of the sleeve.  The lyrics of the song were positioned on the left panel inside the sleeve and the back cover was kept the same as the original design.  The end-result was more energetic, bold and attention-grabbing due to these design changes and I would like to develop my idea even further to create a more developed look overall.

Photographs of the work and outcomes I created in the studio and at home during Week 1 for my 7 inch record sleeve for the song ‘Dustbowl Refugee’.