Beginning the brainstorming phase of the portfolio, I decided to lean into the direction of brand identity/social media storytelling in music bands, creating a personality through images, products and less discussed in this assignment, music.
The pitch I have come up with for this project is to create a fictional Instagram/social media page content including video, promotional material, photography, and band products all surrounding a fictional band.
Research: To gain a greater understanding of creating imagery and promotional material that surrounds a band's identity, I decided to look into a NSW band called The Rions and how they show their persona in an online and material sense.
Looking first into their appearance on their website, the band utilises a very minimalistic approach, removing any clutter from their website, placing only the bare minimum as to draw the user immediately to what the band wants them to see. In the images they do promote on their website, they are in a film aesthetic, either taken by a film camera or altered to appear as such.
As seen in both the website and Instagram, the band sticks very closely to a strict colour scheme and grainy film aesthetic throughout. This in turn create a strong brand identity and allows the band to be perceived as more professional and easily noticeable. This would be very beneficial in a project surrounding a fictional band, and will be noted.
Project Brief:
Client: A fictional band that is to be named "The Two Minute Spins".
Target Audience: Young adults in university or high school students with an interest in indie bands and music culture.
Purpose: To be used to boost the following and interest in the fictional band, solidifying the bands style and aesthetic through merchandise and image creation.
Context: Social media platforms eg. Instagram, physical products (tote bags, stickers, posters, vinyl covers), video, photography.
Constraints: Limitations in my video and product making abilities, lack of music surrounding the fictional band, inability to print vinyl records for the gatefold album.
Expectations: Should be a coherent array of deliverables that all match and fit the clients aesthetic and style, while also be appealing for the target audience.
Design Deliverables:
Photography of the band
Vinyl Cover
Posters for the band
Instagram posts
Portions of music video
Promotional Material for the Band (tote bags, hats, shirts)
Potential: Ai characters - every person has a character representation of them
Week 1 Activities
Reflection:
Reflecting back in this assignment, although jumping into unfamiliar fields in design in 3D modelling seemed to be a terrifying feat at first, through time spent throughout experiment 1 and 3 I did end up really thoroughly enjoying the process of shaping 3D models, given my only experience really being with creating 2D imagery in Photoshop and Illustrator. However, given my experience in the 2D image creation field, I did find myself placing more attention into experiment 2 and the photography practice prototypes. Although this could have potentially slowed my learning from this experimental phase, I do believe that honing into the strengthening of my photography skills will greatly benefit me in a brief surrounded by such, as proven in the research in the band The Rions. Discussing further the 2nd experiment, I do believe that the outcomes of the photography ended up being really strong and allowed me to show myself that I am capable of creating images close to a level of current band promotional material. It also allows me to experiment with style as well as manipulation of the image as to create mood and feeling in the imagery top fit in which the end band’s personality matches to. In this sense, I do believe that although the 3rd experiment did not give me much help towards my final design deliverable outcomes, the 1st and 2nd experiment would end up being a great step in building skills and brainstorming ideas. Being that I found success in some of the experiments, I am now able to take the next step further and begin really brainstorming solutions that I would be able to put forth in the next assignment. This can begin through recruiting friends to be the fictional band members, contacting new and upcoming indie bands for permission to use their music in a potential music video I would be creating and experimenting with clothing printing at KG.
Experiment 1: Software Experiment (Blender 3D Modelling)
Blender Tutorial Used:
Displayed on the left is the finished outcome from the Blender tutorial as to experiment with the medium of 3D modelling. With little to no experience in 3D modelling, this tutorial ended up posing a great challenge for me as even though the tutorial walked me through the steps on how to make the 3D car, the layout and unfamiliarity of the program made it very difficult.
However difficult this tutorial was for me, while following along I did actually find myself thoroughly enjoying shaping and creating 3D forms in the program. Although the process of creating 3D models in blender was a very difficult and confusing task, I could potentially see myself utilising some smaller form of abstract 3D modelling in my final outcome in addition and in an incorporation with some sort of photography element. Using a combination of mediums in the image creation for the final outcome could mean for an interesting and captivating piece that would entice the viewer and could be used to promote personality in the piece in which plain photography could not capture.
Experiment 2: Prototype Experiment (Photography)
Created in this experiment was the practicing and prototyping of photography skills, utilising my younger brother as the model throughout. With the aim of the experiment being to discover whether or not this medium would prove to be a helpful tool or medium in the final assignment, I decided to pose my brother up taking photos with my iphone as if he were a member in a band or a solo artist needing pictures for promotional material posted on Instagram, Spotify, Apple Music etc. In doing this I was really able to tune in and capture the type of photography that I could potentially use in the final product.
Raw photos taken on an iPhone 13:
Subject is styled to fit the indie band aesthetic.
Video Timelapse of the editing process done through the 'camera raw filter' on photoshop, similar to the functions in lightroom.
Inspiration for the Experiment:
Listed below are the album covers that inspired the editing technique and style utilised in the final prototype images displayed above. Through research into the editing techniques used in recent album covers using photography, I found that there is a great lean towards photos either being taken by film cameras or edited to make it look like they were taken on film. This style utilises a good amount of grain, soft and somewhat faded colours with a finish with an increased brightness, turning the deep blacks into dark grey. Although this style of photography is not truly new to the industry as seen in the cover for 'On Our Way by The Royal Concept' and 'Painting (Masterpiece) by Lewis Del Mar' which were made in 2013 and 2016, there seems to be a great increase in the recent years. Using this style I was able to greatly increase the quality and aesthetic of the final outcomes, in which I will definitely use in my final assignment outcome.
Experiment 3: AI Experiment (Creating a Low Poly 3D Model from Photographic Objects)
The third experiment being the low poly 3D model creation, proved to be a very difficult experiment for myself to undertake. Although experience in photoshop and illustrator allowed me to easily export and transform my image into a vector image, actually placing the image into blender did not seem to work at all for me. Following along with the lecture did not aid me at all in the issue I was having either, even with the experience and knowledge found in the first experiment I was still unable to solve the issue. Even though in theory, transforming vector images into 3D models could prove to be a very helpful tool in my future design, I believe that due to my lack of experience in troubleshooting in an unfamiliar program, I would end up with more negatives in time wasted than actual success in the outcome.
Refining Project Brief:
Taking into account the research undertook, no changes were made to the project brief written above, however, given the new knowledge and style discoveries found in the experiments and research, great refinements and depth were given to the deliverables, written below.
Refined Design Deliverables:
Photography of the band: Take photographs that really define and capture the mod and personality the band promotes. (Grainy, film shots/camera, combination of a funny/goofy, straight face to make them less serious, creative shots)
Vinyl Cover: Create an album cover for the band, should be a gatefold cover with inner art and a track list as that would be a great design challenge and enticing to the target user group. (Album cover has to again capture the aesthetic of the band while also having the album have it's own story and personality)
Posters for the Band: Similar to the sense of capturing the band personality seen in the album cover, the poster would feature photography elements. There should be a poster for promoting the band in general for being a newer artist and and poster for the new album their are promoting with two versions of the album poster. (Simple and minimalistic for one, creating mystery and enticing the target user group, second being the main band promoting poster. Should grab attention and again promote the aesthetic of the band, fun exciting, has character, movement, film grain aesthetic etc.)
Instagram Posts: Should be an array of a combination of all the mediums discussed, presented in a manor which would appeal to the target audience in a way in which their attention is grabbed immediately. (Should maintain consistency in aesthetic and coherency)
Portions of Music Video: Need to find either or ask an existing bands for permission to use an indie sounding song. Should be long enough to tease the audience in the video and highlight the greatness of the song. (Should be playful and creative, needs a good fun brainstorm, not of the band playing their instruments)
Promotional Material: Tote bags, stickers, shirts, hats. To also be promoted on the Instagram and or website, also to be physically created. Should be simplistic but also capturing the personality of the band. Have either a character the band is known for, the bands name written out in a fun style, the bands logo, combination of both, or text and or imagery promoting their new album)
References:
Brad's Art School. (2025, February 20). The World’s Easiest Blender Tutorial for Beginners. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nESaz92SJ0w
The Rions. (2025a). The Rions. Therions.com. https://therions.com/home
The Rions. (2025b). The Rions (@therionsband) • Instagram photos and videos. Instagram.com. https://www.instagram.com/therionsband/?hl=en
Credits:
Tom Allen n11241365