The Electro Butterfly Project
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Objective:
Creating logos, style guide and CD covers for a trance band
Tools:
Adobe Photoshop, Figma
Practices:
User Research, Branding, Prototyping, Iterative Design
Problem
How can this band stand out amoust its peers?
The main challenges faced during the branding process for the band stemmed from creating a brand identity from scratch. Understanding the band's vision, identity, and musical style required extensive research, and immersion into their world. Additionally, designing a unique and captivating identity that stands out among countless trance groups demanded creativity and innovation. Achieving consistency across various brand elements, such as logos, color palettes, typography, album artwork, and merchandise design, presented a considerable challenge in delivering a coherent and recognizable brand image.
Timeline
Research
Understanding the genre and band's direction
Designing
Creating drafts and options depending on research
Final product
Finalizing style guide after iterations
Research
During the process, extensive research was conducted to explore various art styles and visual representations associated with the music genre. This exploration allowed the me to discover artistic influences that could effectively capture and resonate with the band's unique identity. Seeing majority of available album art was a logo over a gradient, we hoped to stand out from the crowd. Additionally, color psychology research was undertaken to determine a fitting color palette that would complement the band's musical style and convey the desired emotions. Concurrently, understanding typography and graphic design trends enabled me to create a modern and relevant visual identity that aligns with industry aesthetics. By merging these research efforts, I was equipped with a deep understanding of design elements that would ultimately shape the band's new and captivating brand identity
Findings
From the research I found most bands leaned towards bright saturated colors with a darker overall color pallet. The simplicity made it hard to differentiate albums from each other. Another common theme was the use of psychedelic imagery in repeating patterns as the main focus and organic symmetry. When it came to logos, most groups opted for pictorial marks or wordmark making them harder to associate to bands for new listeners. Majority of the recognizable album covers had 90s and 80s aesthetics making them easy to date.
Design
The implementation of research into the design process involved drawing visual inspiration from various art styles and representations associated with the trance music genre. Integrating these research insights, I developed versatile and memorable designs, including a logo that served as the centerpiece of the band's branding. Throughout the process, seeking feedback and conducting iterations played a pivotal role, ensuring that the final designs resonated with the band's identity, connected with fans, and effectively conveyed the band's musical style and message to a broader audience. Hoping to reach further audiences, I implemented design elements from other genres.
Sketches
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Wordmark
When designing the wordmark for the band's rebranding, the focus was on creating a simple monochrome design that could be used in multiple mediums with ease while remaining easily identifiable. Despite the band's lengthy name, the decision was made to forgo an acronym and incorporate the full name into the wordmark to maintain brand clarity and memorability.
The simplicity of the monochrome design enhances its visual impact, allowing it to stand out and leave a lasting impression on audiences. This thoughtful approach ensures a visually versatile and easily recognizable brand identity for the rock band, facilitating their presence across various platforms and engaging a broader audience while preserving their unique persona.
The simplicity of the monochrome design enhances its visual impact, allowing it to stand out and leave a lasting impression on audiences. This thoughtful approach ensures a visually versatile and easily recognizable brand identity for the rock band, facilitating their presence across various platforms and engaging a broader audience while preserving their unique persona.
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Final product
The final product of the rebranding process was a visually captivating and cohesive brand identity that effectively reflected the band's essence and musical. This included a well-designed logo that served as the centerpiece of the new branding, capturing the band's unique personality and genre. Throughout the process, I sought feedback and actively adapted the designs based on input from members. The result was a dynamic and versatile brand identity that resonated with the band's existing fanbase while attracting new listeners, contributing to their growth and recognition in the competitive music industry.
To ensure a consistent and cohesive visual identity, each album cover was carefully crafted with its unique color palette, selected based on the band's musical style, desired emotions, and overall theme for each album. Alongside this, the team introduced a creative and distinctive element by incorporating repeated optical illusion motifs. These illusions were chosen to add intrigue and captivate the audience, perfectly aligning with the band's aspiration to create an artistic and visually engaging experience for their fans. The use of these motifs across all four albums not only strengthened the brand's visual cohesiveness but also hinted at a deeper narrative connecting the band's musical journey. This unified visual approach across the four albums successfully established a strong and recognizable brand identity for the band. In essence, the combination of cohesive color palettes and repeated optical illusion motifs in the album covers created an immersive and captivating visual experience, effectively conveying the band's reimagined identity.
To ensure a consistent and cohesive visual identity, each album cover was carefully crafted with its unique color palette, selected based on the band's musical style, desired emotions, and overall theme for each album. Alongside this, the team introduced a creative and distinctive element by incorporating repeated optical illusion motifs. These illusions were chosen to add intrigue and captivate the audience, perfectly aligning with the band's aspiration to create an artistic and visually engaging experience for their fans. The use of these motifs across all four albums not only strengthened the brand's visual cohesiveness but also hinted at a deeper narrative connecting the band's musical journey. This unified visual approach across the four albums successfully established a strong and recognizable brand identity for the band. In essence, the combination of cohesive color palettes and repeated optical illusion motifs in the album covers created an immersive and captivating visual experience, effectively conveying the band's reimagined identity.
Reflection
During the rebranding process, I gained a deeper understanding of the band's unique identity, musical style, and aspirations. This knowledge influenced the creative decisions, striking a delicate balance between innovative design ideas and maintaining a cohesive visual identity that aligns with the band's image. Additionally, insights from market research on the music industry, target audience, and competitors guided design choices, ensuring that the rebranding resonates with audience preferences.