I was extremely excited to be asked by PR agency Kaper to create a cryptic picture quiz on behalf of Mastercard, to show their support of the “Best British Album” award at the BRITs in February 2015. I was subsequently asked to produce the picture quiz for the 2016 awards, too.
The image depicts 35 British albums from past and present (including the five nominees for the award itself), for people to guess in the build up to the ceremony. Initially, the concept was to show the view from a stage at an outdoor concert, with clues both on the stage and in the crowd. This proved to be an unsuitable setting for the clues, as most of the space was in the crowd, and did not provide any way for the clues to blend into the background.
Some of the albums were not as well-known as others, but I was pleasantly surprised at the success people were having when the picture was published on the Huffington Post website. Mastercard’s own Twitter account was going crazy with people guessing the answers and berating each other for their less successful guesses.
Here you can see the stages that the image went through during the design process, and how the clues evolved (or in some cases, disappeared).
Final Mastercard Brit Awards 2015 cryptic picture quiz
Placement and Photoshop work on final clues
Close to completion
Still working out how to convey some clues
Completing Photoshop work on initial clues, placing others
First stage, placing draft clues