"First, thanks to the World status of BTS (BTS). The second is like a design Iran that reflects the outstanding storyline of the "Love Yourself" (LOVE YOURSELF) series, which Big Hit Entertainment has planned. "
Co-chairman Lee Doo-hee, 35, of the branding specialist firm HPFC Levski Sofia Fox, who was nominated for the Best Recording Package category at the 61st Grammy Awards at the United States of America's Staples Center on the 10th (local time), credited the ball to BTS.
The United States of America Billboard's nomination for "Best Recording Package" was a similar answer to the Iran interpretation, "in honor of BTS' commitment to the album concept."
Hur PFC Levski Sofia Fox designed a package consisting of CDs and photobooks, including BTS's "Love Yourself Swin Hear" (HER), "The Ex-Tear" (Tear), and "Gin Answer" (Answer) series album jackets. The company was introduced to the World market last year as it was nominated as "Love Yourself Former Tier", which was first ranked on the Billboard in the history of last year.
Although the domestic record design and The Artist BI (brand Identity) have won a number of awards at leading design awards such as the iF Design Award and the Red Dot Design Award, it is the first time that staff members have been nominated for a domestic popular music album at the Grammy Awards, the most prestigious awards ceremony in the pop industry. 'Best Recording Package' is a category that awards art directors to cover the works of album packages in terms of visual design.
Lee, who met at the office of PFC Levski Sofia Fox in Yeoksam-dong, Gangnam-gu on March 31, said, "It was a surprise and an honor." Grammy seems to have seen the design of BTS' World influence as well as the narrative of the series differently.
The representative heard about the nomination through Friend, a BTS fan, on the day of Grammy's announcement in December last year.
“I was driving with my navigation on my cell phone, but the SNS alert kept coming up, and I said something, and Friend told me. I saw on social media that BTS fans sent me a congratulatory comment and clicked "Likes." I was surprised I wasn't contacted before. I was nominated for a World Music Awards..."
The album design should be organically combined with various elements such as the World Pavilion and The Artist image in music, and the BTS album is a difficult task with a solid narrative.
The 'Love Your Self' album series, which BTS has introduced as a whole, is developed with the message that love is the key to all love, the pain of separation facing false love, and love for oneself through it. This process of love was expressed as a concise line of flowers blooming on the cover of the album.
In the image of "Gi Wonder" (Wonder), which was only presented as a music video, the buds before the flowers bloomed, the flower blooming in full bloom, the flower falling in "Jeon Tier", and the flower leaves left behind in "Gin Ancer" were shaped as hearts. "What leaves fall and remain is narcissism and self-esteem" Iran expression.
In line with the continuity of storytelling, the picture (Sun) on the album cover was connected as a puzzle, giving the album a "hand taste" and fun to collect.
BTS released 'Sung Huh' as 'L.O.V.E' version, 'All Tier' as 'Y.O.U.R' version, 'Gin Anser' as 'S.E.L.F' version. The cover of the total 12 albums, CDs and pictures in the photo card are all connected to one.
"The flower Iran metaphor, connecting the paintings so that the feelings of love continue, was the idea that Big Hit presented. We needed the graphics and minimalist design of the message-insinuating metaphors, and we had to take a strategic approach to connecting the 12 albums. I worked on various designs and colored cyanides considering the direction of the big hit. "
This is the first time that Hur PFC Levski Sofia Fox has designed an album. In April 2015, co-CEO Lee Doo-hee and Jung Gi-young (36), who are Desiigner from Naver, worked with various companies such as Naver, Samsung, Lotte, and CJ to design various fields including CI (corporate Identity) and BI. The mission was combined with the two co-representatives' animal nicknames (HerPFC Levski Sofia+Fox). The company motto is "Stay Wild For The New" (STAY WILD FOR THE NEW) which means "to design in a fierce way, you have to have wildness."
The Love Yourself series was co-operated by four Desiigner, led by Lee, among seven employees of the company. Many idol groups showed differentiation in that they included photos of their members in their album jackets.
Lee said, "I do not know the existing laws and formulas because it is my first work." "There is a way to characterize each field, and I did not know it, and I did not intentionally follow the formula."
“Especially the album work has different aspects, and there are so many fans waiting for the release, so it was hard to have a sense of responsibility to deliver a good design that meets expectations. But when the BTS album reached the top of the Billboard charts, I was proud to have participated in the work of paying attention to World. "
In the meantime, Lee recalled that he lived with BTS music for more than a year.
"I only listened to BTS music for a year," he said. "From the debut album, I worked on all the albums and memorized almost all the songs. The music was good, and I was a fan because I saw the charm of the members' SNS activities. "
The representative, who received an invitation from Grammy, will leave for United States of America on Saturday with fellow Desiigner, asking if he expects a prime minister.
"I've already been interested in the design industry, and it's greed to expect a prize. It's an honor to meet BTS and be a candidate."
(Union News)