Taxonomy of Signs

The 7th and final thing I chose to do is #1 on the original list.
These are the details:
Identify the most meaningful visual signfier(s) at work in the OAC (original album cover). Are they icons, indexes, or symbols? What do they signify? Formulate an understanding, and then replace that(those) signifier(s) with signifiers that reference the same signified but which function on a different order. If the OAC uses symbols, redesign the cover with icons. Or vice-versa.

My interpretation:
I found this one the most difficult to do. (Which is why I finished it last.) In the OAC there are a couple different visual signifiers, and they could be an icon or an index. For example, the kid, who represents the future generations of America, could be either, because he's only one kid and can't resemble what the entire future generation looks like, but he is a kid so in a way there is some resemblance there. (Because a child is the future generation for the family, and future generation=children.)
The more I tried to single out ALL the signs in the OAC and determine what exactly they were, the more overwhelmed and confused I felt…
So instead of worrying about all of that, I decided to replace the sign I thought was the most important thing: the off-screen TV monster that represents the current state of America. (This I think is the most meaningful signifier, even though it can't be seen on the front of the cover. You can see the cable, the kid is looking up at it, and it does create the glow.)
If there is no TV monster, the kid would be happy and the album cover will lose its meaning.

My redesign:

I replaced the TV monster with an adult, meant to signify the current state of America, with the kid being the future generations.
She is too busy texting to pay any notice to the kid, and there are wires coming out of her head, to show the technological advancement of current society.
These wires would be connecting her to all the other adults, the same way the TV monster wasn't shown in the OAC. (And each adult would have their own future generations behind them.)
We are technologically advanced, but our care for other people (face to face not over the internet!) has diminished.
You also can't see her eyes, which I did deliberately, because she isn't seeing the world and the way it's become, being too absorbed in her fancy gadgets.
When ever I think of icons, I think of images with flat shapes, so I tried to draw the cover in that way.

The TV monster I see as an index, with my woman more of an icon. (You could argue she's an index though, the same way with the kid.)

This one is also the one I am most worried about.
Did I do it correctly? Does the message get through?
I suppose time will tell.

Official and Unofficial Language

# 9 on the list, these are the details:
Does your OAC (original album cover) use official visual language or unofficial visual language? How does this choice relate to the core values of your artist and/or this particular record? Invert the authority of the language while still expressing a relevant message about this album and this recording.

My interpretation:
The OAC does try to seem "unofficial" (thus cool, hip, whatever you wanna call it) but does fall into the realm of the official language of album covers. It's made to sell, it falls into industry rather than exploitation.

My "redesign":

While I am no chalk artist, I drew the album cover on the pavement in sidewalk chalk.
This makes it in the realm of unofficial language, rather than the official language of album covers.

I chose chalk because of the logo of the original OAC. It appears almost chalk-ish.

(Yay for rain.)

Conceptual Structures

#3 on the original list, these are the details:
We discussed the idea of the binary opposition in great length this term. This is the idea that linguistic meaning can ultimately only be found in the pairing of opposite terms: there is no hot without cold, light without dark, or alive without dead. Furthermore, basic binary oppositions are often correlated or 'supervened' onto other pairs of terms in order to create meaning. Identify some of the more striking visual terms in your OAC (original album cover) that can be reversed, and then perform that operation.

My interpretation of the OAC:

There are a couple different oppositions at work, and I chose a few to reverse…

My redesign:

First, the boy is now looking down, instead of up. Whatever he is looking at is smaller than him, rather than larger.
The boy and the cable are drawn, in a real space. In the OAC the boy is opposed to the industrial cable and the industrial, imaginary space. Now the background is what seems to stand out the most, rather than the photo of the boy in the OAC.
The background is also clean, and brighter. It's a room where you could expect a child to be safe in.

Ways of Meaning

#2 on the original list, these are the details:
Does the OAC (original album cover) communicate its message literally, or does it use a non-literal way of meaning? We discussed several typed of non-literal 'ways of meaning': simile, metaphor, metonym, synecdoche, impossibility, and unconventional representation. If your OAC uses one of these methods, replace that operation with a literal communication or with an alternative non-literal method. If your OAC uses only literal signification, formulate in the clearest possible terms what the signified is and then use a non-literal 'way of meaning' to express it.

My interpretation of the OAC:
It's a bit hard to narrow it all down, because there are different elements at work in the OAC and what exactly they function as can be debated. I do know for sure that it's a non-literal method used, and I chose to work with the "future generations" part of the message.

My redesign:

Instead of an off-screen TV monster to represent the state of America, and how the future generations will have no one to look up to, I used a real adult, absorbed in her texting.

I would say that the OAC uses metaphor, saying that America is like the TV monster without actually saying like or as, while mine uses metonym, with the adult standing in for the current generation.

Visual Structures

#4 on the original list, these are the details:
These concepts are most directly relevant to basic page-layoung work designers do as part of every assignment. What are some of the visual structures and layout structures at work in your OAC? (Original album cover) Subvert, modify, or exaggerate all of them while still maintaining the feel or the overall communication of the OAC.

My interpretation:
The boy is in the center, in the foreground.

This is my redesign:

I changed the direction the boy was facing, moved him off to the side rather than the center, and switched him to be behind the background, the wall, and made the wall in the foreground.
Now we are outside looking in, rather than being inside this imaginary space with the boy.

I also thought about putting the artist+album name at the bottom, or at the inside as well, but decided to keep them at the top, and outside the inner space. (Because it looks better at the top, and being on the outside separates it from the boy.)

Matters of Interpretation

# 6 on the list, these are the details:
Classifications, rules, conventions. Identify all at work in your OAC (original album cover) and remove them. For example: does your OAC feel like an album cover? How far would you have to change it so that it still communicated the crucial information about the artist artist and the recording while appearing to meet the classification requirements of a take-out menu? Or a business card?

My interpretation of the OAC:
Yes, it does feel like an album cover. (Size, the band name on the top, large image, etc.)

My redesign:

I re-designed the album cover to look like the program for a classical play.
For the different elements, I chose the items from the original album to take their place.
For example, "presented by" is the recording company, the play name is the album name, etc.

Textual Structures

#5 from the original assignment list, here are the details:
How do type and image relate on your OAC? (Original Album Cover) Do you feel there is a strong correlation? Could the relationship be improved? Execute either a RADICAL re-interpretation of the type design, or redesign the image to match the meaning that you feel the existing type is trying to achieve.

My interpretation of the original OAC:
The text appears almost as if it were a part of the image - chalk drawn on the wall.

My redesign:

I chose to make the text appear to be even more a part of the image, by giving it transparency.
I also moved it to the floor, and changed the position of the album name, "comatose".
Now the boy is standing on top of the band name, and it doesn't fit completely in the frame, as if it were a shadow on the floor.