Preliminary Design Process

Before actually starting the design of the Music CD many ideas flood my mind at first. But then I have to start sorting and extracting only the ideas that will suit the client requesting the CD and also what I think would be appealing to the viewers. I gather the information given to me (i.e., the print and pictures that the client wants included on the CD cover). I find if the client has any other preferences or wants, or if there is a predominant colour that should be used and so on. After finding out what I “must” include I can now judge how much room there is for me to use my own ideas and additions. I make decisions always keeping in mind the client’s “wants”. Then I proceed to making decisions on what look I want to start developing, what colours I want to use, what images I want to include, where I want to place the information I have on the CD cover, what typeface I want to use and so on. In other words, the design creation depends on ME, even though the client has made certain requests. When coming up with the design I, of course, use my own prior knowledge. I can also look to other people’s works to get ideas and to enrich my own knowledge. I look to sources such as magazines, internet, books etc. to get ideas. Once I have thought about it and have done a lot of observations I can start trying out my own ideas. When doing this I keep in mind that I want to “WOW” my client, the viewers and most of all ME. My ultimate goal is to make my CD cover design creative and it must capture the attention of people. The CD cover must reflect or be a glimpse of the music and the musicians it features.