Illustrator Project Report

Intended Audience & Purpose

The intended audience of this poster is anybody who listens to music and appreciates music, regardless of the format they choose to listen on. Some of these people are avid listeners that appreciate both digital music and physical music. They will instantly recognize various image features and will enjoy the inclusion of both older and newer music formats in the illustration. Another section of the audience are those who listen to music on specific devices and may not be familiar with other formats. For example, current high schoolers often listen to music on their phones, and many have never listened to music from cassette tapes. The opposite may be true for older people who mainly listen to music on vinyl record players because they are not as familiar with newer technology. With these different groups of people in mind, the ultimate purpose of this illustration is to showcase the universality of music as an art form through other music formats. Every generation has had its unique platform for listening to music, and I wanted to showcase the overlapping of those mediums through this illustration.

Image Features

I would first like to discuss the text presented in the image, "listen your way". This text conveys the central message that the image represents of the universal enjoyment of listening to music. The poster invites the audience to choose any musical formats to listen to because they are equally enjoyable. The message also encourages the audience to find the format that they enjoy listening on the most. With this message in mind, I decided to create a poster that harkened back to the colorful stylization of the late 1990s and early 2000s era of marketing. That era has had a resurgence in pop culture lately and can be recognized by several different generations distinctively. To emulate this style, I chose pastel colors to give a cool pop of color that isn't overwhelming to the eye. The poster's background is reminiscent of the swirly gas station cups that I remember seeing as a child, which creates an added layer of nostalgia for the audience. The colors of the background and the objects overall mesh well together and harken back to that specific period very well.

As previously stated, this illustration features several different music formats that represent different eras of musical history. These music formats are all distinctive because they come from entirely different decades and are iconic objects. Firstly, the record player and vinyl record represent the oldest era of physical music presented in the illustration. The other older format I chose to include was the cassette tape, remembered by older generations. Finally, I decided to include an iPod Shuffle and an iPhone 6 with a pair of AirPod headphones to appeal to people around my age. All of these formats intersect because of their generational differences. They are distinctly different generations but each format still exists today. Vinyl records are more popular than ever and cassette tapes are having a resurgence as well. With this in mind, any intended viewer can recognize at least one of the formats and relate that object to their own experience when listening to music.

Creation Process

Record Player

AirPods

iPhone 6

Apple Music Logo

iPod Shuffle

Vinyl Record

I decided to use skills I had learned from previous illustrator tutorials to create a poster because I had no specific message in mind when I started the illustrations. I first started this project by making the iPod Shuffle and the iPhone as a base for the project. I found reference photos of both devices and used the skills I acquired. I created each object of the devices by hand and then added the 3D model effects to each, layering them to give them the depth of a real object. I gave both images a thick outline to add a cartoon style to the image because I felt that style suited the tools in Illustrator the best. Afterward, I created the vinyl record disc by following this tutorial and adding different 3D elements to the object afterward. Next, I made the record player by taking individual shape tools (rounded rectangles and circles), slowly transforming each shape into different 3D objects. I then adjusted each shape to the correct angle and layered them appropriately to finish the record player. Once again, I recreated a record player's reference image for the model by hand. Afterward, I created the cassette tape by utilizing the same layering methods in 3D and then adjusted the angle to fit in front of the vinyl disc. The final 3D model I created was the two AirPods, which I looked at a reference photo of and recreated by hand in Illustrator. Each of the models took quite a bit of time to create because they all had to be rendered in real time on the Illustrator program. The more complex the models got, the longer they took to create and the more battery and CPU power they took to render. This meant that I had to move my project to my more powerful desktop computer in order to keep up with the demand of the program.

Original Image From Unsplash

Image With Trace Effect

After completing the objects, I then placed them on an empty poster artboard and went on to add the background and the text of the poster. For the background of the image, I found a photo of a reflective plastic on Unsplash and traced the image using the 16 color image trace option. I then refitted the image to fit the background of the poster and adjusted the colors to be a bit more pastel. Overall the colors blended well with the colors on the objects which was my goal. Finally, I added the text "Listen Your Way" and used a font I found on the internet called Earwig Factory. This font was specifically from the 2000s and helped to add a bit more flair to the image overall.

Learning

Through working on this poster I learned a lot about Illustrator and design principles. In Illustrator, I learned how capable the program is in creating professional-looking art and graphics. The wide range of tools like simple shape editing and the capabilities of creating 3D models showcase how versatile the program can be for designers. I challenged myself to learn how to use the 3D tools, and it took a lot of work to get a good grasp of them. I also learned how much graphical power it takes to render objects in 3D. As previously stated, I started the project on my MacBook and moved over to my more powerful desktop computer, and the renders of the 3D models turned out much clearer as a result. Another big takeaway from this project was the importance of color on a poster. I had to play around with the colors of the objects for a long time until I was finally satisfied with the project's final result. Having colors that don't mesh well together will ultimately take away from a poster's aesthetic and may muddle the poster's message as a result. Having completed the poster, each object now has its own distinct color and they all mesh well together.

The final takeaway from this project is that I can become a bit ambitious with my capabilities in projects. I had a much bigger plan for the poster involving more musical formats and a space background that ultimately did not pan out because I lacked the experience in Illustrator to execute that level of a project. However, I am happy with this project because I was able to show restraint and make a more cohesive poster. I corrected a criticism that I had in of last project where I was much less focused on details and much more focused on making a big statement. With this project, I was able to hone in on specific details with colors and shape design, which led to a cleanly executed final poster.

Next

For the final class project, I will definitely be making a more thought out plan before jumping into creating the project itself. On this project, I started with bits and pieces that came together at the end but created a more stressful work cycle as a result. Despite the disjointed work cycle, the poster I created came together well in the end and I am very happy with the final result presented. I have not lacked much creative block for these projects so I feel as though I will be able to create a unique and compelling final project that fits up to my standard of work in the course thus far. I will strive for the same level of execution in my final project that I have had in the Photoshop and Illustration projects as well. I am hoping to continue with the theme of music/music adjacent topics because I feel like that helps to round out my Wix site very well. Overall, I am excited to work on the final project in the class and am excited to learn how to use another software to create.