If point of impact of the early-1990s grunge explosion can be traced to Nirvana's Nevermind, the full commercial arrival of rap-metal can be pinpointed to August 1998 — the month Korn's aptly titled third album, Follow the Leader, debuted at Number One. The two-time Grammy Award winning band is now celebrating the recent launch of their latest album The Paradigm Shift which was recorded with producer Don Gilmore of Linkin Park.
In celebration of their album release, Korn are inviting aspiring designers to submit a artwork inspired by their new track Love & Meth for the chance of it becoming the official single cover artwork.
Schedule:
Launched: October 28, 2013
Submit by: December 4, 2013
Share & Support: December 5, 2013 - December 11, 2013
Selection: December 19, 2013
Share & Support: December 5, 2013 - December 11, 2013
Selection: December 19, 2013
Each stage closes at 10am PST (6pm GMT)
What is the problem?
The band are looking for both concept and artwork for the cover of their new single 'Love and Meth'.
What is the brief asking you to do?
Plan a concept, design artwork and then submit it by the 4th of December to Talent-house.
What is the brief trying to achieve?
A piece of artwork inspired by their new single which both portrays the band and the song.
Who will benefit?
Korn will benefit.
What is the message?
'Love and Meth'
Who is the audience?
Korn's current and future fan-base.
How will the message be delivered?
In the form of an album.
Can you foresee any problems with this?
The only limitations I can see are the restrictions of print and size, which are easily overcome.
Why have you chosen the brief?
I have chosen this brief because the band are a very nostalgic experience of mine as I used to listen to Korn's music when I was in my early teens. For this reason I think it would be really fun to take a break from university work and put their greatest hits album on full blast and be creative in the form of their album artwork.
I have chosen this brief because the band are a very nostalgic experience of mine as I used to listen to Korn's music when I was in my early teens. For this reason I think it would be really fun to take a break from university work and put their greatest hits album on full blast and be creative in the form of their album artwork.
What do you want to get out of the brief?
I don't think I did very well in my Secret 7 submission last year as I was ill for the main week of development for it and so I didn't produce something to my normal standards, for this reason I want a new opportunity to design cover art-work to a good standard and hopefully win. Out of this competition brief I want experience, fun, an addition to my portfolio and to win.
I don't think I did very well in my Secret 7 submission last year as I was ill for the main week of development for it and so I didn't produce something to my normal standards, for this reason I want a new opportunity to design cover art-work to a good standard and hopefully win. Out of this competition brief I want experience, fun, an addition to my portfolio and to win.
What do you want to do in response to the brief?
A creative, unique design idea which represents the song/band which is both interesting and aesthetically pleasing.
A creative, unique design idea which represents the song/band which is both interesting and aesthetically pleasing.
What do you need to do?
Design artwork for Korn's new single "Love & Meth".
The five most important words:
Love, Meth, Rap-Metal, Artwork, Single.
Five things I need to consider:
Audience, Format, Concept, Execution.
Five design products related to your brief:
Records, Albums, CDs, Singles, Clothing.
Five places related to your brief:
Record store, Concert, Online, The home of fans, Meth den.
Who is your audience?
Old and new fans of Korn or alternative/nu-metal music.
Who should your audience be?
20-30 year olds who used to listen to Korn in their prime.
Who could the audience be?
Younger/older generations who are/were also interested in their music.
What do they do?
Play video games, wears dark clothes, look different.
Where do they go?
Metal concerts, alternative clothes shops.
What do they buy?
Concert tickets, band merchandise, music, eyeliner.
Who do they live with?
Their parents, girlfriends/significant others.
What can you do?
Create album artwork which reflects the band and song but at the same time appeal to the audience that listen to them.
What are you going to do?
Create artwork involving a pile of crystal meth in the shape of a heart.
Why are you going to do it?
To combine the idea of love and meth to reflect on their single.
What could you do?
I could create something completely different to my competitors and execute my idea with a high quality standard which will stand out.
I started planning with a mind map by splitting off the ideas of both love and meth and then combining them into an idea. These consisted of:
- A syringe with a heart on.
- Meth Love-heart candy.
- Chemical symbol of meth warped into a heart.
- Smoke in the shape of a heart.
- Heart shaped glass meth pipe.
- Pile of crystal meth in the shape of a love heart.
I drew up thumbnails of the ideas I had and decided the most effective and my favourite from them all was the anatomical heart with the words either side. This would be a pile of meth crystals in the shape of the heart.
Now my main idea was in full swing I bought the thermometer and corn syrup to make my own meth! (candy).
The only other ingredient I will need to make the meth is sugar. Once I had everything I got cooking!
First I got 475ml of sugar.
120ml of water.
180ml of korn syrup (I'm not funny).
And mixed them together into a saucepan at full heat. Whilst that started to heat up I greased out a foiled oven tray.
The mixture was stirred until the sugar dissolved and it began to boil.
When it began to boil, I put in the thermometer until it reached 280 °F, that's when I took the pan off the stove and waited for the bubbles to die down.
Once the bubbles were gone, I stirred up the mixture and poured it out onto the foiled baking tray. Once it was distributed equally over the surface of the tray it was left to set at room temperature.
After an hour, the mixture peeled clean off the foil and this was put back in the tray to break up with the back of a spoon.
Editing began with the removal of the pencil from the black card and went on from there.
Processes that followed consisted of:
Expansion of the background to cover the 500x500 canvas.
Adding detail to the heart shape with a Wacom tablet.
Overlaying a combination of distressing textures on top.
Type + logo.
Distressing of type.
After completing the work I submitted the work and awaited the voting period to start spamming everyone I know to vote for my design.
By the end of the voting period I had 309 votes and was the 6th highest voted out of all the submissions. This gave me confidence that the members of Korn would see my submission and it would be considered.
On 6/03 the winner was announced. Sadly, this wasn't me. Even though I was extremely gutted, I am still very proud and happy of what I created.
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