Music by Design

In my exhibition, Music by Design, I showcase various styles of music and their personal or narrative meaning as a product through stylized illustrative work and product design. Music is a very connective medium; shared among friends or a place of personal solace and enjoyment for many. In this case, this eclectic mixture of music is what I enjoy, and wished to share in a more physical manner. There is an experience to it reflected in a display that allows the opening of the CD case and clicking through a playlist.

There is a total of 5 CD albums of their standard size each with their own interior booklet, as well as associated posters. Nearby there is a computer listening station with the songs used in the design of these albums, also showcasing their applied use in a digital format. Though not the creator of the displayed music, its organization as selective as the artwork created for the albums themselves.

Are We Just Friends

A CD collection of Lo-Fi and ambient electronica music. While none of the songs had lyrics, the first song in the compilation used an excerpt from the film, 500 Days of Summer. While this quote appears in booklet as text dialogue between two people, it served to contrast with the high colors of the design and provide the feeling of ill-fortunate romance and loneliness in an otherwise bustling city.

DeerblÜd

A CD collection of Country and Rock that invoked the pathos of the frontier. Zombie fiction often functions well on the principles of the traditional western, and this selection of songs from both genres invoked that sense of wandering a dangerous and otherwise unknown natural world. Quotes that applied to both genres were placed between songs.

썸 SSEOM

A CD collection of Korean songs about love across Pop and Rock music. Sseom is a Korean concept of romantic interest between two individuals that goes relatively unacknowledged, but exists, there is ‘something’ there, hence the terminology. Songs were chosen to represent both a male and female perspective in such complicated relationships, and worked into the design which was ultimately reversible between a male and female character.

Chocolatte!

A CD collection of songs about sweets, sex, and euphemisms. Chocolatte! was comprised of music across Rap, Hip-Hop, R&B, and Rock n’ Roll genres, and showcased the intimate relationship between chocolate and romance across generations of music. Its color scheme was limited explicitly to colors of chocolate and caramel.

Anime Graffiti

A CD collection of mashup songs. All songs were a combination of theme music from various anime series and hip-hop, rap, and rock music. Anime is something of a phenomenon in its ability to permeate so many aspects of culture and mixed well with various other genres and styles, leading to an album of similarly imagined mashups.