[Official Message] Winter Single 「Zutto... / Last minute / Walk」 2014.12.24 in stores

[Andrenekoi]

@njanjayrp Following the right trends is important so you can actually positionate yourself on the market, and because it makes your work look current. Most fanmade stuff is usually 2 or 3 trends late because they are just doing what they saw the artists they like doing before.

Other than that, graphic design (or visual arts, or music composition or profissional writing or any other field of creative work) isn't really just about having a "creative mind" or whatever. It's about knowing what the clients wants to convey, what their public wants to buy and actually applying technique. A work can be really creative and still suffer from bad composition, bad color combination, not working on print or digital media or any other execution problem.

@Benikari47
Nope. God forbid Ayu have a cover that look like the cover art for a bad videogame from mid 2000's.

@artcika
I never said you shouldn't do your stuff, as I could care less about it. I just said I don't think any of the fanmade stuff we found over here would work as an official release.

[orbitalaspect]

Originally Posted by Andrenekoi

@artcika
I never said you shouldn't do your stuff, as I could care less about it. I just said I don't think any of the fanmade stuff we found over here would work as an official release.

As an aside, when you say you "could care less," you're saying you actually do care but could not care as much. If you "could not care less," you would likely not care at all.

[Pieces_of_SEVEN]

Originally Posted by orbitalaspect

As an aside, when you say you "could care less," you're saying you actually do care but could not care as much. If you "could not care less," you would likely not care at all.

THIS OMFG it bugs me every time and SO MANY people do it! lol

[rusuke]

Wow! I'm so excited when I saw the photo. I hope she composed the songs or even just one. It's different when "CREA" is written in the booklet (I'm not being biased.) XD

[Andrenekoi]

Sorry, not a native speaker Thanks for correcting me!

[BlackSilence]

Originally Posted by Andrenekoi

@artcika
I never said you shouldn't do your stuff, as I could care less about it. I just said I don't think any of the fanmade stuff we found over here would work as an official release.

LOl if stuff she's been having can be then so can ours >D really dude, you're taking this way too seriously, we're not delusional here, none needs a reality check, don't worry. we're all just having fun making OUR OWN PERSONAL visions come true. Just having fun ya know? You know what i think? You should go work for them since you seem to be so educated on this. Maybe then her stuff would look much better!

[TheRainbow]

Originally Posted by artcika

LOl if stuff she's been having can be then so can ours >D really dude, you're taking this way too seriously, we're not delusional here, none needs a reality check, don't worry. we're all just having fun making OUR OWN PERSONAL visions come true. Just having fun ya know? You know what i think? You should go work for them since you seem to be so educated on this. Maybe then her stuff would look much better!

^This.

It's like a fan covering a song, putting it on Youtube and someone saying "You should record professionally!" Then comes someone else and says, "Yeah, no, this cover isn't professional enough, you'd never make it with this." While it's a nice thing to aim for, it's almost never the intention of the cover; it's a fun tribute and an expression of something/someone they cherish. Therefore, the comment's not only unnecessary, but mean for the sake of being mean.

[microphone]

That fan-made cover gives me a sad feeling. Ayu looks like someone, perhaps a queen or wealthy woman who lives in the palace behind her, waiting for a person she cares for to return. In a moment of hallucination she might have run out without sufficient clothing to greet this person. She is mistaken and now standing in the cold. (Somehow still looking gorgeous. xD)

I really like it- The only complaint I have is what appears to be a high contrast sheen over the image. Great font choices too. Good job articka-

[BlackSilence]

^ i like the interpretation! lol it works! i've even said on the other thread that it's a very "momentum" kind of scene after i did this, haha except she's not a spirit.

The sheen you're talkin about, i think i went a bit over with the adjustment layers, not to mention puting a lens flare added to it, so it looks a bit washed out. i agree i could have taken it down a notch I always have problems with fonts so it's nice to know someone thinks i picked right this time!

What i think is covers of any kind of form should be piece of artworks, i don't think there's a particular trend in them, if you look at past covers they wouldn't look out of place these days except for a fact that technoligies have canged. Musicians still use paintings, drawings, photography and abstract artworks to put on their covers, there may be trends in typography and styles but i don't think any form of art has trends. Everyone just wants to be original at this point. Plus anyone who have ever worked with clients will tell you that what they want sometimes is far away from what's trendy or sells on the market unless they are aware of these things themselves or you convince them into using the latest wave stuff in their request. As for music artists, they sell music not album cover artworks, the only thing they need is a clearly executed message in the picture they put as one.

[njanjayrp]

Originally Posted by Andrenekoi

@njanjayrp Following the right trends is important so you can actually positionate yourself on the market, and because it makes your work look current. Most fanmade stuff is usually 2 or 3 trends late because they are just doing what they saw the artists they like doing before.

I am sorry, but how is Ayu's team doing that? When it comes to the actual covers (not taking logos/fonts into account) I doubt you could even say there's an actual trend...

[BlackSilence]

^i was a bit confused by this as well... RAINBOW could work now, and LOVE again could have worked 10 years ago... there's no such thing as trends in cover artwork. there may be trends in styles and techniques, but really, that's all there is.

[kotora]

Originally Posted by njanjayrp

I am sorry, but how is Ayu's team doing that? When it comes to the actual covers (not taking logos/fonts into account) I doubt you could even say there's an actual trend...

They think they can change the design world and be the only girl in the world. However, it fails.

I can see they don't have enough money to put on designing anymore. That's why they have been using fan's design, which is good.

[Pieces_of_SEVEN]

I don't think it's about the money or budget, I think it's laziness or the fact that ayu or someone from her team REALLY enjoyed the fan logo.

At the end of the day, the bottom line is that she needs an entirely new graphic design team.

[hidekirby]

Originally Posted by Andrenekoi

Because most of the time the fanmade covers are just a competition to see who can apply the most number of filters on a fashion magazine shot without any interest on having a concept that isn't a literal translation of the release name or with any knowlegment of visual composition. Most of the time they are also far behind the current trends because the fans are just replicating trends they saw other artists using.

Knowing photoshop =/= Knowing graphic design.

I'm quite relieved to read something like that...
I'm not fond of ayu's covers but for once I'm really glad she doesn't take fanmade covers for inspiration... Thinking most of the fanmade covers are better is a bit desilusional (I'm speaking about any artist in general).

I'm not saying people shouldn't try or else, because I like when people try something, and it's interesting to look at other people's works... but don't blame her team in comparison.
On the other hand the CDL fanmade logos I found here where way better than... the fanmade official one IMO! More elegant, more simple (and accurate with the theme... )

[BlackSilence]

^um ok not all of them are better, but seriously some people on here do better job than her team. And i don't know why it is so wrong to draw inspiration from someone who's not a professional stuck in the industry and has a very different view on things. I really don't get why it's such a bad thing.

[Aderianu]

For me fanmade covers sometimes are like avant garde at fashion.
It don't need to be wearable, but it's wonderful for sure and you can use it as inspiration

[stepYOU1234]

Eek, I shouldn't have made a complimentary comment about a fan cover it seems!!

I like the fan made covers because they have some fresh ideas and sometimes the mood is more in line with the songs. When I say "Avex should hire you", it is meant more as a compliment in that I like their ideas and that it would be nice to see Avex try out some of the different approaches fan covers have, not that I think it would happen or that they are industry standard professionals as I think lots of the fan cover artists do it as a hobby. I am not a professional either, so tend to just like something without nitpicking the processes etc. I also tend to go by the rule of "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all" with fan works because they are things that someone has put personal time and effort into.

I think what I'd like from Ayu are some slightly more creative ideas in terms of pose, fewer portrait shots, maybe on location. And these are things that fancovers often provide (regardless of technique, taste, photoshop)

[Andrenekoi]

Originally Posted by njanjayrp

I am sorry, but how is Ayu's team doing that? When it comes to the actual covers (not taking logos/fonts into account) I doubt you could even say there's an actual trend...

Simplicity is the definying aesthetic from the 2010's... It's both a counter point for the exageration from the 2000s (one decade always goes on the oposite direction of the past one), the natural evolution of the worldwide economic crisis and a reflection of the popularization of amateur audiovisual production gained with easy access to cellphone cameras that makes everything registrable through selfies or amateur video recordings.

For most artists, things are less extravagant and more down to earth, so, you will see more album covers that are a simple face shot or with a white background or on a normal scenary or simply the album title (BEYONCÉ, Britney Jean, Bon Voyage, Pure Heroine, Prism, 1989, FEEL, Kiss me once, Shakira, The new classic, My Everything, etc.)

Concerts, it doesn't matter how big they are, are having a heavier focus on the performers (singers, dancers, band) than it have on the props and visual effects (Britney: Piece of Me, Bangerz Tour, The Mrs Carter Show, Bon Voyage Tour, Timeless 2013, etc)

Music videos have a more natural visual and tend to not go that far when it's about crazy visuals, so you have some that are just the person singing on a common background, or focused on the choreography or a straightfoward storytelling (Almost every video from BEYONCÉ, Perfume, Wrecking Ball, Sakura Nagaishi, F**k You, I was gonna cancel, Dive to the blue, Turn up the radio, I can't remember to forget you, Royals, Shake it off, Diamonds, Stay, etc.)

Even the music arrangents are getting a more "back to basics" direction and the production got simpler and more straightfoward.

The artists that are putting a heavy focus on extravagant visuals (Gaga, Miley's album art, Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, Katy Perry on everything that isn't her album cover) are still using the visual trends from the late 2000s.

[yamadashun]

Originally Posted by artcika

have you tweeted ayu with this? it is gorgeous and the background reminds me of, dunno why, Russia.

[kotora]

Originally Posted by Pieces_of_SEVEN

I don't think it's about the money or budget, I think it's laziness or the fact that ayu or someone from her team REALLY enjoyed the fan logo.

At the end of the day, the bottom line is that she needs an entirely new graphic design team.

that means she will have to fire and change her whole team...

anyway, don't want to say too much. Silent is the best response.