John Coltrane: A Love Supreme
Front of Dust Jacket
While listening the album multiple times, sketches were created. From these inspiration sketches, a storyboard of the book was created and refined. Particular attention was devoted to the section spreads since these represented the sections of the album and were the visual bridge of the album tracks, the illustrations and text of the liner notes.
Inspiration Sketches
The storyboard shown here is the final version with edits. These were the drawings that were used to create the master pages and style sheets. Blue pencil for edits and red pencil for overlays.
The rough sketches of the section pages (final draft) before proceeding to digital creation. The sketches were done on tracing paper to allow for layering experimentation.
Section Page Sketches, Pre-digital
Liner notes, John Coltrane A Love Supreme, Copyright The Verve Music Group, a Division of UMG Recordings, Inc.
The illustrations were inspired by the the quote below along with the idea of having an illustration represent each track. The illustrations were created with charcoal on 100% rag translucent marker paper then scanned and duo toned in Adobe Photoshop.
This is a storyboard of thumbnails prior to French fold conversion. The file was created in InDesign, preflighted, and exported as a PDF. The spreads were printed at Fedex and left flat and untrimmed. The cover was prepared in separate file. I then folded the pages, added the overlay pages, and stacked pages for the binder.
One of my favorite spreads. It shows several typographical elements of the book and use of negative space.
I chose this photograph because it shows Coltrane going about his daily life and was representative of the quote. From a design point of view, the photograph draws your attention first, then Coltrane's line of sight draws your attention to quote on the left.
Pages 15-16
During class critiques, the topic of using negative space and margins as part of the design was discussed. The header on this spread was used as an introduction of the religious undertones of A Love Supreme that were discussed in this section of the book.
Pages 21-22
Another one of my favorite spreads developed out of critique feedback. This spread references the role of religion plays in A Love Supreme using the negative space of the gutter.
Pages 43-44
The dust jacket was printed on a Canon Pro-100. The jacket was prepared in four sections, each in its own file. By running the paper through the printer four times, I was able to take advantage of the ink’s transparency rather than have the software simulate the over print.
Completed Dust Jacket
Overall, a very satisfying project that resulted in a professional level, bound book (French fold) that reflects Coltrane’s inspiration.
Came up with great ideas. Embraced ideas taught. Final project beautifully executed both hand skills and computer skills. Worked hard. Willing to take on a challenge. Good conceptual thinker.— Jeff Barlow
The Takeaway:
One of the most challenging aspects of the project were that section pages. These went through multiple revisions to find a happy medium feel coherent with the overall design. The first ideation of these sections was thrown out. The time constraints of the project limited the further exploration of these sections pages. This is one area of the project that could be explored further.
In the course of working on this project, it forced me to refine my digital workflow. The power of InDesign style sheets, master pages and linking to external assets was critical in implementing the final design changes to the book. By being STRICT in my implementation of my pagination schematic, it allowed for design changes without re-work. In previous book projects, I might have been inclined to be a bit looser in implementation increasing the possibility of re-work in the final push for project completion.
John Coltrane: A Love Supreme Photo Credits:
Page 6: RECORDMECCA FINE MUSIC COLLECTIBLES, Los Angeles, CA, Photo “John Coltrane‚ A Mono ‘A Love Supreme’ 1st Pressing Impulse LP”.
Page 15: Gelderen, Hugo van / Anefo, Dutch National Archives, The Hague, Fotocollectie Algemeen Netherlands Persbureau (ANeFo), 1945-1989.
Page 24: Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Photographs & Prints Division, The NY Public Library. “John Coltrane” The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1950 - 1979.
Page 28: Historic American Buildings Survey, Creator, et al., photographer by Elliott, Joseph. John Coltrane House,North Thirty-third Street, Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, PA.
Thirty-third Street, Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, PA. Documentation Compiled After Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress.
Text: Liner notes, John Coltrane A Love Supreme, Copyright The Verve Music Group, a Division of UMG Recordings, Inc.