These Print Design Fails Show Why You Need A Music Consultant

If you know, you know. But if you’re not sure… don’t photoshop it.

The image above is one of the new Sherlock U.K. postage stamps, commissioned by Royal Mail. I loved the series, but I wished they’d done a bit more hand doubling for the violin scenes (Benedict Cumberbatch gave it his best shot though!) I’m sure that they must have had a violin coach involved in this production- the musical imagery of the stamp is nothing to do with what was depicted on screen.

However, on the stamp, the tip of the bow has been photoshopped for some reason. The problem is they’ve mirrored the other end of the bow, otherwise known as the ‘frog’ or ‘heel’.

It’s a massive error, and looks really silly. I know it might seem like a small oversight, but it also reminds me why there is a need for music consultancy, even for print design. It’s my mission at Music In Vision to make sure that instruments and musicians are depicted accurately in visual media

I wonder how many have been printed with the incorrect musical imagery?!

Reminds me of this other classic, BBC Blue Planet poster (no strings or bridge on the violin).

Companies do need to be careful not to overlook these details. Here’s an example of an ad that had a lot of negative press because of dubbing an instrument incorrectly:

GE Ovens Mistake Oboe For Clarinet (thanks to Classic FM for the article).

Have you ever experienced these kind of musical inaccuracies in a production that you’ve worked on? Let me know in the comments below.