project 2 -Publishing Forms

In this project, we were asked to design a book through a poem, and I was assigned The Mercy Seat of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds.

1. Works/Author Introduction

“The Mercy Seat” is a song written by Nick Cave (lyrics and music) and Mick Harvey (music), originally performed by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds on the 1988 album Tender Prey. The song has been covered by others, including Johnny Cash, Camille O’Sullivan and Unter Null. Rolling Stone editor Toby Creswell lists it as one of the 1001 greatest songs.

According to the website Collector’s Hell which documents Nick Cave set lists through 2011, “The Mercy Seat” is by far the most often performed song by the band, being included in almost every concert since its release. It’s one of Cave’s signature songs, and has been covered by a number of artists including Johnny Cash.

2. style of music

Alternative rock (also called alternative music, alt-rock, or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. “Alternative” refers to the genre’s distinction from mainstream or commercial rock or pop music. The term’s original meaning was broader, referring to a generation of musicians unified by their collective debt to either the musical style or simply the independent, DIY ethos of punk rock, which in the late 1970s laid the groundwork for alternative music.

Gothic rock (also called goth rock or goth) is a style of rock music that emerged from post-punk in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The first post-punk bands which shifted towards dark music with gothic overtones include Siouxsie and the Banshees, Joy Division, Bauhaus, and the Cure.

3. Lyric Analysis

After watching the MV, I found several key words appeared in the MV. I took screenshots of them and recorded them

I analyzed the meaning of each paragraph of lyrics, extracted the key words of each paragraph, divided the 23 lyrics into 12 groups and made collages.

This harrowing track finds Nick Cave taking on the persona of a death row prisoner, awaiting execution. As Cave’s appointment with the electric chair gets closer, he moves from pleading his innocence to admitting his crime. The anthem of death row defiance is laden with allusions to Christianity; the mercy seat is both the electric chair and a symbol of the throne of God, where following his execution, Cave will be judged.

4.Design plan

Idea 1

This song describes the inner life of a prisoner before being sentenced to death and can be linked to the prison. In prisons, there is usually a small window for guards and the outside to monitor prisoners, which reminds me of a three-dimensional book. I designed a series of square “prisons” based on the shape of the prison, and dug an irregular hole in the wall of each prison to represent the prisoner’s uneasy mood before being sentenced. Readers watch the inner activities of a prisoner who is about to be executed through a small hole, and have an immersive feeling.

Idea 2

When the prisoner was executed, not only his body was broken, but his heart was also mutilated. With this idea, I want to make a foldable poster brochure. When it is unfolded, the front is a portrait of the poster of Nick cave, and when it is folded, the back is composed of lyrics, allowing readers to read it further.

For this, I drew a sketch poster

But due to the large number of lyrics, it is difficult to fully show it in the foldable poster brochure, so I had to give up this idea.

5.The design process

After confirming idea 1, I first made the model of the book and made 12 small prisons.

I divided the 23 lyrics into 12 groups. After extracting the keywords of each group, I drew linear illustrations and used ps to make them more abstract patterns.

This is the “wall” at the front. In order to make the paper feel more worn out, I added a little element of malfunction.

Typesetting of 12 inner pages

12 wall layouts

Effect picture 

6. Tutorial and improvement

After the tutorial by teachers and students, they pointed out many advantages and disadvantages and improvement methods to me. First of all, the form of collage is very complete and expressive, but the typesetting is lifeless, which is not enough to show the author’s inner urgency. Therefore, the teacher suggested that I try to use collage to make typesetting, which might be more stressful. Secondly, the typesetting text is too neat and the expression is not strong. It is suggested to change the font size and bold keywords to enhance the visual expression.

So I took the collage and adjusted it and deformed it and put it in the layout

Then I do the font design and adjustments.

This is the final layout.

7.Final work