Email: cheryllu66888@gmail.com
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Feedback and LOGO inspiration
Last week, our instructor suggested that we build our band’s identity by exploring both the commonalities and differences among our group members. While we come from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds, we all share the experience of being women. This insight led us to focus on culture as the foundation for our creative exploration.
After brainstorming, we decided to use multiple languages as the starting point for designing our logo. We wrote the words "ASYA FOLKS" in English, Hindi, Chinese, and Arabic on paper. It was fascinating to observe the unique writing and reading directions of these languages. For example, Chinese can be written vertically, while Arabic is written and read from right to left. This discovery inspired us to explore ways of blending these languages into a cohesive logo design, experimenting with their forms and directions.
The multilingual nature of our project not only reflects our cultural diversity but also allows us to create a logo that feels rich and meaningful. We aim to continue this exploration in the coming weeks as we refine the visual identity of our band.
Inspiration from Good Vibes Record Store
This week, we visited Good Vibes, a record store brimming with album covers of various styles. The designs ranged from hand-drawn illustrations and surrealist artwork to abstract line work, manipulated photography, and even purely typographic covers. Each album cover resonated deeply with the music it represented, giving me insight into the relationship between visual aesthetics and sound.
One standout example was a cover from the Garage Psych & Pzyk Rock section. It featured a portrait photograph of a person, but their face was filtered and textured to create a grainy, surreal effect. The hair was simplified into bold, flat shapes, with the bangs replaced by a jagged, triangular pattern that sliced through the composition. This technique drew attention to the person’s face, creating a striking visual focus. The text on the cover utilized a "faux-3D" style, with shadows adding depth, while the use of complementary red and green colors amplified the raw, energetic feel of rock music.
This visit inspired us to consider using photography combined with image manipulation as the foundation for our band’s visual identity.
Musical Inspiration and Open Mic Night
As I explored initial ideas for our band’s music, I thought of blending the word "hello" in different languages as a basic base for our music. This could be combined with instruments representative of each of our countries to create a layered, multicultural composition.
In the evening, I attended an open mic night at The Wee Red Bar, where I had an incredibly intimate musical experience. Sitting on the floor, I could feel the vibrations of the music through the ground, as if the earth itself was alive and resonating with each note.
In that moment, it felt like I was communicating not just with the music but also with the vibrations in the floor, the air, and everything around me. This sensory experience reminded me of how deeply music can connect us to the physical world and to one another. It gave me new inspiration for how our band could create music that is both tangible and immersive, reaching listeners on a deeply emotional and physical level.
Band Naming
Later in the week, we visited printmaking workshop and learned about techniques such as relief printing, screen printing, and risograph printing. Seeing these processes in action reminded me of the power of flat colors and the richness they bring to visual design. This sparked an idea for our album cover: limiting our color palette to just two or three hues, with each color used in varying proportions to create a sense of harmony and contrast.
We also visited the photography workshop, where we explored film processing, photography studios, and darkroom techniques. The process of developing black-and-white photographs was particularly striking. The absence of color created a sense of timelessness and emotion.
These experiences have inspired me to think critically about our visual design. While vibrant colors can convey energy and playfulness, a monochrome approach might evoke a deeper, more reflective mood. As we move forward with our band’s visual identity, I want to experiment with these contrasts to see how they align with our music’s themes and tone.