Secret 7: Design

I have decided to play on the tactile references within the title of the Manic's song "No Surface All Feeling".

Whilst brainstorming on how I could relay this tactile element into the design, I thought about using braille. Braille, a language created for blind people, uses the concept of tangibility. By using a system of raised bumps, blind people can run their fingers over the bumps, identify letters and "read" using the sense of touch.

fig 1

"No Surface All Feeling" is written above in Braille.

Each letter in the Braille alphabet (see fig 2) is created out of a combination of 6 "dots", out of a template which runs 3 dots high by 2 dots wide. Letters and numbers are made using a combination of 1 - 5 dots in different orders. I created a template in order to recreate the letters above (figure 3 - 6).

fig 2

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fig 4

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fig 6

I recreated the title using the template (fig 7).

fig 7

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fig 9

Just placing the braille onto a plain background made the design too obvious. The concept of Secret 7 is that both the artist and single are kept a secret, which means the title cannot be displayed anywhere on the cover. By not using the actual alphabet and normal language, I may have found a loophole to avoid this, but having the braille appearing as it would normally seemed like it may be pushing the boundaries.
By breaking up the title word by word, the appearance of the braille seems less obvious and more random, as braille does not normally appear like this. It normally runs in sentences, much like visual language.

fig 10

Instead of using the whole title, I began to think about the way it is worded. "No surface all feeling" can be interpreted to mean just feeling. By removing the words "no surface" this ensures there is NO surface in the title and also removing the word 'all' ensures that all there is in the design is the word feeling.

fig 11

fig 12

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In the above mockups (fig 12 and 13) I used the word feeling on its own, as the main focal point of the cover. The dots have a gradient applied to them which make them appear more 3D as Braille would in a real-life context.

I decided that instead of a big "word" as a singular statement I would use one of the compositions in figure 11 as the dots look better on a small scale. I chose to move forward with the top left design, with the word feeling repeated numerous times in the middle of the cover.

fig 14

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Braille uses raised bumps in order for a blind person to feel and "read". By using the patterns found within Braille, but remove the tangible context, the text is rendered useless. This supports the title 'no surface'. 
Above I have created my chosen cover in black (fig 14) and in white (fig 15). In the black version, the dots are in 95% K, and in the white, they are 5% K. I wanted to make the dots barely legible, subtle. I have chosen to submit the white cover as it ties into the lyric "take a look at the whites of my eyes'.

fig 16

Digitally submitting this to Secret 7 means I have to remain within a digital context. Because of this, the dots will be matt and printed on the cover. However, if I were to physically produce this, I could spot varnish the dots on to the cover, to add more depth to the design. I have chosen to digitally mock this up (fig 17), again using a gradient to show the way light would shine onto the cover. In my digital mockups, I have also added drop shadows to the elements to produce a 3d effect to the design.

fig 17

Overall I am extremely pleased with the design. As the brief was a short brief, I set myself limited time to complete it, and I managed to meet these deadlines. The concept and execution of the design I think are strong and I am also pleased with the mockups and presentation of the design.