Rationale
The Glasgow-based independent band I have chosen to create an info-graphic on is Twin Atlantic. The decision to choose this particular band was made easy on the simple fact that they are only band I have seen live myself. Therefore the task of creating an info-graphic that not only uses relevant data but communicates the very essence of the band seemed simple.
Although I have seen the band perform I carried out further research. I looked at the band’s history, their album covers, their lyrics, read interviews and watched various clips from their tours. When reading interviews with the band one particular quote from the lead singer Sam McTrusty stuck with me -
“...when naming the band we wanted to find something that would match the sound of our band which is like this erratic loud, quiet, the dynamics are all over the place and we thought of an ocean.”
This quote really spoke to me because I agreed that Twin Atlantic’s music really is all over the place, it does not conform to one specific style. This also made me think of when I saw them perform live and how their wide variety of music is reflected on how they perform. Intrigued by this I re-read the interviews and noticed on various occasions the band spoke about their music as - “Loud/Quiet”. This clearly being a recurring theme. While watching clips of the band I also noticed the venues they played in ranged from small intimate venues to large venues holding up to 2000 people. Clearly a metaphor for Twin Atlantic’s music. Having captured the essence of the band I then looked for data to effectively communicate this. I looked to Twin Atlantic’s upcoming UK tour and found that it communicated their “Loud/Quiet” style of music perfectly. On their tour they will play in venues that hold from 400 people up to 1500 people.
Having collected appropriate data I then went about combining this with relevant imagery. Although it may sound ‘cheesy’ while waiting for an idea to fall into my lap I found inspiration in an unlikely source. Looking at ripples in a puddle I thought of how sound can cause water ripples. The louder the sound the larger the ripple. This reminded me of music pulses and I though of how this would be a creative way to reflect data on a graph. Using music pulses to reflect the data would be meaningful because it communicates the content of the data, this being how “loud/quiet” Twin Atlantic’s music is.
I then thought to myself how can I find a create way to reflect these music ripples other than on a graph which clearly is not very creative. The data having been collected from their upcoming UK tour I thought placing the music ripples on the specific locations of the venues on a map of Britain would work well.
Being an info-graphic it was essential for this piece to speak for itself thus why I have made it simple and pretty much self-explanatory. This is also reflected in my chosen colour pallet or lack of. For the font I chose to replicate the font chosen for the Twin Atlantic’s identity. Although I’m unsure whether this is the specific font I feel that the apple symbols font I have chosen to use replicates it well. I chose to use a simple key to help the viewer of the info-graphic interpret the data successfully. This also follows the same design approach of info-graphic imagery and data.
