Body and Soul Euphonics

Design: Ricardo Covarrubias
Location: United States
Project Type: Student Project
School: University of Texas at El Paso
Course: Portfolio
Tutor: Clive Cochran
Packaging Contents: Vinyl Records, Record Player, Headphones, Microphone
Packaging Substrate / Materials: Paper
Printing Process: Digital Printing

Body and Soul is all about the enjoyment that music brings to life, injecting joy in people’s souls, and letting Soul Music be a part of your every day daily life. The logo was heavily influenced by the history of Soul and its music. The design is composed of a quarter and eighth note which was a rhythm used in the majority of the compositions from the beginnings of Soul Music. Amazing singers such as Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gave, James Brown, Sam Cooke, Al Green and much more gained popularity due to the way they performed behind the microphone.

Many people referred them as singers who would sing their souls out when performing. One of the most important instruments in Soul Music is the human voice. Due to that, an expression of singing with joy and passion was formed using the note shape of the logo. The negative space around and inside the music note helps it achieve the shape and illusion of a singer’s face.

To achieve a full branding experience, this project involved the creation of an identity mark and three-dimensional packaging. Items include a collection of three vinyls with its special collection box, a record player, a microphone, and headphones. Body and Soul is a brand that not just only focuses on the music itself and the artists but also gives the listener the whole music experience by providing tools that can be used to play the music and sing along.

What’s Unique?
The approach in this project was to not only create a record collection but to also create a whole music experience. Meaning that along with the vinyl records you would have where to listen to them and where to interact with the music. What is unique about the iconography and illustrations is the process of creating them.

This process first involved hand cutting all the shapes then transferring the shapes through an inking/printmaking process onto a clean sheet of paper. Afterward, the images were scanned and manipulated in photoshop and illustrator. Textures were created due to the initial paper(Classic Techweave) that was hand cut—which included texture itself.