Test portrait shoot

Colour Photos



B+W Photos
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Camera and settings:

Light positioning:

Computer software:

Light positioning:

Camera and light set up details:

Test Showcase Shoot

We wanted to experiment with the show case pages photography.

RUM Galour

Got my self a bottle of rum which has a better shape to work with rather than my original bottle. 

Layout Ideas

Was experimenting on layout Ideas and also categorisation. The pages aren't in the right order. There would be showcase pages of all the niches with in graphic design, ie, typography, branding, illustration etc. A collection of everyones work would be hung up on the wall (Similar to the image i used below, but no picture frames.) Each catatory would be given a colour, then the colour would be used in the individual showcase pages to subtly represent what kind of designers they are.
 

Labels

Experimenting in how the label may work on the bottle. 

Bottle

I found and purchased this bottle which I may use for the rum. The glass top isn't great but I could always design my own stopper.

Rum Label

Some experimentation with label designs. I decided on 'Genuine Voodoo Spirit as tag line.

Tag Line

I was thinking about adding a tag line that mentioned 'Voodoo'. Because Papa Loko is a Voudon spirit and rum is also a spirit I thought of using 'voodoo spirit' which has a double meaning. Here are some words that could tie the line together.

Logo Type

Since changing the 'K' in the logo the curved 'A's don't look right. I made them flat at the top to fix it.

Proof & Volume Alcohol

I wanted to find out what the proof no. meant in relation to the alcohol volume. I found this which explains it.


The proof number is twice the percentage of the alcohol content measured by volume at a temperature of 60 °F (15.5 °C). Therefore "80 proof" is 40% alcohol by volume (most of the other 60% is water), and pure alcohol would be "200 proof". 

Smokey water

I made this shape, then I added 'Papa Loko'. I thought the K in the type face looked awful so I changed it and also tried the type in white with a black circle. This style is reminiscent to the design style I looked at earlier. Seen HERE

Logo / Type

Experimenting with different type faces for the Papa Loko Logo. I think the light sans serif will work well for this brief.

Papa Loko

I have decided to call the Rum ' Papa Loko Rum' this is influenced from the Haitian religion Voodoo and particularly the Voodoo spirit or Iwa, Papa Loko. Through research I have gathered lots of things that could be used to make the rum a visually exciting brand. Top left are things that are associated with Papa Loko

Whiskey Tasters

Interesting use of black and white in this packaging. I think the wax tops work really well.

Cork Screw

This is an innovative (and violent) cork screw but these sort of extra things really make a product stand out.

Fin Colour

Different Variations of colour for the fin. Client likes the top one best.

Clouds and Time

Client wanted more detail on the hour glass so I added the slats down the side which they usually have. Also thought I could fill up some of the negative space with clouds.

Clouds and new hour glass together.

Red Sea

Added all the info on the back cover, legal stuff etc. Spoke to the client and they are ADAMANT on the red sea which I don't think looks as god but hay ho, life of a designer I guess. Still deciding on type for the song titles, some different Ideas shown below.

FACE

Finally changed the face. It took me a long time to make her not look like Michael Jackson. But the end result looks better than a blank face.

Illustration Style.

Some illustration that I will take elements from to create the Ep cover.

PAPA LOKO

Papa Loko is the first Houngan.  He is the father of all Houngans and Mambos, and highly respected by all.  It is he who confers the asson, the sacred rattle of the Vodou priesthood.  He is the guardian of the peristyle, quite naturally being the premiere Houngan himself.  Salutes to Loko are of the most complex and beautiful giving him all respect.

Loko is extremely strict when it comes to tradition. 

 

Sometimes, when things are being executed correctly, Papa Loko will appear in possession not extremely content.  He can be harsh when he sees things are not being done properly.  He cannot tolerate injustice and quick to punish those who have done the wrong.  He is master of ceremonies and always has the appropriate answer to any question.  He is known as a just judge and is often called in to make decisions when something is being disputed.

 

He is a master leaf doctor and knows all of their properties for both healing and magic, good or ill.  If a particular case or illness is extremely difficult, Loko is called by Houngans and Mambos to prescribe the cure.  He passes much of his knowledge about leaves to Houngans and Mambos, thus we have many of the secrets of herbs for both healing and magic.  It is often said that Loko is the wind or like the wind.  Thus he is able to hear anything he so desires.  He is associated with the beautiful butterfly and no secret is unknown to him. 

 

back cover

Illustration

Logo

THe client didn't want drop shadow and wanted type less weighty. 

Initial Sketches

 Vectored logo, with added detail on Y decender.

 Same logo inverted,

Voudon Iwa

Working out potential names for the rum and visual possibilities that go with the theme.

Papa Loko & Papa Legba

Loco (Loko) is the aspect of Legba that is the master of the hounfort, and he represents medicine and the healing arts. He is often invoked to help with healing and to protect against black magic.

The spirit of vegetation and the guardian of sanctuaries. Mainly associated with trees. He gives healing properties to leaves; the god of healing and patron of the herbs doctors who always invoke him before undertaking a treatment. Offerings are placed in straw bags which are then hung in its branches. He is only recognizable by the pipe smoked by his servant and the stick which he carries in his hand. His favorite colors are red and white. Animals that are most likely to be offered to this god are black or white goats or russet colored oxen. Portrayed in the form of a butterfly, Loco has extensive knowledge of pharmaceutical uses of herbs. It is said that houngans and mambos receive their knowledge from Loco. He is known for his good judgment; often during conflicts he is called in to be judge. He is known for his intolerance of injustice. It has been said that he transforms into the wind and listens to people without them knowing he is there. Loco has many wives and girlfriends who are young and good-looking all over the country wherever there is vegetation. He is the personification of the trees he is so closely associated with. Loco is compared to an invisible houngan with authority over all the sanctuaries in Haiti. The worship of Loco is much like the worship of trees-mainly the Ceiba. The Ceiba tree is the Antillean silk-cotton tree and the tallest species in Haiti. Offerings to it are put in straw bags and hung from the branches. It is hard to distinguish Loco when he has mounted someone since he is the personification of plants. Loco is also a messenger loa and communication loa, but his main duties are the vegetation in the woods and forests. He also watches over the agricultural tools the peasants use in their every day activities. The voodoo physician priests worship him, getting their knowledge from him.

Legba is the most powerful of all the loa. He represents the sun and is the guardian of the gate between the material world and the spiritual plan where the loa reside. All rituals, no matter what their purposes, open with an invocation to Legba, the loa of the gate. Without Legba's permission, no other loa may cross from the astral plane to the material one. Because no loa can pass to the material world without Legba's permissions, only he can permit communication between practitioners of vodou and the loa. The houngan invokes Legba by sprinkling rum on the ground in his honor, tracing his vévé on the ground, and chanting. Due to his wisdom and vast knowledge of the past and future, Legba is often consulted in times of crisis. Legba's symbol is the cross, his color is black, and he is represented in the hounfort by the poteau-mitan and by a sacred tree near the hounfort. He is often associated with the Christian figures, Saint Peter and Christ. His sacrifice is animal bones and marrow, particularly of roosters and goats.


Old man who guards the crossroads. He is the origin of life, so he must be saluted each time a service or any other activity with the loa will begin. Legba controls the crossing over from one world to the other. He is the contact between the worlds of the spirit and of flesh. He can deliver messages of gods in human language and interpret their will. He is the god of destiny and is also the intermediary between human beings and divine gods. Legba is one of the most important loa in Haitian voodoo. He is the first loa to be called in a service, so that he can open the gates to the spirit world and let them communicate with other loa. No loa dares show itself without Legba's permission. Whoever has offended him finds himself unable to address his loa and is deprived of their protection. He is the origin and the male prototype of voodoo. Voodooists believe that if Legba grants their wishes, they can contact the forces of the universe. He is guardian of voodoo temples, courtyards, plantations, and crossroads. He protects the home. If you are going on a trip, it is believed that you pray to Legba for protection from harm and a safe return home. As "Master of Crossroads" he is the god of every parting of the way-a favorite haunt of evil spirits and propitious to magic devices; and it is at crossroads that he receives the homage of sorcerers and presides over their incantations and spells. He is also the guardian of the poto mitan-the center post-a post in the center of the peristyle regarded as a thoroughfare of the spirits. The poto-mitan is an extremely sacred object. Legba walks in his bare feet because he is in constant contact with the earth. He is a small crooked lovable old man. Small pipe with little tobacco, a little food in his macoute sack. Sours on his body. His pitiful appearance has earned him the nickname of Legba of the Broken Foot but conceals the terrific strength which becomes apparent in the violence of possession induced by him. Because of his politeness and caring nature he is greeted as Papa Legba. He is a much loved loa. His favorite foods are vegetables, meat and tubules grilled on a fire. These foods will be offered to him so that he will open the gates. His symbol is the sun and all that is good. His sacred day is Tuesday. His favorite tree is the medicinier-bebi. When he mounts someone the person's limbs are twisted and horrible to see. The crutch is the symbol of Legba. The outward appearance of Legba hides a very powerful interior. Legba is the symbol of the sun, of daylight of things positive. Legba controls the cardinal points of the crossroads. The interpreter to the gods can deliver the messages of the gods in human language and interpret their will. He is the god of destiny, honored first at every ceremony, receiving first offerings. He is represented by a wooden or iron phallus mounted in a little mound of earth in front of every house. Legba is also known to hold the "key of the spiritual world," and for this reason is identified with the Christian St. Peter. Legba's colors are green, rose and red.


http://bhrealms.tripod.com/encindex.html

Design Style

Think the design style I would like to approach the rum brief will be similar to these three pieces. The complex vectors on black, and the black and white gradients and textures on the bats and t-shirt.

Voodoo Religion

Thoughts on potential names for the 'voodoo' Rum, Found out that Vodou translates into Spirits. 

Humback song

In 1967, Dr Payne and Scott McVay studied the intricate vocalisations of humpback whales. They realised that they were hearing fixed rhythmic pattern of repeated sounds or songs. Although many other whale species also sing songs and make a variety of noises, the humpback has the longest and most complex songs.

Since this discovery, Dr Payne and colleagues at Ocean Alliance have gathered songs from humpback populations throughout the world. Ocean Alliance’s Whale Song Library now contains more than 1,500 recordings from fourteen different geographic regions. The library totals more than 6,000 hours of sounds and is the largest collection of humpback recordings.

Katharine Payne discovered that all the humpback whales in a given area sing versions of the same song, which changes throughout the course of the season. Following this, Ocean Alliance scientists discovered that although humpback whales in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans follow the same rules to construct their songs, that the changes in the songs for each ocean have occurred independently of changes in other oceans (presumably singers in different oceans cannot hear each other); so that in the same year, the songs in different oceans are different from each other.

It seems, therefore, that songs can be helpful in delineating interbreeding populations of humpback whales.Ocean Alliance maintains libraries of information spanning back to the 1950′s.

Dr. Payne's discovery with colleague Scott McVay in 1967, that the eerie sounds made by the humpback whale were actually complex, recognisable songs, jumpstarted bioacoustics research. He determined that these songs often include rhyme and meter, and he developed a system for transcribing them. Recent data from the US Navy confirms Dr Payne's 1971 theory (with Douglas Webb) that some whale species make sounds that can be heard over hundreds or even thousands of miles. Recent analysis of low frequency sonar data has proven that Payne and Webb were correct - by utilising the special acoustic properties of deep water the sounds of whales can carry great distances. Such long-range signals may serve as beacons when whales are trying to find each other or their isolated breeding grounds. Unfortunately, something which is bad is that with the invention of propeller-driven vessels the subsequent noise pollution has undeniably interfered with whales' long range communication.

These spectrograms are from the VENTS programme.

These spectrograms are from the VENTS programme.

Blue Whale (West Pacific) 0-->40Hz

Blue Whale (North East Pacific) 0-->60Hz

Blue Whale (South Pacific) 0-->40Hz

Ocean Giant Plan

A plan / ideas for ocean giants publication. The programme is in three parts so I think I will put the publication into 3 chapters.