When it came to what the band wanted from their EP artwork, I was simply given a title 'Pikey Amusement Park' and the words 'Make it crazy'. Definitely one of the more open briefs I've been given to work with but that meant a lot of freedom to design, which is perfect for me. The bands EP recordings would be finished by end of January 2014, so I had a deadline of a month to come up with a design they were all happy with, so I got to work.
Idea 1
With this initial design, the band decided they liked the idea of a photography based piece, keeping it artsy and simple, so using my own photography and photo manipulation on photoshop, I created this initial idea. After proposing this to the band, they decided they liked this idea, but wanted to go in a different direction and have a more artwork/typography based album cover, so I started on idea 2.
Idea 2
I was really happy with this piece, it was lots of fun to make and i liked the use of negative colouring and type. The band loved the design, but then once again decided to they didn't want any photography at all in the piece and wanted me to come up with an illustrative piece. To meet my clients needs, I decided a piece basted entirely on illustrative type would be my best bet so went for idea 3.
Idea 3
With my third idea, I used illustrator and a secondary source image of a coney island circus poster from stock images to create a piece based mostly on typography. The band chose this design and loved the colour scheme and idea behind it, with the dark candy floss shaped bubble for the type. However... the band then decided that they were unhappy with the name chosen for the EP and decided to go for a self titled release instead so once again I went back to the drawing board.
With my next idea, I decided to keep it very simple. I wanted the EP cover to be just an illustration, being self titled I decided not to put Psycho Circus on the front but the back, inspired by releases by other independent labels who used simply imagery to portray the band.
Psycho Circus have always portrayed the image of horror, so I went with a zombie style image which I knew would fit their image. Using a secondary source image and illustrator, I designed a zombie template which on first show to the band they loved instantly, as they believed it was simple yet effective, and showed people their main influence.
Final Idea
Together with the band, and with inspiration from Misfits, we decided it would be a clever novelty to release the EP Design in 3 different colour schemes, limited edition, so the buyer had a choice of which colour they wanted to purchase, so I chose to stick to the main colour scheme I have used for the bands previous work- Green, Red and Purple.
This was the final cover art design. Cardboard album cases are most eco friendly and cost effective, so I designed the sleeve so that it could be folded and assembled together after printing. The back of the EP sleeve is clear, precise and simple like the style of the artwork and altogether both me and my client were very happy with the end result!
Where to go from here...
Naturally my next step was to promote the EP release! Ready to release in less than a months time, I set to making advertisements for their new social networking sites. My first port of call was to create a new Facebook banner, stating the main points of the advertisement.
1: What it was
2: When it was being released
3: How you can buy it
Above you can see the current look of the Facebook page, really emphasising how I have created an image for the band and a real style which is unique to them, making the band stand out. The Facebook page likes have also risen dramatically since altering the pages appearance and promoting the events and EP release.
This advertisement was promoted across Twitter and Facebook, shared by 30+ friends of the page and was also favourited/re-tweeted numerous times from the Twitter account. As you can see, I also designed the inside of the CD to be unique to each colour, as the band decided, as another novelty, to print onto CDs which looked like vinyl's.
Final Idea
Together with the band, and with inspiration from Misfits, we decided it would be a clever novelty to release the EP Design in 3 different colour schemes, limited edition, so the buyer had a choice of which colour they wanted to purchase, so I chose to stick to the main colour scheme I have used for the bands previous work- Green, Red and Purple.
This was the final cover art design. Cardboard album cases are most eco friendly and cost effective, so I designed the sleeve so that it could be folded and assembled together after printing. The back of the EP sleeve is clear, precise and simple like the style of the artwork and altogether both me and my client were very happy with the end result!
Where to go from here...
Naturally my next step was to promote the EP release! Ready to release in less than a months time, I set to making advertisements for their new social networking sites. My first port of call was to create a new Facebook banner, stating the main points of the advertisement.
1: What it was
2: When it was being released
3: How you can buy it
This advertisement was promoted across Twitter and Facebook, shared by 30+ friends of the page and was also favourited/re-tweeted numerous times from the Twitter account. As you can see, I also designed the inside of the CD to be unique to each colour, as the band decided, as another novelty, to print onto CDs which looked like vinyl's.
From here, to add more to the Bandcamp profile, I designed them some merchandise to go along with the EP release including Badges, Stickers and a T-Shirt design. Creating pieces of merchandise like this helps the band become an image that fans want to buy into.
T-Shirt Design Template
Current Bandcamp Page
In all, Psycho Circus were more than happy with the final results of their new brand identity and imagery of the social networking sites. The EP design is one of my personal favourite pieces of album artwork I have done, so I am also really pleased with the results!
As always, there will be more work to do in the future so keep an eye on the page and no doubt you will see more Psycho Circus related material!
© AElizabeth Design
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