Ashley Steis: Music Festival Identity
Corporate Identity, Fall 2018
12/12/2018
Final Logo Lockup:
Final Ticket Pass:
Final Lineup Poster:
Final Website:
Final Collateral:
12/5/2018
Revisions:
11/28/2018
Logo Revisions:
11/20/2018
Color Trials:
Logo Sketches:
I decided to go with the name Picket for now because it represents the stereotype of women being a homemaker and all the expectations that go along with that. The normal, everyday American woman is expected to be a homemaker with a beautiful house with a white picket fence. Picket also represents picket signs or picketing. In this idea the women of the festival are picketing against the normalized, sexist view of women and making it ironic in the display. With some of logos I tried to cut out the black space in some areas and I connected all of the type with thin lines. This relates to guitar strings and the music festival itself, since most of the musicians feature strong guitar music.
Namestorming:
1) Literal Concepts
Festival, Concert, Music, Female, Feminist, Political, Instruments, Entertainment, Lighting, Atmosphere, Millennial, Empowering, Rock and Roll, Indie, Guitar, Rebellious, Statement, Hipster, Spectacle, Loud, Amplify, Noise, Unforgiving, Liberal, Lineup, Vendors, Ironic, United, Weekend, Exciting, Exclusive, Activities, Artistic, Show, Display, Coordinated, Screaming, Experience
2) Figurative Concepts
- Festival — celebration, jubilee, jamboree, carnival, celebrate, shindig
- Concert — recital, performance, singing, symphony
- Music — jazz, singing, melody, rhythm, sheet music, sound
- Female — woman, mother, daughter, sister, feminine, x chromosome, home maker
- Feminist — femi-nazi, liberal, liberation, suffragette
- Political — government, law, democratic, republican, ideolgy
- Instruments — musical, scientific, tool, device
- Entertainment — amusement, recreation, leisure, industry, nightlife
- Lighting — illumination, glow, energy, sunlight
- Atmosphere — aura, ambiance, air, gas, fog
- Millennial — revivalism, counterculture, entitlement, narcissism, creational
- Empowering — invest, enable, entitle, promote, encourage
- Rock and Roll — punks, jazz, rockabilly, rhythm
- Indie — independent, rockers, synth pop
- Guitar — strings, blues, plucking, strumming, amp, pick
- Rebellious — discontented, authority, unruly, disobedient
- Statement — comment, assertion, representation, picket
- Hipster — beatnik, subculture, flower child, hippie
- Spectacle — sight, drama, climax, theatrics
- Loud — noisy, raucous, garish, earsplitting
- Amplify — blow up, exaggerate, deepen, intensify
- Noise — screech, hum, cacophony
- Liberal — progressive, leftist, tolerant, broad-minded
- Vendors — seller, dealer, merchant
- United — merge, consolidate, link
- Exciting — invigorate, thrill, shake up
- Exclusive — privileged, selective, private, themed
- Show — display, exhibit, prove, present
- Coordinated — organize, align, manage, harmonize
3) Thesaurus
- Festival — period
- Concert — settle, determine, square off, contrive, project, plan, design, performance, presentation
- Music —sound, auditory sensation, activity, medicine, euphony, auditory communication
- Female — sex, sexuality, pistillate, gender, egg-producing, feminine, animal, brute, beast, distaff, fauna
- Feminist — woman’s rightist, libber, liberationist, feminism
- Political — policy-making, governmental, semi political, politics
- Instruments — equip, fit out, tool, pawn, cat’s paw, address, direct, document, role, device
- Entertainment — entertain, amusement
- Lighting — kindling, firing, ignition, inflammation, interior design, light, apparatus, setup
- Atmosphere — atmospheric, standard pressure, air, atm, aura, ambiance, gas, troposphere, stratosphere, exosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere
- Millennial — millennium
- Empowering — endow, endue, gift, indue, invest, authorize
- Guitar — fingerboard, stringed instrument
- Rebellious — disloyal, rebellion, ill-affected, malcontent, disaffected, insubordinate
- Statement — content, substance, subject matter, message, theme, idea, argument, program line, command, instruction, assertion, affirmation
- Hipster —hippie, flower child
- Spectacle — sight, display, presentation, blooper, blunder, boo-boo, botch, bungle, flub, foul-up, pratfall, bloomer
- Loud — gimcrack, gaudy, garish, flashy, flash, cheap, trashy, brassy, tacky, yelled, earthshaking, shouted, loud-mouthed, trumpet-like, big, earsplitting, harsh-voiced, thunderous, deafening, blaring, noisy, blasting, shattering, hearable, audible, vocal, aloud, loudly
- Amplify — magnify, hyperbolize, overstate, overdraw, exaggerate, expand, blow up, inflate, compound, intensify, heighten, deepen
- Noise —incomprehensibility, randomness, haphazardness, randomness, resound, racket, dissonance, disturbance, interference, call, yell, shout, cry, vociferation
- Liberal —grownup, adult, liberalist, progressive
- Vendors — vend, marketer, vender, trafficker, seller
- United — fused, consolidated, coalesced, amalgamate, cohesive, undivided, agreed, unitary, collective, coupled, conjugate, unified, integrated, conjunct, merged, incorporate, tied, federate, coalescing, joint, allied, joined
- Exciting — electrifying, thrilling, interesting, sexy, electric, galvanic, intoxication, exhilarating, glamorous, favor, fervor, tickling, tingling, stimulating, break taking
- Exclusive — single, scoop, undivided, sole, inside, inner, privilege, selective, white-shoe, only, alone
- Show — social event, witness, appearance, testify, picture, render, depict, express, point, indicate, record, designate, show up, register, usher, race, run, exhibit, amusement, entertainment, demo, present, demonstrate, display, shew, establish
- Coordinated — unified, interconnected, matching
4)
Feminists — Hannah Hoch, The Suffragettes, Simone de Beauvoir, Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem, Angela Davis, Maya Angelou, Audre Lorde, Ruth Bader Ginsberg
Instruments — guitar, bass, drums, ukulele, banjo, piano, trumpet, flute, clairnet
Mix and Match
Amplify the Noise
Picket
White Picket
Pink Picket
Counter Culture
Soundmaker
X
Go Make a Beat
Act Like a Rebel
Act Like a Human
11/6/2018
Moodboard:
For the mood board I took inspiration from existing, current album artwork from indie bands. I want the color palette to be almost like a cliche feminine color palette, to be ironic towards the fact that this festival features women only. On top of that, I think the color picked work well in lightning, print, exhibitions, etc. They are very versatile, so they can be soft in print or heavy and exciting when it comes to lightning and the environmental aspects of the festival. For my type, I want things to be really simple. A lot of indie magazine and album covers feature heavier, sans serif fonts in simple alignments or slight adjustments to make them have a more playful feel, which I want to experiment with.
Locations:
- Portland, OR
- New York, NY
- Madison, WI
- Omaha, NE
- Nashville, TE
- Richmond, VA
I’m leaning towards Portland, OR because that tends to be the scene for all things hipster and indie. New indie bands usually thrive in Portland and featuring an all women indie band festival in Portland seems like a great idea because the people who live there most likely know the openers and are excited to support women and new bands.
11/02/18 — Lineup
Headliners:
- St. Vincent
- Yeah Yeah Yeahs
- The xx
- Beach House
Supporting Acts:
- Phantogram
- Mitski
- Broods
- The Japanese House
- Tennis
- Mothers
- Florist
- Courtney Barnett
- Grimes?
- Frankie Cosmos
- Soccer Mommy
- Maggie Rogers
- Salt Cathedral
- girl in red
- Peachy! ?
- Cyberbully Mom Club
- Free Cake for Every Creature
- Sylvan Esso
- Alvvays
- Haim
- Ariel Pink
- Chastity Belt
- SALES
- Clairo
- Kitten
- Jay Som
- The Marias
- Natalie Prass
- Angel Olsen
- Banks
- Hinds
- Chairlift
- Warpaint
- Small Crush
- Sobs
- Adult Mom
- Cherry Glazerr
- Haley Blais
10/25/18 — Research
The Governors Ball Music Festival
Festival Details: The festival is usually held in the beginning of June, anywhere from the 1st to the 8th. When it first started in 2011, it occurred during the end of June for the first two years.
It is held in New York City in Randall’s Island Park.
The genre of music that is featured at this festival isn’t specific. It is quite a wide ranging lineup of people each year. The genres vary anywhere from rap/hip-hop to indie to pop/edm music. It appears to me like they feature a variety of lesser known artists from those three genres alongside 3–5 very popular artists from the same genres.
The lineup for 2018 was: Eminem, Jack White, Travis Scott, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Halsey, N.E.R.D, James Blake, Khalid, Shawn Mendes, Chvrches, The Gaslight Anthem, Post Malone, Silk City, Lil Uzi Vert, Damian Marley, Cut Copy, Sylvan Esso, Galantis, The Glitch Mob, Maggie Rogers, Dirty Projectors, Russ, Manchester Orchestra, 2 Chainz, Pusha T, Margo Price, 6lack, Dram, Kelela, Vic Mensa, Third Eye Blind, Tash Sultana, Japandriods, Amine, Lany, Kali Uchis, Alvvays, Goldlink, Jay Electronica, Belly, Moses Sumney, Aurora, The Struts, Quinn XCII, Billie Eilish, Middle Kids, Alice Merton, Pond, Two Feet, Knox Fortune, Sir Sly, Westside Gunn and Conway, VHS Collection, A$AP Twelvyy, Berhana, Cuco, Slaves, The Spencer Lee Band, Confidence Man, Lophiile, Mikky Ekko, Lou the Human, The Regrettes.
Demographic: The main demographic for this festival is millenials. The average age of a Governors Ball attendee is 26 years old.
Branding System: The logo for the Governors Ball changes visually and aesthetically year to year. But regardless, the content mostly remains the same. Each year they have the name of the festival laid out accompanied by a New York City skyline. The only time that they strayed from this design was this year. They still featured the skyline on the poster, but the logo itself was just the type. I think every year except for the past two years, the logo has been a combination of type-based and image-based. These years they were strictly type-based. It appeals to the main demographic of younger people because it looks almost “vintage”. Most of the newer logos and identities feature a lot of illustrations, fonts that take inspiration from styles like wood type and printmaking in general. I think those hand-created looks really appeal to a younger audience because the style of hand-crafted design and mediums like printmaking, screenprinting, or illustration really represent a new wave of popular design these days. In my opinion, the brandning doesn’t really have too much to do with the genre of music that is featured too often. I think for the most part they are trying to capture the feel of the location.
Style: The look of the latest branding for 2018 looks like they were using printmaking to create the base of their visual identity. The type that they placed on top is appropriating wood type. It has the 3D look along with a pattern inside the letters, which reminds me of wood type. I think this style relates to the location and the music featured at the festival. The style of appropriating old techniques or using mediums like printmaking have become very popular recently when it comes to design that is targeted towards younger people. Using this technique appeals to younger people and the feel of New York City. As for the music side, I have seen a lot of concert posters for artists that in the same vein as the artists featured here that use screenprinting or printmaking. I think the vintage feel to things that are handmade appeals to the indie feel of the bands featured.
Typography:
Frontage Condensed Inline — Decorative — This relates to the festival because it is appropriating wood type, which relates the the vintage appeal, while still making it appear modern.
Mission Gothic Family — Geometric Sans Serif — This font is provides enough contrast from the decorative font, while still staying in the same vein. Using this bold font helps give their logo and branding a modern look, while still complimenting the illustrations and decorative font. This font uses a variation in scale and style to help with the hierarchy of their logo and branding.
Color Palette: For the logo itself, they use white and two variations of red. On the poster, they use red, yellow, and blue. They do feature some black and white variations of the logo on different merchandise that they have, but the logo is not always the exact same.
Collateral Materials:
The first category of collateral materials would be their accessories. They sell all these items on their website. The logo really varies from each item, but they still have the same modern feel as the original logo. Although I think most of the pieces stray from what the original logo felt like. Some of the items, like the knapsack, don’t feel like they are channeling a more vintage feel anymore, they just feel very modern. Either way, all of these items are convienent for a music festival goer and they still appeal to a younger audience.
The next category is their clothing. I think overall all of their clothing strays from their logo. With these clothes they are really channeling some of the newer trends in music merch. I think in this context it really appeals to the younger audience that they want. Although, I don’t think any of these pieces are things that could be worn in New York City in June at a crowded music festival. So I think they are using the clothing almost as a type of advertisement. People will wear it, other people will see it and be interested.
Next would be their website. It is completely consistent with their logo and their poster for the year. They mix the printmaking aspect with a very modern and simple layout which appeals to their target audience and also makes their website very easy to use.
This is the map for their festival. I think the way that they designed it aligns with their branding quite well the 2018 year. Through the color choices and the illustrations, they go together. It is kind of crowded in some places, but overall it is easy to read and use
Life is Beautiful Music Festival
Festive Details: Life is Beautiful Music Festival. It is usually held in late September. The genre featured is basically the same as The Governors Ball. It is held in Downtown Las Vegas. The lineup for 2018 was Bastille, Miguel, St. Vincent, A$AP Ferg, Sylvan Essa, The Neighborhood, Goldlink, First Aid Kit, Jungle, What So Not, Blackbear, Flight Facilities, Sabrina Claudio, Lauv, Sofi Tukker, The Drums, 3Lau, Robert Delong, Dvbbs, Denzel Curry, Sir Sly, Sam Feldt, Welshly Arms, Elohim, Elberbrook, Fletcher, Yungblud, Morgan Saints, Wallows, Graves, Brasstracks, Neil Frances, O Wildly, The Weekend, Arcade Fire, Florence and the Machine, Travis Scott, DJ Snake, Odeza, N.E.R.D, Death Cab for Cutie, Tyler the Creator, Justice, Galantis, Chvrches, Foster the People, French Montana, Santigold, Cold War Kids, Daniel Caeser, Alison Wonderland, T-Pain, Blood Orange, Wolfmother, Cashmere Cat, Gramatik, Lizza, The Presets, Lane 8, Poolside, AJR, Tribal Seeds, Ravyn Lenae, Superorganism, Party Favor, Two Feet, Hinds, Mt. Joy, Amy Shark, Chet Porter, Mikky Ekko, Knox Fortune, Lovely the Band, Harry Hudson, Young Bombs, The Dirty Hooks, Mike Xavier.
Demographic: I think the demographic is the same as for the Governors Ball as well. They want to target millennials and younger people in general. The combination of the location and the musicians, all relatively new and popular, that are featured there appeal to a younger audience.
Branding System: For this festival their identity has basically retained the same feel and visual look over the years, so I will just focus on the 2018 branding specifically.
This is the logo that the festival has used for 3 out of 5 years that they have been running. It is entirely type based. It looks like a neon sign, which I think relates to the location since Las Vegas is filled to the bring with neon signs and lights. To me, that was their main connection. I think it relates to music because at concerts they usually have bright lights and neon signs outside of venues, but I don’t think it relates to the specific musicians featured. It appeals to the target audience because of its usage of very saturated colors, which grabs our attention. Along with that, I think that the visual of it being a neon sign isn’t immediately obvious, so the ambiguity of what it is trying to emulate grabs our attention.
Style: When I think of music festivals, the first thing that I think of is their lineup poster. To me, that is their main form of advertisement and getting themselves out there because people want to go to festivals because of the music that is being played. Even if they like the festival, they probably won’t spend their money to see bands that they don’t like.
These posters are their lineup posters from the past 3 years. The one on the far right is the poster from this year. Each poster uses a lot of bright colors and styles which really draws the viewer in to see more of the poster. I really like the latest one because the variation between the bright, patterned background and the type that is styled in different ways really makes the poster very interesting and fun. All three of the posters are still trying to emulate the feel of Las Vegas with the saturated colors and the neon aesthetic. The structure of the posters really reminds me of the era of design when they started using the letterpress and metal type to start printing. Even back to wood type again as well, with the strict grid and layout of these posters, there isn’t much room for negative space but the layout and contrast of scale really adds interest to the poster.
Typography:
The font used here is Decima Mono Round Italic which is a square sans serif, although it has been edited slightly to more better get that feel of a neon light.
The font used here could be Booster Next FY Bold. This is a geometric sans serif. It works well in the logo because it is similar to Decima, but it a little more round and it also isn’t edited, so it provides a nice contrast.
Color Palette: In the logo they only use two colors, blue and yellow. In their posters for branding they use more of a CMYK color palette with variations. There are black and white applications of the logo on their website.
And sometimes the logo uses different variations of blue and green/pink instead of yellow.
Collateral Materials:
The first category is their merchandise. This is all of the merch that they sold for the 2018 festival. I think that, just like The Govs Ball, their merchandise does not really reflect their logo or their initial branding. Their purpose here is to sell clothing and items, so they are taking inspiration from other clothing styles that are popular during this time instead of have continuity with their clothing and the logo. I think that some of the pieces have the same feel as their brand, like the white shirt with a circle emblem and a cactus inside, but most look very different. Also, having already looked at other merchandise from The Govs Ball, I am also noticing some similarities between the two, which shows that they are trying to target the same audience with the same tactics.
The next category is their website. The overall feel of their website is very minimal. Instead of using bright colors and type all over, things are very simple and they let the images that they feature do the talking for them. To me it feels consistent with their branding. They still feature their logo and use bright colors in tertiary elements, but they don’t overwhelm the viewer because their site still needs to be usable and functional.
The next category is additional promo for other features at their festival besides just the musicians or sometimes small events with specific muscians. Overall, these all feel well connected with the branding that they have laid out. They use the same colors and the same neon sign aesthetic. The only one that stands out me as being different is the logo they made for the comedy section of the festival. It feels too bold and too complicated to be consistent with the original logo, but considering it is representing comedy, it makes more sense because it looks like one of those bold neon signs you would see announcing a comedian in an old movie or cartoon.
This is the map that they designed of the festival for the goers. I think this fits in very well with their branding and I also think it is fun and easy to read, which appeals to their audience
Austin City Limits Music Festival
Festival Details: Austin City Limits Music Festival. It held around the first two weekends in October. It is located in Zilker Park in Austin, Texas. I think, once again, that this genre isn’t very specific, but a lot like the other two. The feature the a variety of popular artists and then a lot of indie and smaller edm bands. This is the lineup:
Demographic: I think the main demographic here is still younger people and millennials. Although, featuring people like Paul McCartney, Metallica, and David Byrne are also broading their demographic as well. Many people, young and old, love these artists, so while their main demographic is a younger audience, I think they could also include middle-aged adults somewhat as well.
Branding System:
This is the logo for the festival. It is all type-based. What makes it unique to me, is the usage of the decorative font and the minimal colors. The font used on the top feels retro, almost vintage to me, but not in a cheesy way. I think it nicely represents the feel of Austin, Texas. I don’t think that the logo really reflects the music all that well. This appeals to their demographic because this retro look is something that attracts a lot of millennials.
Style: Again, I am going to look mainly at the logo and the lineup poster togther. This is the lineup poster for this year.
The visual look of the brand is very retro. It seems almost like a very muted psychedelic inspiration. It relates to the fact that Paul McCartney is their main act since he has been making music since before this era, but other than that, I think it main relates to the location of the festival.
Typography:
The closest thing that I could find to this font is called Curves Accent. Although, this font is decorative. This is the main piece of the logo that really draws your eye in and makes it unique.
This font is called Miedinger Bold. It is a square sans serif. This works in the logo becuase it completely contrasts against the Curves Accent because this is geometric and squared off. This doesn’t dominate because it is in this nice light green color.
Color Palette: The logo only uses two colors, a dark brown and a light green. But there are other places where it is only brown, like on the line up poster.
Collateral Materials:
First, I’ll start with the website. I think that the logo remains consistent and the illustrations help tie in the location with the logo a lot more. I think that the colors remain consistent and that the website is pretty easy to use. Just like the others, this mostly lets the photos do the festival justice to help keep the site easy to use.
This is their map for getting around the festival. I love this map by itself, but you can also tell that their identity was considered when they were creating this. I think it is super easy to read and use as well.
Lastly, is their merchandise. They have shirts, a pair of shorts, a hat, a bag, and some posters. The main difference that I see between this festival and the other two is that they aren’t designing for appeal to the younger audience. I think with all of their clothes they are keeping their identity and location in mind and they are trying to convey that feel throughout all of their pieces.
