If you have read any of my other commissioned blogs or seen any of my animation, you will see that I LOVE music, it truly inspires me. In this blog, discover the artistry behind crafting album and single covers, as well as a signature logo for the talented musician Tino Masanga.
The Brief
Tino, a musician and aspiring pilot, approached me in the month of January 2021to create his signature logo, specifically to be used for YouTube. Tino is a singer who creates acappella and acoustic songs. He wanted the logo to simply be his name but encompass the three things he wants his channel to represent: Music, Faith and Flying. He also requested the colour pink to be incorporated into the logo.
Creating a Signature Logo
A logo is not just an image, it's a brand identity. I felt the pressure to meet the brief whilst not overcomplicating it. A good logo is simple yet effective, easy for people to read or understand. A good logo is relevant, memorable and timeless.
I tried multiple different designs, icons, colours and fonts but I wasn't sold on the combinations. Then I found inspiration in line drawings. I studied about continuous line drawings in college and it was an art style I really enjoyed working with. I experimented with line drawings, combining planes with music notes or staves.
I worked with Tino in choosing fonts to match the simplistic, line drawing theme. Thick text would not work in this logo. We also incorporated pink into the logo. I thought of turning the T into a cross, but did not want to overcomplicate the final logo. Overall, Tino was very happy with the final product.
Crafting Single Covers
Tino was in the middle of recording an EP and planned to release his first two singles, Surely Come and Choosing to Follow You. His upcoming EP would be entitled Fragments, therefore Tino wanted each single cover to have some sort of fragmentation.
For Choosing to Follow, I used the same continuous line drawing theme, drawing Tino walking away. This layer was placed on to pink panels. Choosing to Follow is a testimony in song. It speaks of the Christian journey, making the choice to follow Jesus and knowing that you'll never regret it.
We wanted similar panels for the Surely Come cover also, but placed a cloud illustration behind it. This acappella song speaks about the day when Jesus comes back to take us to the place He has prepared for us. It is a song of hope and joy. It speaks a lot of the sky and clouds, so this illustration seems very fitting.
The Fragments EP
When creating the album cover for the EP, Tino had a vision in mind. An illustration of himself split into fragments. After meeting the brief, we both decided that each panel needed to be unique. Therefore I experimented with artistic effects on Adobe Illustrate, finally coming up with the final EP art.
It was so much fun working with a brief but having creative free reign on the album covers and Tino's logo. I look forward to the beautiful harmonies to come!
You can listen to Tino's music here.
