~ Secret 7 - John Lennon - final design ~

I began by drawing the couple together kissing; I felt this possibly shows too much of a happy moment and to be most effective the design needed to show the sadness behind the song. I wanted it to expose the issues we face and hurdles people need to overcome before the perfect world John Lennon imagined will be true.

 I sourced a film still showing Lexa's character in a much more emotive position. She's clearly in deep thought and upset. I illustrated this quite simple ensuring the emotions were clear on her face so this would be portrayed in the design. I imagine for this would be that if displayed people seeing the exhibition would recognise the character and further the overall campaign for LGBT representation. The design also features a tagline from the show/campaign 'we deserve better' this allows people who are unaware of the source and concept to search it and have a full understanding of its link to the song.

In this edit of the design I added in some raindrop/teardrop shapes to reinforce the sadness and emotion within the design putting it further in context. The colour blue was also chosen as its connotations are loneliness, sadness and melancholy. 

These are some more minimal edits of the design but I felt it needed a little more just to enhance the overall concept.

I appreciate that this design would not be appropriate for the design of a mass produced single for this song as its representative of the TV show. But in this context it fits perfectly; it's a chance to combine activism informed by the overall meaning behind the song and graphic design on display to the masses. Its an opportunity to speak to an audience that wouldn't usually appreciate the difficulties of LGBT representation within the media. I chose to add the blue background as it adds a boldness to the design and is relevant to the sad element within the illustration. It also links nicely to the original illustration that I mounted on paper; it makes it clear that its hand drawn giving it a heartfelt and personal touch.