The brief; illustrate a significant event, or series of events, from the history of XL Records.

The event I have chosen to illustrate is Radiohead’s release of the album In-Rainbows and its pay-what-you-want direct from the bands website. An “illustration” for one A1 poster was mandatory.

 

After deep development and considered research I had come across the Matt Kussner’s essay in which he compared drawings made by musicians and non-musicians whilst listening to music with their eyes closed. I used his technique and as a musician I listened to snippets of the album and my final design below is the result of this experiment. I later added the font and sub text to complete to design.

Thermochromic inks are inks that respond and react to different temperatures. I obtained some and started to experiment with screen print with black ink that reacted to body temperature, red ink that reacted to high temperatures - e.g. a hairdryer - and a blue one that reacted to really cold temperatures - e.g. a freezer. After lengthy trials, I managed to get the results I wanted. 

 

I chose this particular type of ink to suggest that Radiohead came and left with an idea. The Thermochromic Ink, like the event itself, does something that gets the viewer/listener directly involved with the product.

I chose the concept of broken-up typography to match the way Radiohead broke up the record market with their stand to let people pay what they want for their music. 

 

The sub-text on the final design reads “2007, In Rainbows pay what you want digital release. This original one-off event saw the band triumph the music market but was an idea that would leave the market as quickly as it appeared.”

 

This text relates to the event but also to the way I executed the design.

This project was part of the New Blood D&AD awards 2014. I created 4 A1 screen-prints on thick board using the thermochromic inks for my final outcome.