Now it can all be revealed... Many weeks ago I found out I was one of the winners in a contest that was held for the Secret 7" project. But I had to hold my tongue until now; hard to do when I was jumping up and down in excitement!
The project started with Kevin King from Universal Records, who decided to choose seven pop acts and have them each release a limited edition of 100 singles on 7" vinyl. Each cover would be unique, created by a chosen range of popular designers, and also by unknown artists in the general public. To facilitate this, the social network site Talenthouse was used to host a Creative Invite.
While this is not something I would normally do, I love cover design. So I created an account and uploaded four attempts, as I told you at the start of the year, in this article. The covers with the highest number of popular votes on Talenthouse won, but also a number were chosen by the judges based only on their appearance. And my Ben Howard design was one of those. (The other artists taking part were The Cure, Florence & The Machine, Bombay Bicycle Club, DJ Shadow, CSS, and Noah & The Whale.)
The organisers then had all the singles pressed and covers printed, 700 in total (mine was #414). An exhibition was held at Idea Generation Gallery, Shoreditch, London this past weekend (18-22 April, to tie in with Record Store Day). Each sleeve was sold for a minimum price of £40, with the proceeds benefiting the Teenage Cancer Trust.
None of the sleeves were labelled, so no-one knew ahead of time which record would be in their sleeve, or who the artist was. I am sure it would have been more or less obvious in some cases. But in other cases... a big mystery!
Anyway, it was a fun idea, and I wish I could have gone to the exhibition to see all the work. Congrats to all the winners and a big thank-you to everyone who bought a record. Especially whoever bought mine!
And it's not over yet... all the records that didn't sell at the exhibition are now on eBay under seller teenagecancertrust. This is your last chance to help a good cause and own a little piece of design history.
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