D&AD New Blood Entry
Visual Identity / Poster Design / Video Editing
Challenge
Following a live brief set by Universal Music UK, the client was seeking a visual identity for their upcoming staff-only event. The challenge was that it needed to appeal to all staff, resulting in a broad target audience with ranging interests and demographics.
Solution
Whilst carrying out research, the problem of a lack of self-purpose and belonging in large workforces was noted. With Universal Music having a huge number of employees, this likely could have been a hidden feeling amongst staff members - one that their annual event could help improve.
The direction changed to become using this shared feeling rather than trying to find a common interest (besides music), and to highlight how the work of each staff member has an impact and builds a larger picture of team success.
Result
All 513 Universal Music UK artists (at the time of creation) were visualised with a unique colour (which had been colour-picked from their debut album/EP), effectively resulting in the artists creating the colour palette for the visual identity. These - plus one for Universal Music UK as a whole - were then arranged into a letter ‘U’, to represent the bigger picture, as well as signify unity and the record label.
The ‘U’ with all colours was included in the final poster design which would be used to advertise the event. However, to go one step further, random combinations were chosen to create unique event tickets and email events. Adding an element of personalisation, this highlights how any one staff member contributes to multiple artist’s success through their work, emphasising their sense of purpose.
The overall identity uses a dark base colour, with dynamic gradient designs from the artist colours to create a sense of concert or festival lights, tying in that overall theme of music. This is further emphasised through the use of a script typeface, reminiscent of musicians hand-signing vinyl albums or other merchandise.
Video Submission
With a 1-minute video being a secondary deliverable for this brief, I knew it needed to be concise and to-the-point. My aim was to highlight the research and reasoning behind my design more (as the presentation deck focused on the design and concept).
