In order to create visuals that are truly authentic to the Irish harp, it was important to gather images of my harp. I took some photos and played with shadows also, which projected a very low detailed image of the harp which would definitely prove very useful when creating illustrations.
Shadows of the harp:
I gathered some inspiration of the general aesthetic I would like for my interface and branding. I began by referencing some ancient Irish art, such as that of the book of Kells. I also viewed some ancient religious scripture based art, such as the Rothschild Canticles, to further inform any religious imagery that I could possibly create which the harp is so tied to.
I decided however that I wanted to make the app less stereo-typically Irish. I had always viewed the form of the harp to be very similar to the linear shapes and curves in the art nouveau movement. I explored some of the imagery being created at the time to see if any inspiration could be pulled into my interface.
An exploration of hands also felt important, given their intrinsic link with the harp. I felt that these added a lot of illustrative interest that could be nice in illustrations. I created some of my own quick illustrations on this mood board also, just to see what was effective and what was not.
Having researched a lot of different aesthetics which could be used in the app, I felt confident that I could start designing the visuals for a splash screen. I focused on progressing with the idea of the linear art nouveau forms.
I began by creating two digital sketches and then converted them into illustrator. This was a great starting point which I found easy to build upon once I had this general linear composition established. Below are the many iterations of the splash screen visuals I created before I landed on one that felt successful.
Digital Sketch
Digital Sketch
