The Making of No Permit Needed
I made this project for my Capstone 2 Class. The class required a semester-long project that included both a digital submission and a physical replica, and each student could brainstorm the compositions they wanted to create. Many students chose a variety of projects, such as branding a cultural family business, a clothing brand, or a magazine catalog. However, music has always interested me. So I decided to make vinyl records; thus, No Permit Needed was created.
Here is a conceptual presentation of what inspired my vinyls, based on the cover and sound design of these 2 albums, DONT BE DUMB by A$AP Rocky and Hurry Up Tomorrow by The Weeknd. As stated, this was more of an idea for the direction I wanted to take with these albums: a similar visual concept.
rippling by SPOOM
Scorch by novacane
Final Print
No Permit Needed Exhibition Display
Showcased in the Ronald H Silverman Fine Arts Gallery at Cal State LA
Thank Me Later, Maybe by Baby Keem
The text above is from the finalized project brief, highlighting the project overview and objectives. The instructor provided us with a schedule to follow, and throughout that timeframe, I input exactly what was done during those 4 phases. As a result, I created 4 fictional albums: 2 for real non-mainstream artists and 2 for fictional artists. No Permit Needed is a fictional record label for artists who want free expression in their music, with minimal corporate control and censorship. This label includes 2 Sublabels, with 2 of the 4 artists in each.
First Print
LETS BE SM@RT by Adamn Killa
No Permit Needed
Unlabeled Minds
UNA - JOY
These images are the concept sketches for the albums and labels. rippling and LET'S BE SM@RT were the very first idea concepts for this project; therefore, they had 6 rough sketches (front/back cover). I did not include vinyl record sketch designs, as I created them during the digital production of both albums. Thank Me Later, Maybe, and Scorch, on the other hand, had only 2 rough sketches (front/back cover) each, since they were added during the third phase based on instructor feedback. Vinyl record sketches were also included and finalized during production for both of these albums. No Permit Needed was the main attraction of this project, so I made 6 rough sketches to see what best fit the overall theme based on the company’s moral direction. The sub-labels, Unlabeled Minds and UNA-JOY, also needed an on-theme design, based on company ethics and name relatability, so each got 3 rough sketches.
This is the first print prototype before proceeding to a professional print in the production phase. I printed all 4 vinyl covers and discs on 18 × 24 in matte poster paper, then trimmed them to the correct 12 × 12 size. I then glued/taped each trimmed sheet onto old vinyls found at Goodwill to reduce prototype costs and save the big money for the final version! rippling and Scorch were selected as gatefold vinyls, so new designs for inside the gatefolds needed to be added for the final production.
Lo and behold this is the final production of the vinyls for No Permit Needed. 2 of the regular vinyls (LETS BE SM@RT/Thank Me Later, Maybe) were professionally printed, and delivered by mail. 2 of the gatefolds (rippling/Scorch) were printed on laminated matte poster paper, once again trimmed to their correct size and superglued onto the original vinyl prototype placeholder, as the company that made the 2 professional vinyls does not provide a gatefold option. Along with the gatefolds, I created 4 interior designs that better match each album's theme. The records, on the other hand, made some drastic changes, as the model now only has the center-labeled design, to make the printing process and functionality simpler and more budget-friendly. 2 of the original center-label designs were used for the final design, whilst the other 2 professionally printed the whole record design as the center label.