OUGD406 - Flag Initial Ideas

OUGD406 - Flag Initial Ideas 

Flag 1

In the song - Revolution 9 by the Beatles, a sound can be heard at the end of the song which when reversed sounds like the words “turn me on dead man”. This is a technique is called back washing and while the Beatles were one of the first bands to use it, they deny this specific instance was done by them and was simply a coincidence. However with a conspiracy theory going around about Paul McCartney being dead and having been replaced with a body double, it was believed this was a hint towards it. This sentence perfectly conveys the symbolism and complexity of Art Rock songs, and how listeners would get so involved with looking for these, they would even make them up. Initial designs of this flag experimented with it being purely typographical, however an image was also added in to increase the aesthetic value of the flag’s design. The sentence appeared in Cooper Black as it is very reminiscent of the 70’s era, being used on the cover of albums such as Pet Sounds.

The image on this flag looks to represent the stylistic influences from other cultures and world music in some art rock such as the Indian and sitar influences in Beatles albums like Sgt Pepper’s. The colours featured in the image of the Indian man with the sitar are meant to be bright and psychedelic and the orange and black colour palette is utilised again to ensure visual coherency throughout all the designed elements. 

Flag 2

This flag design takes a similar principle as the last, using an image of Asian dancers to convey cultural influences in Art Rock, such as the influence of asian culture on the music of John Lennon and Yoko Ono. The 3 figures are thresholded and then given a block purple colour as a visual reference to Andy Warhol’s work who was very much involved with the art rock scene. As a producer on The Velvet Underground’s debut album, Andy Warhol suggested an intentional crack on each vinyl record where the song ‘I’ll be Your Mirror’  played, causing the titular words to be repeated until the arm of the record player was lifted, however this idea ultimately did not happen. These words are displayed on this flag design on each side so that they are mirrored, reflecting each other, which remains visually coherent with the symmetrical nature of the image. 

The typeface Fleisch is used to appear angular and sharp in reference to the geometric typefaces used by Art Rock bands who rejected the Hippie counter-culture and favoured a more modernist minimal approach - such as The Velvet Underground. It also effectively mimics visual qualities of cracks in a mirror through its sharp serifed terminals, this is further embellished through outlining the type. Lastly Fleisch almost appears legible when upside down, like an ambigram which further highlights the idea of reflection, this can be seen with letterforms such as the word ‘Be’ on then bottom of the flag. 

Flag 3

John Lennon got the inspiration for the song ‘Good Morning, Good Morning’ featured on the album Sgt Pepper’s after watching a cornflakes advert which sang the titular words. This flag uses type and imagery as a visual reference to a cornflakes box; the rooster is substituted for an image of a bird which has similar bits on the top of its head/beak to a rooster yet appears more technically drawn and almost tropical or prehistoric in nature. This is to represent Art Rock’s intellectual nature and subversion of social normalities. Brush Script Bold mimics the scriptive Kellogg’s logotype and is outlined to again subvert the standard imagery. Green and Red are the 2 main colours of the Kellog’s Cornflakes box, however in this design, red was substituted for purple so as to not create a vibrating boundary. The green speckled background is simply an enlarged section of the bird, representing the intricate nature of Art Rock.

Flag 4

This design utilises the pre-established orange and black colour combination to represent the split in Art Rock musicians; those who who rejected the Hippie counter-culture and favoured a more modernist minimal approach and those who embraced it, creating conceptual, imaginative and often psychedelic music. The top half of the flag represents the former, using geometric and more rational shapes while the latter is represented on the bottom through curved and less linear lines and shapes. The top left circular shape ties in the theme of pop art, referencing the rational modernist work of Eduardo Paolozzi whilst also taking reference from psychedelic designer Wes Wilson’s ‘Acid Test’ poster. Other visual influenced include El Lizzitsky who’s work in formed the angular triangles of the top half go the flag. The design also includes fragments of letterforms from the modified Compacta Black typeface and its curved psychedelic variants. This design received feedback in a peer review indicating it could be developed further to express the idea with more effect. Seeing as the flag will be A1, smaller more intricate designs and shapes could work well and still be the right scale