Noel Zancanella’s music can be described as jazzy, light, arid, minimalistic, happy, repetitive, clean, simple, electronic, and hip-hop-esque. He proclaims to be influenced by the authentic Jazz music, the roots of hip hop, as well as the new electronic and experimental; all of these styles are evident in his tracks. In the beginning he was drawn into the musical past by picking out his favorite melodies and rhythms from old records he puts these “moments of forgotten genius” together through the medium of sampling. Some may think about it as stealing but to him, “I was simply taking an amazing half second, and creating an amazing four minutes.” He has since moved on by pinpointing the instruments used to make those “moments of forgotten genius” and uses those vintage pieces to re-create the sounds and melodies of the past.
I listened to a few of my favorite tracks, “Where Edges Meet”, “Hanjin”, and “Like This” while designing these covers to use as inspiration for my designs. I tried to reflect the ideas of Noel’s music in the covers themselves, keeping in mind the feelings that were conveyed while listening to the tracks. I decided to keep things simple, and did not include anything in the designs that did not absolutely be there.
The Initial Design
My first design started out with a clean black slate. I then added in a few photos I shot of an audio mixer, and some other intimate pieces found in a recording studio. Black and white images were used in high contrast, to evoke a feeling of age, and again eliminating all but the most relevant information. Only a small sliver of an image, the title, and Noel’s name were including on the front cover. The back cover only the track listing, website, and record label with a few small detail photos completing the design. I then made several revisions to my design slowly eliminating all un-neccisary information with each revision.
The Final Design
My final design reflects the series of revisions I made and represents the main idea I was trying to portray. Just like Noel’s musical beginnings I took small parts of something great, parts of my initial designs, and through a few revisions turned out a new complete composition. The front cover is a full framed photo in high key, of a turn table representative of Noel’s recent turn towards a more Hip-hop style of music. The front cover is still only a photograph Title, and Noel’s name, but is now much brighter, and lighter than the black frame it was before. Which is how I perceive most of his music to be. The back also reveals a much cleaner, simple design incorporating a single photograph. It is the pitch adjustment on a turntable, representing Noel’s natural ability to take an existing piece of art and create a completely new masterpiece with his small adjustments.
All and all I feel that I conveyed the general idea of Noel and his music though my careful study of his music, his ideas, and his past. I really enjoyed this project, it gave me a great opportunity to exercise and build upon my design skills while still being productive and completing an assignment for school. Below is a list of my resources used in this project.