Step 3 - Research
Now that you know what makes a successful cover, you need to work out what you will put in your design.
Your task for this step will be to find lots of images and fonts that you think relate well to the themes of the 2018 repertoire.
This task will result in creating multiple pages of image and font ideas to inspire you in the next stage. You will choose at least two songs to focus on and find at least five images per song, then describe how the images fit the songs you have chosen. You will also find at least five typefaces (fonts) that would be appropriate to use as titles on your cover.
The song choices are listed on the Lyrics page.
See the rubric for this task under the Assessment tab. This task is due at the end of Week 4, Term 3.
Your task for this step will be to find lots of images and fonts that you think relate well to the themes of the 2018 repertoire.
This task will result in creating multiple pages of image and font ideas to inspire you in the next stage. You will choose at least two songs to focus on and find at least five images per song, then describe how the images fit the songs you have chosen. You will also find at least five typefaces (fonts) that would be appropriate to use as titles on your cover.
The song choices are listed on the Lyrics page.
See the rubric for this task under the Assessment tab. This task is due at the end of Week 4, Term 3.
A good place to start...
To start you off in this task, talk about the lyrics with your peers. Use your knowledge of reading comprehension. What images pop into your mind when you are reading and understanding these songs? What do you visualise? What does it make you think of, can you make any text-to-self/text-to-text/text-to-world connections? Brainstorm in your book. Here are some student samples of brainstorming:
In your Art book, start collecting pictures, words and ideas to inspire you that relate to these songs. You need to focus on at least two songs. You can research all the songs if you want to include them all in your cover design. You need to find at least five pictures for the songs you want to include. Print them out and stick them in your art book. How do you find pictures? You can use Google Image Search, TagGalaxy or Picsearch and type in key words or words from the lyrics. Another good website is The Noun Project where you can find some awesome black and white images - you can print screen or use the Snipping Tool to save them (Print Screen button on Windows and Apple key ⌘ + Shift + 4 on a Mac)
Save all your favourite pictures, print them in black and white or in colour and stick them in your art book. Collaborating online with your peers is a great way to find good pictures and ideas. If your teacher would prefer to do this digitally, get your class to set up a shared Wiki space or Padlet wall that can be used instead of your art books.
Be thoughtful about your image choices and make sure you have thought carefully about the songs and their meaning before searching. For example, if you were looking for images from The Eye of the Needle from the 2013 repertoire list, you aren't looking for pictures of eyes or needles. Those words have a special meaning in the song, do you know what it is? What kind of images would you be searching for?
You will also need to research typefaces (fonts) that you might use in your design. Type "Festival of Music 2017" into a word document and experiment changing the font. Which fonts do you think are the most effective? Print out your top five fonts using the title "Festival of Music 2017" so you can have some choice later on. Think about the songs you have chosen and try and link the fonts with the styles of music.
Save all your favourite pictures, print them in black and white or in colour and stick them in your art book. Collaborating online with your peers is a great way to find good pictures and ideas. If your teacher would prefer to do this digitally, get your class to set up a shared Wiki space or Padlet wall that can be used instead of your art books.
Be thoughtful about your image choices and make sure you have thought carefully about the songs and their meaning before searching. For example, if you were looking for images from The Eye of the Needle from the 2013 repertoire list, you aren't looking for pictures of eyes or needles. Those words have a special meaning in the song, do you know what it is? What kind of images would you be searching for?
You will also need to research typefaces (fonts) that you might use in your design. Type "Festival of Music 2017" into a word document and experiment changing the font. Which fonts do you think are the most effective? Print out your top five fonts using the title "Festival of Music 2017" so you can have some choice later on. Think about the songs you have chosen and try and link the fonts with the styles of music.
How to Succeed in this Task
If I wanted to include This Ancient House from the 2012 repertoire, I might search for something like 'ancient Japanese house'. See the image below for what kind of results this gives me.
Now, many students might pick a few images from this page and stop their research there. To achieve a higher grade in this task, you need to delve a little deeper into your research. For example:
You might go that extra step further and look around for a video on traditional Japanese homes which will give you a whole lot more visual information than just a picture. You might not just want to include the house in your design, so you might do a Google image search for traditional Japanese which might give you some more ideas about what images you might include. Of course Wikipedia would always have some good information and pictures about Japanese culture.
This is all research from secondary sources. You can find some primary resources by talking to people who have knowledge on the subject (e.g. someone who has been to Japan, a teacher of Japanese, a staff member at the Museum with knowledge of Japanese culture).
All of these skills are what teachers look for to give out A and B grades.
You might go that extra step further and look around for a video on traditional Japanese homes which will give you a whole lot more visual information than just a picture. You might not just want to include the house in your design, so you might do a Google image search for traditional Japanese which might give you some more ideas about what images you might include. Of course Wikipedia would always have some good information and pictures about Japanese culture.
This is all research from secondary sources. You can find some primary resources by talking to people who have knowledge on the subject (e.g. someone who has been to Japan, a teacher of Japanese, a staff member at the Museum with knowledge of Japanese culture).
All of these skills are what teachers look for to give out A and B grades.
Examples of Research Bookwork
Go back to the Process Outline or go to the next step in the process, the Ideation.