OUGD406 - Brief 01 - 'Secret 7' Live Brief

Today we were introduced to OUGD406, our last studio led module for the year. The first brief involves a charity design competition named 'Secret 7'. On the website, the project is summed up pretty nicely: 'We take 7 tracks from 7 of the best-known musicians around and press each one 100 times to 7” vinyl. We then invite creative's from around the world to interpret the tracks in their own style for every 7”. 700 sleeves are exhibited and then sold for £50 apiece. You don't know who created the sleeve, or even which song it's for, until you have parted with your cash - the secret lies within'.

 Each year that the competition has run for, a different charity pairs up and gets involved. This year the chosen charity is Nordoff Robbins. Nordoff Robbins work with people with a range of challenges such as autism, dementia, depression and physical and learning disabilities. The therapy they provide helps many to communicate where they have struggled to do so previously. The results can have a profound impact on individuals, their families and all those around them. They carry out their work in their own music therapy centres, in schools, community centres, hospitals and care homes. They also train music therapists through their own Masters degree programme. Secret 7 are delighted to support Nordoff Robbins in 2015.

We were briefed on this project this morning and we were told clearly about the deadline for the live brief which seemed initially quite far away, we were then told that we had an internal deadline of a week which was shocking but exciting at the same time. It is going to be a challenge to manage my time effectively and work efficiently within the restrictions. We were introduced to the seven songs and the artists behind the sounds and began generating ideas straight away.

The rules:

• The design must not include the artist's name or the song title

• Concentrate the design on what will be the front, as only this will be visible in the exhibition

• Dimensions should be 184mm, with a 3mm bleed all the way around. That's 190mm x 190mm in total. The bleed will not be visible

• The file must be produced in CMYK

• The file must be 300dpi

• The file must be saved as either a Tiff, JPEG or PDF

• You can submit a sleeve design for as many of the tracks as you like, and more than one for each song

• The deadline for the brief is 23:59 on the 4th of March 2015

The seven sounds that have been chosen this year are as follow:

'Let Forever Be' - The Chemical Brothers - 1999 - this track features vocals from Noel Gallagher - who also co-wrote it - and has a mesmerising music video directed by the one and only Michel Gondry.

'Reflections' - Diana Ross and the Supremes - 1967 - Our first release from the wonderful world of Motown and the band's first with Diana as the main billing. This is an extended stereo version of the psychedelic pop single that has never been pressed to vinyl.

'Go' The Maccabees - 2014 - Taken from this London band's critically acclaimed third album Given To The Wild. It will be the fifth and final single taken from it, ahead of the release of a new album in 2015.

'Sledgehammer' - Peter Gabriel - 1986 - Apparently this song is all about sex. It's influential stop motion video that accompanied the track's original release in 1986 is an all time great, and we shall be pressing the video edit audio.

'Dead Flowers' - The Rolling Stones - 1971 - from arguably the bands' greatest ever record Sticky Fingers. Released in 1971 it is housed in the iconic artwork conceived by Andy Warhol. This will be the first time the track has been released as a 7”.

'Digital Witness' - St. Vincent - 2014 - The lead single from her recent album which was crowned album of 2014 by many, including The Guardian, The Sunday Time and NME.

'Born Slippy (NUXX)' - Underworld - 1995 - Originally a B-side to Born Slippy, the remix shot to fame in 1996 when it soundtracked the final scene in the movie Trainspotting. We are working with the radio edit of this classic.

After listening to the tracks, I am most drawn to three: 'Born Slippy' I like its fast paced energy and bass driven rhythm - 'Digital Witness' - the music video was stunning and had a very strong visual identity and I also found the lyrics easy to relate to and quite inspiring - and finally 'Let Forever Be' - The Chemical Brothers, I thought the music video was amazing and very unique, the song its self had a very warm quality to it and I really liked the message and concept behind the song. I feel that the other songs lack the energy and inspiration for me. I also feel that the majority of people will design for the songs that are more widely known and recognised. I predict that a lot of people will design for the classic songs by the Supreme s and the Rolling Stones and people will lean towards to the Maccabees.