Isolation Tapes: Research & Development • ISO-5

ISOLATION TAPES

Final Major Project

Jordan Warren

BA (Hons) Graphic

Design & Digital

Communication

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT ISO - 5

1

ISOLATION TAPES

ISO-5

R&D

BOOK

WILL

BEGIN

SHORTLY...

Final Major Project

Jordan Warren

BA (Hons) Graphic

Design & Digital

Communication

TABLE

OF

SYNOPSIS Ver. 1.0

001 – 002

BRANDING

039 – 046

V.R. TEST

003 – 006

LOGO REFINEMENT

047 – 050

FMP ZINES

007 – 022

J-CARDS

051 – 058

C19

023 – 024

THE CASSETTE TAPE

059 – 062

SYNOPSIS Ver 2.0

025 – 026

PARAMETERS

063 – 066

LOGO DESIGN

027 – 038

J-CARD REFINEMENT

067 – 076

CONTENTS

INSERT

077 – 084

PACK SHOTS

141 – 152

J-CARD ENDGAME

085 – 092

PRESENTATION

153 – 158

TAPE SELECTION

093 – 098

QUARANZINE

159 – 164

BANDCAMP

099 – 110

LIVE PREMIERES

165 – 176

INSERT ENDGAME

111 – 136

ISO TAPES FILM

177 – 186

EXHIBITION PLAN

137 – 140

REFLECTION

187 – 190

SYNOPSIS Ver. 1.0

Jordan Warren – Final Major Project

ISOLATION TAPES

BA (Hons) Graphic Design

& Digital Communication

For everything to begin we had to fill out a synopsis for our Final

Major Project, though liable to change, it was a way of committing

to starting our last brief of university.

001

002

V.R. TEST


ISOLATION TAPES



A big part of my first FMP idea was to build on the experience of

listening to records, to make them more of an event like going to

watch a film.

003

The way I wanted to

achieve this was by

incorporating Virtual

Reality. To test out rough

ideas I started working

with Adobe Aero, a

phone app which lets

you turn Photoshop

files into layers that can

be moved around a 3D

space.

Once a project has

been separated into

manageable layers, you

have to scan the area to

create a placement map

to which your layers will

stick to.

004

V.R. TEST


ISOLATION TAPES



Screen shots of the AR project I created

in Adobe Aero of a poster I created.

005

006

FMP ZINES


ISOLATION TAPES



To get the ball rolling on my FMP I thought I would make a zine

based around the experience or ‘ritual’ of putting on a record but

poked fun at it and showed some of the negatives.

007

008

009

010

011

012

013

014

015

016

017

Above is a mini brief we

were set to complete

within the day, which

were based on our FMP

choices.

018

FMP ZINES


ISOLATION TAPES



I chose all the features

I could and drew these

thumbnail sketches and

started planning the

zine. The central theme

was around ‘Collection’.

I chose all the features

I could and drew these

thumbnail sketches and

started planning the

zine. The central theme

was around ‘Collection’.

Opposite page:

1 – Front cover

2 – Beginner level

3 – Record collector

4 – CD collector

5 – Cassette insert

6 – Opened cassette

7 – MP3 collector

8 – Take me! (The 1975)

9 – Put me in here! (Bin)

10 – Back cover

019

1

2

3

4 5

6

7

10

8

9

Scans of the rough version of the zine

which I made to get a feel for how the

pages would flow.

020

FMP ZINES


ISOLATION TAPES



For the hand written

element, I drew the zines

title and then scanned it

into my laptop.

021

Here are the digitally

rendered covers made

to look like ‘dinked’ 7”s

including A / B sides.

This would be as far

as the zine got due

to something major

happening worldwide...

022


ISOLATION TAPES



OVID

As news about the

pandemic was getting

closer to home, the uni

decided it would be

best to close and hold

tutorials online instead.

With no computer

at home powerful

enough to handle

higher functioning AR

programs, this project

was dead.

023

-19

The

way

I

was

achievethis

wanted

by

to

incorperating Virtual

workin

Reality. To test out rou

Ideas I started

With Adobe Aero, a

phone app which lets

you turn photoshop

files into layers that ca

be moved around a 3D

space

024

SYNOPSIS Ver. 2.0


ISOLATION TAPES



On the 23rd of March I was struck with a new idea for my Final

Major Project seemingly out of nowhere. The rough idea was

posted straight to my Instagram page, to let people know it would

be a collaborative project.

025

026

LOGO DESIGN


ISOLATION TAPES



Excited about my new FMP idea, I began sketching some logo

ideas based on themes like self isolation, loneliness and the rules

placed upon us by the government.

027

028

LOGO DESIGN


ISOLATION TAPES



029

The concept of this logo is about escaping

and being content in your self isolation.

SOLITUDE

Whilst having a break

from designing logos,

I looked into the brand

name ‘Isolation Tapes’

and saw there were

a number of results

showing up. This led

me to change to name

to ‘Solitude Tapes’, I

also felt this sounded

friendlier than Isolation.

030

LOGO DESIGN


ISOLATION TAPES



Inspired by the nature I

was seeing on my daily

walk, I wanted to capture

the scenery and use it as

the backdrop to my logo

and branding.

I posted this to

Instagram with a

rough write up for my

project and got a great

response from lots of

interested musicians.

Further development sketches of the

logo before rendering it on Illustrator.

031

032

LOGO DESIGN


ISOLATION TAPES



After a tutorial held on

‘Zoom’, it was discussed

how the Solitude logo

lent itself to something

more rustic in styling.

With a vision in my head

of an inclusive label, I

knew I would need to

change my logo design

to something neutral in

aesthetic, allowing for a

wide range of genres.

In the same tutorial, we

spoke about another

logo sketch I did that

had something going

for it. Neutral in genre

aesthetics and better

suited to the theme of

lock-down, I began to

develop this new logo,

033

034

LOGO DESIGN


ISOLATION TAPES



The choice to use halftone dots was

an attempt at adding depth to the logo

whilst still only using one colour

This was the first

digital render on the

new logo. As you can

see I re-adopted the

name ‘Isolation Tapes’

as it was far greater

received by others than

‘Solitude Tapes’. After

looking further into it I

discovered that there

were no labels with that

name and so reverted to

my original choice.

035

I also tried a few colour

variations as I didn’t

want to fall into the

yellow and black look

which seems to be a

trend at current. Shortly

after making this and

taking a step back,

something still didn’t feel

right about this design.

Having made the wall

isometric in design I felt

I should give the figures

the same treatment.

This logo was a brief test at creating

themed variants of the logo which could

be applied to a specific genre.

Ultimately it went against my idea of

neutrality and so was dropped.

036

LOGO DESIGN


ISOLATION TAPES



Immediately after

rendering this version

I knew the logo was

in its final phase of

refinement. Other slight

variations included

varying dot sizes and

highlights around the

name. The vertical

placement of the name

was done due to it

being partially covered

by the figure in the

forefront when placed

horizontally.

037

038

BRANDING


ISOLATION TAPES



As I got closer to finishing up my logo design, I wanted to start

creating new imagery in a similar style as a means of setting out

my labels brand guidelines and project parameters.

039

Right away I wanted to

get rid of the classic

‘A/B side’ that’s typically

seen on records and

cassettes. My reasoning

for this was to deter

from making one person

come across a more

important that the other

since each release

would feature two

different artists.

This format was also a

clever way of giving my

logo a practical use as

it can represent each

person on their given

side of the cassette, just

like the wall in the logo.

040

BRANDING


ISOLATION TAPES



I wanted to redesign my

label parameters so that

I could keep a consistent

look with my posts to the

public, in-keeping with

my new brand design.

After another tutorial it

was agreed that my first

written draft was better.

041

042

BRANDING


ISOLATION TAPES



A large part of the

labels presence relied

on the music streaming

platform, ‘Bandcamp’

so it was important

that I branded each

element for the site

too. Unfortunately the

resolution of what

can be uploaded is

very small despite the

website being well

designed in all other

aspects. This meant that

my imagery and text

would look low-res no

matter what I tried.

043

044

BRANDING


ISOLATION TAPES



045

This was the first draft

for the Isolation Tapes

Bandcamp page.

After playing with the

background and banner

images I settled on

this layout. Fortunately

due to how Bandcamp

works, this page could

remain unpublished until

I released the first tape.

046

LOGO REFINEMENT


ISOLATION TAPES



After spending some time working on my cassette J-card

template I went back to my branding and decided it could be

cleaner and even more neutral by choosing a sans-serif font and

ditching the yellow and black colour palette.

047

*

*

Having changed my choice of typeface

for the label, I removed the name from

the logo. This was so that I could have

the logo at a tiny size and not have to

worry about legibility.

048

LOGO REFINEMENT


ISOLATION TAPES



* Shortly after, I realised

that the halftone pattern

wouldn’t print properly

at a small size and so

decided to use the 3

tone grey scale logo as

a base, that could be

edited for each release.

Two examples of the logo with colour

variations, taken from the early cassette

J-card designs.

049

Very quickly I found that

the multicoloured logo

got lost in the J-card

design and stripped

it right down to just

an outline. The logo

was now finished and

working on all fronts.

As an outline I’m able

to keep it as one colour

allowing it to pop out

in the same manner

that text does, and the

reduced detail meant

that it could be scaled

down to be even smaller,

a necessity for small

packaging like that of the

cassettes.

050

J-CARDS


ISOLATION TAPES



At the forefront of my projects design was the J-cards, the cover

that represent each release on Isolation Tapes. To have full

understanding of my covers I decided to make my own template

in InDesign rather than rely on pre-made ones.

051

This is the template that I set up in

InDesign. A J-card is similar to a book

cover however the back cover is less

that half the size of the front cover,

allowing you to see the cassette itself.

052

J-CARDS


ISOLATION TAPES



ISOLATION

TAPES

SIDE - A

PLANET ZOO

SPACE TASTE

CITRUS

SIDE - B

ZEPHYR

COLUS

FROST

ISOLATION

TAPES

ISO – 1

This was my first play

around with the template

to get a feel of how much

space I have to work

with, what type sizes I

could use and the layout

of all the text boxes.

Above: You can see the logo with a

colour pallet to match the cover. I also

chose what my catalogue number would

be formatted as on this first draft.

053

Above: Circled is a panel from one of the

colour palettes. Above you can see that

panels HEX code which I then added to

InDesign.

Left: The first colour palette I used,

example can be seen on the previous

page.

To give myself freedom

with creation I looked up

some colour palettes

and found this website,

the ‘Swiss Style Colour

Picker’ which lets you

click a panel to copy the

HEX code, allowing you

to simply drop it into a

programs swatches.

054

J-CARDS


ISOLATION TAPES



Hans Neuburg 1966 Joseph Müller-Brockmann 1957

For my J-cards I knew

that I wanted each one

to have a set of rules

that visually linked them

all together as a set, so

I felt as though Swiss

inspired design was a

good route to go down.

055

Forma

Aldo

Novarese 1968

A B C D E F G

H I J K L M N

O P Q R S T U

V W X Y Z

a b c d e f g h i

j k l m n o p q r

s t u v w x y z

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

8 9 ! ? & * ‘ , . ( )

A B C D E F G

H I J K L M N

O P Q R S T U

V W X Y Z

a b c d e f g h i j

k l m n o p q r s

t u v w x y z

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

8 9 ! ? & * ‘ , . ( )

A B C D E F G

H I J K L M N O

P Q R S T U V

W X Y Z

a b c d e f g h i j

k l m n o p q r s

t u v w x y z

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

9 ! ? & * ‘ , . ( )

The typeface I chose for

the label is called Forma

DJR, a 2013 remake of

an Italian Sans-serif font

design in 1968 by Aldo

Novarese.

056

J-CARDS


ISOLATION TAPES



ISOLATION

TAPES

SIDE - A

PLANET ZOO

SPACE TASTE

CITRUS

SIDE - B

ZEPHYR

COLUS

FROST

ISOLATION

TAPES

ISO – 1

On the second J-card, I

wanted to play around

with random shapes

to try and force some

playful typography,

however it didn’t come

naturally to me as it

didn’t feel like my style.

057

ISOLA-

TION

TAPES

SIDE - A

PLANET ZOO

SPACE TASTE

CITRUS

SIDE - B

ZEPHYR

COLUS

FROST

PLAY

IT

SAFE

ISOLATION

TAPES

ISO – 2

Still playing with shapes,

I also experimented with

different typefaces with

the idea of having them

help to differentiate

each of the four tapes.

In the end I felt that

the different colour

pallets and front covers

would be enough to

differentiate them and

by using the same type

and layout they would

have enough to look part

of a series, which is the

look I want for this label.

058

THE CASSETTE TAPE


ISOLATION TAPES



Fortunately for this project, my research on cassette tapes

started in 2014 / 2015 when I became interested in starting a label

to release my own home recordings.

059

The one and only tape I released on my

first label, Wizard Mischief Records

in 2016.

060

THE CASSETTE TAPE


ISOLATION TAPES



Around the time I was

looking into and following

various cassette only

labels, I discovered the

label ‘Never Anything’ as

was captivated by their

simple and clean graphic

cassette covers.

Their aesthetic has

always stayed with me

and is undoubtedly what

influenced my desire for

a graphic look that ties

all the tapes together.

061

062

PARAMETERS


ISOLATION TAPES



Feeling lost in which way I should take the project, it was

discussed that I should set some parameters to be met by the

artists so that I didn’t end up with unrelated music.

063

Having thought about

it for a while, I wrote

up these parameters

and posted them to

Instagram. I could tell

that these killed off

some interest, however

I saw it as a good thing

as some bands viewed

the projects just as a

means to get their music

released on a physical

format.

064

PARAMETERS


ISOLATION TAPES



065

066

J-CARD REFINEMENT


ISOLATION TAPES



Wanting to make sure I still had my own style mixed into the

project, I took influence from Franco Grignani’s op art style

posters which blend ‘trippy’ illustration with clean type.

067

068

J-CARD REFINEMENT


ISOLATION TAPES



ISOLA-

TION

TAPES

ISOLATION

TAPES

ISOLA-

TION

TAPES

ISOLATION

TAPES

SIDE - A

PLANET ZOO

SPACE TASTE

CITRUS

SIDE - B

ZEPHYR

COLUS

FROST

PLAY

IT

SAFE

SIDE - A

PLANET ZOO

SPACE TASTE

CITRUS

SIDE - B

ZEPHYR

COLUS

FROST

PLAY

IT

SAFE

ISO – 2

ISO – 2

It was on this cover test that I knew the

multi-coloured logo wouldn’t work when

shrunken down.

Here is the first time that I used just

the outlined logo. Even here it was fully

refined as I later filled the character on

the left.

I began by making this

simple OP art pattern

and later on added a

part of a graphic that I

made for a UCC 2020

T-shirt. The black and

white pattern was made

to represent stereo

sound, which gave me

the idea to use the

covers to represent

sound waves.

069

For the cover patterns I

used scans from an old

‘clip art’ book that I found

in an old book shop a

couple of years ago. I

then dragged them into

Illustrator to turn them

into SVG files and colour

them using the Swiss

colour pallets.

070

J-CARD REFINEMENT


ISOLATION TAPES



ISOLATION

TAPES

SIDE - A

PLANET ZOO

SPACE TASTE

CITRUS

SIDE - B

ZEPHYR

COLUS

FROST

TAPE - 3

ISOLATION

TAPES

ISO - 3

The next cover I worked

on set the tone for what

would become the final

result, as a lot of things

fell into place such as

the spine graphics and

type layout.

071

This cover is the first one

I did a test print of. I did

this to see how much

smaller I could make

the type and logo and

also to check whether

my template actually fit

inside a cassette case.

A problem I realised

right away was that I

didn’t add printable fold

guides, so the folds were

inaccurate meaning the

J-card didn’t fit.

072

J-CARD REFINEMENT


ISOLATION TAPES



After adding the fold

guides I also paid some

extra attention to the

printer settings. After a

few tweaks I was able

to significantly up the

quality of the print.

Happy with the

template, I knew the

next improvement

performance-wise would

come from the quality

of paper, as standard

paper didn’t its form.

073

074

J-CARD REFINEMENT


ISOLATION TAPES



Having done the test prints, I knew how

small I could go with the type, allowing

the graphics to take centre stage.

IAIN KNIGHTS

4 AM

IT AIN’T EASY BEIN’

WHEEZY

ESCAPE

SOLITUDE

ISOLATION TAPES

SOLITUDE

CALUM INGRAM

ZEPHYR

COLUMNS

FORREST

IN MEMORY OF

THOSE WE LOST

ISO - 3

IAIN KNIGHTS

CALUM INGRAM

With the next layout I

put in the figures to get

rid of the typical A and

B side as mentioned

before and I began

experimenting with extra

graphic embellishments.

This is also the first time

I gave a tape it’s own

name (Solitude) which I

pushes each release’s

individuality.

I had the idea of putting

the figure of a person at

the centre of the ‘sound’

which I felt represented

each isolated artist and

the music that came

from them.

075

KNIGHTS

’T EASY BEIN’

EZY

PE

I took advantage of the

‘one walk a day’ to walk

my dog and find new

routes. My favourite

route was by the river

I photographed for the

background of Solitude

Tapes. The calm steady

flow of the water

constantly reminded me

of the music of NEU!

SOLITUDE

The bands music was

inspired by the constant

flow of water and sought

to reinvent the music

culture of post WWII

Germany. The album

cover and band name

were a poke at the

economic boom that

came after the war.

Whilst the cover is very

simple, it is a great

piece of graphic design.

The hand written type

presented in a clean

formal way is something

I have wanted to mimic

for sometime and so the

type on the left was my

attempt at that.

ISOLA

076

INSERT


ISOLATION TAPES



Taking from the main premise of my first FMP idea, I wanted to

make it more of an experience to listen to one of the tapes which

meant I would need to add liner notes.

077

My first thought was to

add another panel that

would fold out, which is

common with cassettes,

however I realised that

this wouldn’t be an

option for me...

078

INSERT


ISOLATION TAPES



Example of a multiple panel J-card.

Because the only printer

access I had was to my

own standard home

printer, I knew that trying

to print double sided and

have everything line up

would be impossible.

079

Instead I though about

the possibility of making

an insert that could be

stuck inside the J-card.

I tested how it would

look with some scrap

newsprint and liked

the results, so I took

the measurements

of the front panel and

decreased them by a

few millimetres (so the

insert wouldn’t stick out

from the sides when

folded up) and created a

template in Indesign.

080

INSERT


ISOLATION TAPES



ISOLATION TAPES

This project was created

in response to the covid-19

pandemic, for a final major

project by Jordan Warren

ARTISTS

SOLITUDE

IAIN KNIGHTS

CALUM INGRAM

This is what the

measurements gave

me to work with. Though

I didn’t know what to

populate it with, I was

intrigued by this strange

format and wanted to

make it work.

081

ISOLATION TAPES

This project is a document of the music

and sounds of the Covid-19 pandemic.

ISOLATION TAPES

This cassette is a document of the music and sounds of

artists in lock-down during the Covid-19 pandemic.

ARTIST ONE

LOCATION:

ESSEX, ENGLAND

GEAR USED:

FENDER MUSTANG,

TEENAGE ENGINEERING

PO-33,

LOCATION:

ESSEX, ENGLAND

GEAR USED:

FENDER MUSTANG,

TEENAGE ENGINEERING

PO-33,

ARTIST TWO

ARTIST ONE

LOCATION:

Essex, England

GEAR USED:

FENDER MUSTANG,

TEENAGE ENGINEERING

PO-33,

ARTIST TWO

LOCATION:

ESSEX, ENGLAND

GEAR USED:

FENDER MUSTANG,

TEENAGE ENGINEERING

PO-33,

With this layout I gave

the artists a quarter

each as I wouldn’t

need three quarters to

talk about the project.

Instead I thought that

info could go on one

panel and some art

could go on another.

Aside from some

minor layout changes,

I removed the centre

figure as I thought it

might not be a good idea

to fold it into quarters,

though the lines looked

bare without it.

082

INSERT


ISOLATION TAPES



ISOLATION TAPES

This project is about documenting the music and the

emotions of the Covid-19 pandemic, something that is

important to be able to look back on when it is all over.

A global problem through the eyes of Artists in isolation.

D.E.N.I.S

JORDAN WARREN

LOCATION:

Bucharest, Romania

GEAR USED:

THe music:

I wrote all songs under

a strong feeling of

claustrophobia and dread.

Everything (except the drums)

is recorded in my apartment

using DIY techniques.

LOCATION

Colchester, England

GEAR USED

Teenage Engineering

PO-33, Korg Monotron

Delay, Fender Mustang and

Tascam 488 Mk II

THE mUSIC

I wanted to create simple

music, using as little as

possible, recording straight to

tape and going with one take

only. The PO-33 was used to

sample and manipulate voice

sounds such as a sigh.

With these two layouts

I started experimenting

with additional

typefaces in an effort

to visualise each artists

character and the style

of music the sent me.

You can see that I

removed dividing lines

as they were pointless in

the design since it would

be folded anyway.

Instead I toyed with the

idea of perforating each

artist quarter with the

idea that people could

tear them out and collect

them in some way.

083

ISOLATION TAPES

The parameters: Under 10 minutes of music, it can be

instrumental, sound collage or whatever you can think

up. The music must capture your experience of being in

self isolation during the Covid-19 pandemic.

It is also a requirement to record the

sound of your place of isolation. It

could be the sound of nature whilst

you exercise, or the panic of people

buying their pasta and toilet rolls.

Knowing that the format would have

to change in some way, this would

be the last layout I made with these

measurements.

The insert idea and all

the prototype layouts

were later discussed in

another Zoom session.

It was in this session

where it was suggested

that I drop the format

as it’s restrictions were

causing me a headache,

and instead opt for the

traditional approach.

We also spoke about

the importance of the

information. Rather than

using the insert to go in

depth about my project

we agreed it would

better serve the artists

and in that way become

more interesting and

individual.

084

J-CARD ENDGAME


ISOLATION TAPES



With most of my attention being needed for the inserts, I had

to finalise the J-cards by choosing a layout and set of colour of

pallets for each release so that I could move forward.

085

MR. SATSUMA

EASY PEELIN’

RIPE FER THE PICKIN’

JUICY JUICE

CHARLIE FOSSICK

INTERGALACTIC TOAD

FUZZICK

PLASTIC HAND

LOCKDOWN

ISOLATION TAPES

LOCKDOWN

THIS CASSETTE IS AN

AUDIBLE DOCUMENT OF

THE MUSIC AND SOUNDS

FROM AROUND THE WORLD

DURING THE COVID-19

PANDEMIC OF 2020.

DESIGNED BY JORDAN WARREN

WWW.JORDANWARRENVISUALS.CO.UK

IN MEMORY OF

THOSE WE LOST

ISO - 1

CHARLIE FOSSICK

MR. SATSUMA

This cover design

would prove to be the

best layout for all the

necessary info so I stuck

with for all of them. The

only thing left was to

tweak all of the colours.

086

J-CARD ENDGAME


ISOLATION TAPES



EDWARD VANZET

MORNING SONG

NIGHT SONG

GARDEN WALTZ

D.E.N.I.S

KITCHEN SWITCHIN’

HELLO

BLACK FURS

LOCKDOWN

ISOLATION TAPES

LOCKDOWN

THIS CASSETTE IS AN

AUDIBLE DOCUMENT OF



DURING THE COVID-19

PANDEMIC OF 2020.



IN MEMORY OF

THOSE WE LOST

ISO - 1

D.E.N.I.S

EDWARD VANZET

After playing with the

colours I opted to swap

the gold and pink so the

background didn’t clash

with the main graphic.

I then swapped the

orange with a stronger

pink so that it was easier

on the eyes.

087

**

Though not greatly

different from the

original pallet, I did a

colour pallet exercise

in Photoshop to see if I

could create anything

better, which is how I

came to the final set of

colours for this cover.

** These four colours were slightly

adapted from my results in this exercise.

088

J-CARD ENDGAME


ISOLATION TAPES



SAGO CYCAD

REVISE YOUR VALUES

MORNING NEWS

ACCEPTANCE

FOSSICK

INTERGALACTIC TOAD

GARDEN SOUNDS

TREE RITUAL

QUARANTINE

ISOLATION TAPES

QUARANTINE

THIS CASSETTE IS AN

AUDIBLE DOCUMENT OF



DURING THE COVID-19

PANDEMIC OF 2020.

DESIGNED BY BY JORDAN WARREN


ISO - 2

FOSSICK

SAGO CYCAD

QUARANTINE’s pallet

comes from the Swiss

colour picker as it’s one

I’m fond of. The unwritten

rules for which colours

went where meant that

orange had to go in the

pattern, though it would

look great with orange in

the background too.

089

HENRY GRIGGS

ALIEN ISOLATION

MELANCHOLIC TRAVEL

EXISTENTIAL CRISES

CALUM GREAME INGRAM

DROMES

PRESSURE DRIFT

SOLITUDE

ISOLATION TAPES

SOLITUDE

THIS CASSETTE IS AN

AUDIBLE DOCUMENT OF



DURING THE COVID-19

PANDEMIC OF 2020.

DESIGNED BY BY JORDAN WARREN


ISO - 3

CALUM GREAME INGRAM

HENRY GRIGGS

The pallet for SOLITUDE

remained the same

throughout the design

process as it’s such

a unique mix with the

orange/red and green.

Another of the rules is

that the centre figure

has to be visible and not

as though reversed out.

090

J-CARD ENDGAME


ISOLATION TAPES



KARL HAMMOND

INTO THE NIGHT

NIGHTMARE

THE CALL

IAIN KNIGHTS

IT AIN’T EASY BEIN’ WHEEZY

4 AM

ESCAPE

PANDEMIC

ISOLATION TAPES

PANDEMIC

THIS CASSETTE IS AN

AUDIBLE DOCUMENT OF



DURING THE COVID-19

PANDEMIC OF 2020.



ISO - 4

IAIN KNIGHTS

KARL HAMMOND

The colours for

PANDEMIC were

adapted from the first

Swiss pallet I chose

from. The placement

of the line between the

songs and the project

info was dictated by the

first song on this tape as

it was the longest name.

091

KARL HAMMOND

INTO THE NIGHT

NIGHTMARE

THE CALL

IAIN KNIGHTS

IT AIN’T EASY BEIN’ WHEEZY

4 AM

ESCAPE

PANDEMIC

ISOLATION TAPES

PANDEMIC

THIS CASSETTE IS AN

AUDIBLE DOCUMENT OF



DURING THE COVID-19

PANDEMIC OF 2020.



ISO - 4

IAIN KNIGHTS

KARL HAMMOND

Last minute I chose to

swap the black and white

around and make the

latter a subtle grey tone,

which was inspired by

my presentation slides

about this project. To

remain in-keeping with

the rest, I left the centre

figure white.

092

TAPE SELECTION


ISOLATION TAPES



Part of what held power over the pallet of each cover design was

the availability of the tapes that I would be able to acquire for the

project.

093

With the vinyl boom of

recent years, ‘coloured

wax’ is bigger than ever

and sold as special

editions of the records.

Though cassettes are

nowhere as big, they too

come in all manner of

colours and selecting

ones that match my

covers was key to my

labels aesthetic.

094

TAPE SELECTION


ISOLATION TAPES



For my labels aesthetic I

wanted to only use clear

shelled cassettes but

in various colours that

matched the J-cards.

Sadly there weren’t

many to choose from in

the UK and so the orange

cassettes have black

inner liners.

095

096

TAPE SELECTION


ISOLATION TAPES



To complete the

tapes, I made this

printout featuring all

the components that I

then printed onto clear

acetate sticker sheets,

making sure to print

extras parts to make

room for mistakes. I

also included ‘edition’

numbering to stick on

the inside of the J-cards.

LOCKDOWN

LOCKDOWN

LOCKDOWN

LOCKDOWN

LOCKDOWN

LOCKDOWN

LOCKDOWN

LOCKDOWN

LOCKDOWN

LOCKDOWN

QUARANTINE

QUARANTINE

QUARANTINE

QUARANTINE

QUARANTINE

QUARANTINE

QUARANTINE

QUARANTINE

QUARANTINE

QUARANTINE

Limited edition 1 / 8








SOLITUDE PANDEMIC ISOLATION TAPES

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097

I tried scanning in the cassettes to show

the stickering but found the images

came out with wildly different colours,

as the top tape is actually pink and the

bottom one is orange.

098

BANDCAMP


ISOLATION TAPES



Having done my cassette packaging I could now look at rebranding

the the Bandcamp page to tie the project together.

099

The banner went through

many variations, which

was tedious as each one

would have to be saved

and then uploaded to

see how it would look

online, but I eventually

got to the end result by

incorporating the blurb

from the cassette tape.

100

BANDCAMP


ISOLATION TAPES



This is what I used as

the main background

graphic, made up of all

four covers. This idea

originally came from the

idea of a compilation,

which will be covered in a

later chapter.

101

Here is an early

development of the two

elements put together.

The blank white area

was done to keep the

file size down as this

are is covered up by the

websites music player.

I liked having the logo

in the banner however

you have to upload an

artist photo which is

what people see on your

page and elsewhere so

it didn’t make sense to

display the logo twice.

102

BANDCAMP


ISOLATION TAPES



103

Here is what the second

phase of the Bandcamp

page looked like. I was

able to line up the

banner type with the text

of the music player. You

can also see why I had

to remove the logo from

the banner graphic.

104

BANDCAMP


ISOLATION TAPES



Just like the colour swap

for PANDEMIC, I liked the

toned down aesthetic

of my presentation

slides and decided that

it would be the brand

style for Isolation Tapes.

Though I liked the white

on grey, I thought it best

to be black to rid any

legibility problems.

105

And so this is the

finished look for my

Bandcamp page and

general branding

design. The clean Swiss

type and subtle tones

allow the covers of the

cassettes to really pop

out at the viewer.

106

BANDCAMP


ISOLATION TAPES



107

This is the home page of the site with all

the releases in private mode, awaiting

their release dates.

108

BANDCAMP


ISOLATION TAPES



This is a screen shot of

the sites inner workings.

Each track must be

uploaded as a .WAV file,

named and attributed

to each artist. You can

also edit multiple parts

by clicking on the album,

which lets you set

download prices, credits

and the upload of extra

digital items such as

liner notes.

109

110

INSERT ENDGAME


ISOLATION TAPES



Having struggled with the original layout design, I set to redesign

the insert whilst trying to maintain the core idea.

111

To be able to push on

with the insert I needed

things to populate it,

so I came up with five

questions which I sent to

all of the artists to get a

sense of the pandemic

wherever they lived in

the world.

112

INSERT ENDGAME


ISOLATION TAPES



CALUM GREAME INGRAM

DUNJINS

I can’t move back to my flat

and have got to stay at my

mums. Here you hardly saw

anyone before Covid-19. I

actually feel like there are

more people about because

people assume the country

is safe.

I’ve had to stop making

instruments in the way I was

before. I’ve lost access to the

uni facilities so it has been

hard or impossible to do

circuit bending, welding and

woodwork but I’ve still tried to

create things with the limited

things I have access to.

ISOLATION TAPES

The parameters: Under 10 minutes of music, it can be

instrumental, sound collage or whatever you can think up.

The music must capture your experience of being in self

isolation during the Covid-19 pandemic.

It is also a requirement to record the sound of

your place of isolation. It could be the sound

of nature whilst you exercise, or the panic of

people buying their pasta and toilet rolls.

Sticking to my guns, I

wanted to keep the fold

out style insert, but to

compromise I doubled

it in size, giving extra

space to both the artists

and the artwork.

Once I stared putting

in the answers to the

questions I had sent

out, I realised I wouldn’t

have the room to add

additional illustrations. In

this layout I also thought

that the type would get

confusing as to who is

saying what.

113

The obvious thing to

do was to separate

the artists to avoid

confusion. This layout

also related back to

the logo design and the

labels A/B side format.

Here I did a test print

to test if it would work

how I imagined. Whilst it

worked fine, with folds

going between the

text, I knew I had to use

newsprint as this was

too bulky.

114

INSERT ENDGAME


ISOLATION TAPES



During a Zoom tutorial I

gave some background

to a few of the artists,

which was suggested

that I harness to create

points of interest for the

viewer by using things

like pull-out quotes.

I had fun doing this

across all of the inserts,

trying to choose quotes

that would sound absurd

without any context.

Whilst the centre image

was just a place holder,

it was thought that I was

“having more fun around

the edges” so from here

on out I would go with my

gut and stop playing it

safe with imagery.

115

Here’s some screen

grabs of my InDesign

files where you can see

the chaos of different

imagery and type from

playing around for hours.

116

INSERT ENDGAME


ISOLATION TAPES



D.E.N.I.S

I WAS

STRUCK BY

A BIT OF A

MANIC STATE

Here in Bucharest,

Romania we are all under

Government-mandated

house isolation since the

beginning of April. We

cannot go outside without

a paper specifying the

destination and a choice

between a number of 10

“valid” reasons. The police

have given out thousands of

huge fines already, probably

also in an attempt to cover

up the budgetary deficit.

I’ve noticed some small

changes, like people

actually taking into

consideration the 2m

distancing rule, and actually

caring for their elders more

in these times. Hopefully

these will become the norm

in the future.

When the whole pandemic

was starting, causing my

University and most public

institutions to close down,

I have to admit I was struck

by a bit of a manic state. I

thought I finally had time

to work harder on all of my

artistic projects,

and I like to

think that I’ve

put some

of that

time

to

good

use.

The two biggest things

on my mind right now are

hitting the rehearsal space

again, trying to create

some new music, and going

camping or anywhere in

nature really, far away from

the city. Those are the two

things I miss the most now.

The general, overlapping

theme, is the impact

my moving to “the big

city” has had on my life.

I’ve tried to put that in

these songs, the general

feelings of alienation

and depersonalization

that “losing” yourself in a

change like this can come

with. The track “Kitchen

Switchin”, on the other

hand, was written and

recorded completely here

in isolation with the vocal

help of my isolation-partner

Theodora. It deals with the

monotony and “Groundhog

Day” effect that affects so

many people right now, not

knowing for sure what’s

really happening out there,

beyond the brim of your

apartment’s

window.

EDWARD VANZET

YOU FIND YOURSELF

BEING PLAYFUL

AND GIVING

TIME TO THINGS

YOU NORMALLY

WOULDN’T

The government has put in

place strict rules on people

gathering. No household

is allowed to mingle with

any occupants of another

household in Victoria,

Australia. The bike paths are

busy. People that wouldn’t

normally exercise are now

running and cycling.

‘Garden Waltz’ is something

I wrote on my guitar in the

backyard. It reminds me of

being a child. Long days at

home, nowhere to go, not

many responsibilities for

the day—just being lost in

the sunshine in the garden,

enjoying your solitude.

There aren’t any intended

themes in these songs

but listening back there is

certainly influence from

the current circumstance

coming through. The

instrumentation is long

and winding without any

concrete structure. The

music was very much made

with experimental purposes,

perhaps a common theme

during the COVID-19 lockdown

— you find yourself

being playful and giving

time to things you normally

wouldn’t.

ISOLATION TAPES

The parameters used: Under 10 minutes of music, it can be








This is the final insert for

ISO-1 LOCKDOWN. The

layout came together

pretty quickly, however

I made a few changes

to the alignment of the

quotes as originally a

few were ‘justified’.

117

This illustration was

inspired by the two

artists answers, giving

off a sense of their

mental states. The

image is a recoloured

collage of old etchings

of machinery and

anatomical drawings.

118

INSERT ENDGAME


ISOLATION TAPES



These are the old

etchings that I collaged

for this illustration. The

idea was inspired by the

work of Belgian artist

Elzo Durt.

119

I felt like the illustration

needed a little

something extra, so on

the theme of thoughts, I

used the word cognition.

The typeface this was

rendered is called ‘Baby

Fat’ and was designed by

the great Milton Glaser,

who sadly passed

away whilst I was in the

process of writing up

this R&D book.

120

INSERT ENDGAME


ISOLATION TAPES



FOSSICK

IT WAS

ALMOST

EXISTENTIAL

SEEING

THEM

DEVELOP

FROM

TADPOLES

INTO FULLY

GROWN

TOADS

I miss going to gigs and

playing them. I miss seeing

my friends play in their

bands a lot as well as

seeing my favorite artists.

Lots of local business

have shut their doors and

people are scared of what

the future holds once this

pandemic ends.

The progression of

my tracks start from

Intergalactic Toad and end

with Tree Ritual. Its more of

a story of my progression

in exploring sounds with

analog synths and what

they can do. I started with

just a Mini Moog sound

on Intergalactic Toad with

an arpeggiator and delay

effects and then that

sprouted my interest into

other analog and vintage

sounds with influence from

50s wurlitzer music on

Garden Sounds and more

psychedelic and art-rock

sounds on Tree Ritual.

I’ve noticed that myself and

my friends have a greater

appreciation for sincere

communication and asking

how each other are where

in this case it's meant with

substance rather than a

traditional ‘how are you?’

which previously was really

just small talk.

It’s motivated me to do a

lot more creatively. I now

have the free time and I’m

fortunate enough to have

the resources to work

on new material and do

something productive with

this time in self-isolation.

2 of my tracks are

instrumental and were

directly inspired by my

garden. Intergalactic Toad

was inspired by my pond

which has recently started

to aggregate a number of

toads and it was almost

existential seeing them

develop from tadpoles

into fully grown toads. The

other instrumental was a

sample of the birds in my

backgarden alongside

some organ and synth. I

was trying to capture the

essence of the atmosphere

of my garden on a sunny

day during isolation. Tree

Ritual, isn’t directly inspired

by isolation and is more

just a micro story about a

human sacrifice made by a

cult in the forest. Perhaps a

bit of irony actually as that

certainly didn’t abide to the

2m distancing rule.

SAGO CYCAD

It hasn’t really affected

much in my city in Ukrain as

in other countries, I think.

The only thing I’ve noticed,

is that I can now have a

peaceful stroll through

the city centre completely

alone.

The first three months were

unbearable. I had to literally

fight my own body in order

to do at least something.

Some time after that, I could

get rid of all bad feelings

and accumulate all the free

time and unused creativity

into something more

important than sleep.

“Memento Mori”. If people

could always value their

relationships and their own

lives like during this global

quarantine.

I want to get back to

weaving rugs! Can’t wait to

have a stable salary again

in order to afford certain

materials.

My themes are spiritual

connection with nature,

fear of the future, limited

recording capabilities,

constant jumps from

anxiety to calmness and my

eventual acceptance of the

current situation as a whole.

ISOLATION TAPES









ISO-2 QUARANTINE had

a different kind of layout

with extra illustration as I

didn’t have as much type

to fill the space. Instead I

illustrated a small part of

a quote.

121

This illustration is also a digital collage

and is inspired by the strange spacey

sounds in the music on this tape.

122

INSERT ENDGAME


ISOLATION TAPES



123

Most of the assets are

old drawings of what

scientists thought solar

flares or the moons

surface would look

like, with a mixture of

geometry and graphs.

124

INSERT ENDGAME


ISOLATION TAPES



Above: A different colour way of the artwork

Top right: The original photo I was provided with.

Bottom right: Edited version with a ‘sonar’ halftone

125

“Remember you must die”

126

INSERT ENDGAME


ISOLATION TAPES



CALUM GREAME INGRAM

HENRY GRIGGS

I can’t move back to my flat and have got to stay at my

mums. Here you hardly saw anyone before Covid-19. I

actually feel like there are more people about because

people assume the country is safe.

I’ve had to adapt to

working in different

ways, sometimes

working in the forest.

I miss Dundee, my uni, my

bed and most importantly

my friends. It’ll be good to

see everyone again. I’m sick

of talking about Covid all

the time and I miss talking

about the biggest load of

shite and having fun with

people.

Of course, the only access

I have to the art community

now is online. I actually

thought of the community’s

adaption to Covid was

really encouraging to begin

with. In the first few weeks I

noticed that there were a lot

of bedroom concerts and

performances streamed

online which I thought

was really interesting. I’ve

noticed this slowly recede

though. I have noticed that I

feel closer to a lot of people

as well. There’s a lot of love

going about in the way that

people are phoning more

often and checking in on

each other.

I’ve had to stop making

instruments in the way I was

before. I’ve lost access to

the uni facilities so it has

been hard or impossible to

do circuit bending, welding

and woodwork but I’ve still

tried to create with what

I have access to. Its been

difficult to make noise,

since my neighbours work

the day and night shift,

so I’ve had to adapt to

working in different ways,

at different times and

sometimes working in the

forest.

I have been calling the

music I make ‘Noise’ mostly

out of confusion as to what

music actually is. I suppose

I’ve always been interested

in ‘Anti-Aesthetic’ as far as

art is concerned. The tracks

are part of an exploration

of where the line between

noise and music lies. I would

say the theme is about

finding beauty in things

that are considered ugly. An

exploration of optimism.

Currently, I’m isolating at my

parents’ house. In a way the

virus has brought many

people together. Personally

however, I feel slightly

overcome with a sense of

alienation. Sure, I was a

bit of a recluse before the

whole event but now it

feels as if I’m overindulging

in my own laziness and

separation from the rest of

the world and the worst part

is, it feels great. I still am

able to teach drum lessons

which is one of the only

things keeping me rooted to

normality and stopping me

from going insane.

My music is based on

the feeling of alienation I

mentioned. Feeling like an

extraterrestrial on the very

planet I was born on. I also

attempted to portray the

emotions that result from

this through music whilst

simultaneously pushing

for that outer-space kind

of sound.

I am looking forward to

actually being able to

practice my instrument,

GOING TO SOME DAMN

GIGS and playing music

with other people rather

than on my own.

The community seems

to have actually become

more of a community if that

makes sense; neighbours

clapping and cheering

together for those who are

saving lives. Additionally,

the importance of family

has been brought to the

forefront. However, as

difficult situations usually

show, the true nature

of some people isn’t so

positive – some people

direct their frustration

towards those who are

simply trying to do their job

(supermarket assistants)

and some directing theirs

towards certain races (for

some ludicrous thought

that it’s any one race’s fault

that a virus could exist?!)

really shows how disgusting

the human race can be.

In terms of creativity it has

allowed me to experiment

with new projects I had

always wanted to pursue –

including this one. Although,

as other households are

simultaneously stuck at

home it means I am limited

in my physical playing which

sucks massively as I am

so used to playing drums 4

hours a day.

ISOLATION TAPES









This insert for ISO-3

SOLITUDE has gone

through the most

changes as it was the

first one I worked on,

plus I was originally

going to be on this tape.

127

Above: Alternative versions from

when my music was going to be on this

cassette.

The final image features a kind of crop

circle motif that I made in Photoshop.

Inspired by the music of Henry Griggs.

The photo in the background is of the

woodland and DIY drum kit mentioned

by Calum Gream Ingrum in this insert.

128

INSERT ENDGAME


ISOLATION TAPES



An edited sketch that

I was working on for

this tape. The rabid dog

was my take on the raw,

wild noise Calum was

making.

129

I later developed the sketch further

but ended up dropping it, though it’s

something I would like to render in my

digital airbrush style at some point.

130

INSERT ENDGAME


ISOLATION TAPES

This is the profile picture I was going

to use for myself, featuring Pepper the

Dachshund.

131

“Feeling like an Extraterrestrial”

Old band mate Henry added a lot of

Alien vibes to this project, including this

alternative profile photo.

132

INSERT ENDGAME


ISOLATION TAPES



IAIN KNIGHTS

I can’t say a lot for the

It Ain’t Easy Bein’ Wheezy is

general community, but about my anxiety of being

I’m a key worker at a super an asthmatic during the

market and everyone

pandemic. My asthma got

seems very paranoid, whilst really bad and I had to use

completely ignoring social my inhaler a lot more than

distancing and wearing usual, so for this piece I

masks but incorrectly.

tried to recreate the sounds

It’s very contradictory

of my inhaler as my rhythm

behaviour.

EVERYONE

section.

SEEMS VERY

PARANOID

It’s been weird, I started off 4am is about me being a

really struggling, but since key-worker. I changed my

being asked to join Isolation hours due to issues with

Tapes it’s really picked

panic attacks at the start

up. I’ve even found myself of the pandemic, which

writing lyrics for rock songs explains the title and I tried

again which I haven’t done to give it an industrial sound

in years.

with a dark undertone.

I quite like the queueing at Escape is slightly different.

stores, but it wouldn’t work I’m a keen gamer and during

forever.

this stressful time, gaming

has really helped me to

I was supposed to be

cope and relax. So what

moving to a new country I’ve done is tried to create

before this happened,

a medley of different VGM

so I guess that, but more styles, based on the games

immediately I’d like to

I’ve been playing during

go back to the London

lock-down.

Aquarium.

ISOLATION TAPES









KARL HAMMOND

retain as much

normality as

possible

Ironically, this situation has Honestly it has not affected

helped me be a lot more my area a great deal. A lot

creative and free when it of the people in my town

comes to writing ideas and for the most part, family

working on material. I write included, are still able to

more because honestly work and keep much of their

that is all I really can do, and routine going as usual. I

each day brings something still see a lot of people out

new from how I’m feeling. and about throughout the

The days blend into one in day, whether it’s walking

this sort of situation, so the dogs or going for a run.

exploring different genres, I think that is the mindset

even if it goes unreleased, a lot of us have, myself

helps to keep me busy and included, to retain as much

focused.

normality as possible with

the current situation and

It is strange, but as I

not let it effect you too

mentioned before not much much.

has drastically changed

from what I’ve seen. So The music I’ve written

I do think that once this during lockdown has varied

is over and we come out in tone. My main influence

of lockdown, things will as an artist is film and Video

proceed as before. And game composers. As such

honestly I feel as that might a lot of what I compose is

be a good thing, sometimes based off of imagery that

people struggle to adapt I find or think about, and

to change.

that is reflected in this

cassette with each track

As someone who enjoys representing a different

going to and playing live style and influence. Each is

music above all else,

written as a way to reflect

and who has seen

isolation in a different

almost 10 gigs that

setting. Be it the serene

were planned unable

atmosphere of ‘The

to go ahead, I look

Call’, ‘Into the Night’ is

forward to that the

very Neo-noir inspired

most. However, the

and ‘Nightmare’ is

fact so many artists

written to convey

are doing live

a sense on

streams to

tension

make up

and

for it, is

horror.

something

that I do

find very

cool!

The final insert, for

ISO-4 PANDEMIC was

a lot of fun to make as

both artists on this tape

are composers, and for

games in particular.

133

134

INSERT ENDGAME


ISOLATION TAPES



The first artist on this

tape is Iain, a close

friend I made whilst

studying music in

college. Since we talk

almost every day, I was

very familiar with what

he was going through

whilst working through

the pandemic.

So that knowledge

paired with his video

game inspired music, I

couldn’t help but image

my own game box art.

The character even has

an inhaler attached to

his helmet, a reference

to the song, It Ain’t Easy

Bein’ Wheezy.

135

This was the first idea that was totally

unrelated but funny to illustrate.

136

EXHIBITION PLAN


ISOLATION TAPES



Although we were no longer able to show at the D&AD, nor have

our end of year show at our university, it was requirement to show

how we would exhibit the work.

137

Had we shown our work at uni, I would

have liked my cassettes displayed in

a clear topped case with the inserts

unfolded and tapes laid out inside,

with branding on the wall behind it,

representing a retail store.

138

The rest of the tapes would be displayed

on shelves, grouped by release e.g ISO-1,

ISO-2 etc. I also liked the idea of having

isolated listening booths for each tape,

and a stack of free download codes for

anyone interested.

139

Because the displays had to be done in

our own homes, I made a sketch of the

project set out in my living room, made

up of speakers and cassette deck, for

listening to, 4 display tapes and a case

containing the rest.

In the end my pack

shots which I took for my

portfolio were simpler

in style but were laid

out how I wanted them

displayed in a case.

140

PACK SHOTS


ISOLATION TAPES



An important aspect of selling these tapes is obviously capturing

decent product shots of the tapes so people know what they are

buying in to.

141

Trying to capture

good shots was a real

challenge as I didn’t have

access to a studio and

the only digital camera

I had access to was on

my phone.

I tried various pieces of

paper under whatever

lighting I could use at the

time. The multiple spot

lights from the kitchen

are the brightest but

cast multiple shadows.

These final shots were

taken on a slip of paper

I got in a poster frame,

laid over my record

player by the window.

I then waited for the sun

to be obscured by clouds.

142

PACK SHOTS


ISOLATION TAPES



143

For Bandcamp I took photos of each

component of the cassettes...

144

145

146


ISOLATION TAPES



147

148


ISOLATION TAPES



149

150


ISOLATION TAPES



151

152

PRESENTATION


ISOLATION TAPES



To gain a better understanding of everybody’s Final Major Projects

we did short presentations on Zoom to share our work and get /

give feedback for improvement.

153

As has been mentioned previously, this

quick presentation ended up inspiring a

big part of Isolation Tapes’ branding.

154

PRESENTATION


ISOLATION TAPES



155

To save on pages I have left out the

transition pages i.e. the reveals of each

separate bullet point etc.

156

PRESENTATION


ISOLATION TAPES



157

158

QUARANZINE


ISOLATION TAPES



Since I was on track with everything and the course had been

given an extension due to Covid-19, I thought I would use the extra

time to work on an additional project.

159

The QUARANZINE Parameters

160

QUARANZINE


ISOLATION TAPES



161

Here I sketched some

thumbnails for page

layouts and content

ideas. I was most looking

forward to creating the

covers using everyone’s

random items.

162

QUARANZINE


ISOLATION TAPES



Sadly despite many

posts, I wasn’t getting

enough content to make

this project happen. I

was hoping for around

forty submissions

but with time pushing

on I decided to turn

my attention to live

streaming the tapes.

Above: Early add for the first tape ISO-1

163

Another plea for content

164

LIVE PREMIERES


ISOLATION TAPES



Since this project was inspired by musicians performing from

home via live streams I thought it would be a nice idea to give

others a similar experience.

165

A great selection of

regular online gigs

started popping up all

over YouTube, including

the Zebulon Sessions,

Button Pusher and more.

166

LIVE PREMIERES


ISOLATION TAPES



For a while I didn’t know

if I would be able to make

live videos as when I

first looked into YouTube

Live, it said you need 100

followers minimum.

Luckily, after revisiting

the idea, I found the info

to be false. Even better, I

was able to schedule live

premiers for every week

a tape was released.

QR code links for each video

167

For my live videos I

essentially designed

slides for each artist and

every song, having them

reveal themselves with

each new song.

This tape was release in

the week when the Black

Lives Matter movement was

really picking up pace, so I

donated everything made

from this tape to BLM UK.

168

LIVE PREMIERES


ISOLATION TAPES



To help differentiate

every release, I

incorporated that

tapes colour pallet and

a slither of the OP art

cover from the J-cards.

I almost swapped the

grey out for the J-card

background colour

but it didn’t look as

aesthetically pleasing.

169

And to add a personal

touch, I included the

artists profile photos.

I thought about showing

their photo, the pull-out

quote and a full answer.

This just looked messy

and took away from the

experience of reading

the inserts.

170

LIVE PREMIERES


ISOLATION TAPES



‘Live stream will begin shortly...’

To add some form of

visual stimulus for

the shows, I included

animated versions of the

OP art for the intro and

outro of each video.

171

‘This stream is now over,

Thank you for watching’

The animations were

achieved by shrinking,

expanding or rotating

the first image, then

copying those frames

and swapping the two

colours around.

172

LIVE PREMIERES


ISOLATION TAPES



Because I was working

on a laptop with disc

space running lower and

lower, I had to use iMovie,

but since the videos

aren’t very technical,

they came out great.

The animation .GIFs had

to be repeated hundreds

of times, especially after

speeding them up.

A small touch I added

was that the outro

animation flows in

reverse of the intro.

173

This is the behind the

scenes of the YouTube

side of things, adding all

the project info, links and

credits and then setting

the video to premier on

June 1st at 12 noon GMT.

174

LIVE PREMIERES


ISOLATION TAPES



I took this screen grab

of the first video before

it premiered so you can

see how the video looks

with its timer and cover

screen.

175

At the top you can see

the premier countdown

timer. Beneath it is a

steam mid viewing.

On the right is the live

comment section.

Each stream got better

and better with viewers

sending messages

about their thoughts on

the music, which was an

enjoyable experience.

176

ISO TAPES FILM


ISOLATION TAPES



From the start I knew I wanted to make my Professional

Development Planner video to be a promotional film for my

Isolation Tapes project.

177

The way in which this film plays out is in four distinct sections, each one for a specific tape.

178

ISO TAPES FILM


ISOLATION TAPES



This is a title card that I made in

Photoshop and then filmed and

processed. Later whilst editing I keyed

out the green screen.

For this video I wanted

it to have the look and

feel of an old film from

the 60’s or 70’s. Aside

from using an app to

add film grain and colour

grading I also filmed

my title cards which

adds more character

and movement to the

footage.

Again, as I was limited to

what I had at home, my

whole video was filmed

using my iPhone 7 and

the film affect is from an

app called 8mm. All the

music was taken from

the tape submissions.

The only shot that isn’t

mine is one of a long

queue of trolleys.

179

Part 1: LOCKDOWN

180

ISO TAPES FILM


ISOLATION TAPES



The sweeping shot of

this section was an idea

I had early on, however

it took a couple of

attempts as on the first

go there was no queue

of people outside the

supermarket.

Stand out moments

in this section are the

shots of someone (me)

preparing to go out into

the apocalyptic world of

the pandemic. The over

the top look was inspired

by the Mad Max films.

181

Part 2: QUARANTINE

182

ISO TAPES FILM


ISOLATION TAPES



Part 3 focuses on the

home production of

music that is at the

centre of this project.

Almost every shot is of

some kind of music gear

and their LED displays

and buttons.

A really pleasing part of

this is how all the lights,

graphics, leads and

music gear are in the

same colour pallet as

the cover for tape three.

183

Part 3: SOLITUDE

184

ISO TAPES FILM


ISOLATION TAPES



In the final section, I tie in

what all of the title cards

are about and show the

craft and care that went

into all of the 32 cassette

Tapes. Even going

through the trouble of

scoring the reverse of

the J-card so the colour

didn’t split.

One of my favourite

parts of this entire film is

the final shot of the reelto-reel

tape deck, calling

back to the start of the

film. Although it’s very

simple, I love how the

music gets more intense

right before the tape

deck is switched off.

185

Part 4: PANDEMIC

186

REFLECTION


ISOLATION TAPES



As of writing this,every tape has been released, every cassette

has sold out and lock-down is slowly fading away. Now all that’s

left is to finish uni...

187

A STRANGE YEAR

Having my final year of

university snuffed out by

the pandemic has been

tough to deal with.

A huge part of this final

year was spent working

in a team of good friends

where we started ‘2020’

a “design agency” based

on an inside joke that we

brought into life.

We designed

merchandise, printed

over 100 t-shirts, created

an online store and

more, all in an attempt

to raise money but more

importantly, have fun

whilst we did it.

Like everything else this

year, the D&AD New

Blood Festival (which we

were raising the money

for) was cancelled.

We will never get that

experience back, no

matter how many online

webinars we attend and

galleries we become

part of. It isn’t the same.

The year continues to

escalate with more and

more shocking news

stories arising, like killer

cops, terrorist attacks,

pandemic flare ups and

whatever is thrown at

us next. It’s going to be

a strange time to start

my career, but I say

challenge accepted.

188

REFLECTION


ISOLATION TAPES



Without the pandemic

however, Isolation

Tapes would have never

came into existence.

The people I have met

through the project, the

experience I’ve gained

and the joy of sharing

it all with everyone has

been a worth while

experience and one

I think I will continue,

albeit through another

guise...

unless there’s another

pandemic. In that case

Isolation Tapes will make

a return!

ISOLATION TAPES

The hardest part about

this project was by

far, trying to manage

eight different artists

and trying to get what I

needed all before certain

cut-off points. There

were periods when I had

very little and so close

to end points. I had even

recorded a whole tapes

worth of my own music

when everything was

looking a bit ropey.

Fortunately everyone

pulled through and all

was well. I had to remove

my music from the tapes

but it still went to use.

A couple of my songs

were instead used for

the short film and for the

intros and outros of the

live streams, which gave

Isolation Tapes its own

theme music. Wanting to

continue a music label,

I’ve learnt some lessons

that I can use going

forward. The biggest

being that I wont be

trying to manage eight

artists at once. I also

wont have to produce

such a huge amount of

work as I can work on

one release at a time.

I had some magazines

reach out to me, but

they still haven’t posted

anything, however I

see it as their loss, so I

dedicate this image to

them. The orange face of

shame... It was reserved

for artists who didn’t

send me a profile photo.

189

In the mean time I’ll

slowly start planning the

next project, so I’ll see

you there.

THANKS TO –

Daniel, Edward, Charlie,

Matvii, Calum, Henry,

Iain, Karl, Luke, Sam,

Barry.K, Barry.H, Richard,

Lys, Totoro, Pepper and

everyone that either

got a tape or watched

the live stream! This is

Isolation Tapes signing

off. so long,

Jordan.

190

IN MEMORY OF THOSE WE LOST

ISOLATION TAPES

ISO-5

THIS R&D IS NOW OVER

THANK YOU FOR READING

Final Major Project

Jordan Warren

BA (Hons) Graphic

Design & Digital

Communication

JORDAN WARREN

MMXX

Isolation Tapes: Research & Development • ISO-5

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