Long Island Electrical Systems (L.I.E.S) is an American electronic music record label. For this brief I set my self a weeks timeframe to create a series of flyers for their UK shows.
I wanted to reflect their gritty left-field and lo-fi music output yet also show they are a contemporary forward thinking label releasing new music.
Existing Punk Flyers
The punk aesthetic is incredibly recognisable and a well established style within music culture so didn't want the flyers to look overly cliche in resembling them. Instead I focused on the smaller details such as the various typefaces, textures, colour and composition.
Creating an Identity
As the intended final output would be sealed flyer packs that would be handed out prior to the show and put in shops to be picked up I wanted the flyers to have a consistent theme running through the set. If they were mixed and separated for example, they would still be identifiable as the same event.
The solution to this was to create an identity/theme/logo that can be applied to each flyer.
One of the main attributes of the above punk flyers from my visual research that stood out to me was the use of bold typography and bright colour that reflected the energy of the music. This helped me decide that strong typography would be a key element of the final designs.
Initial Sketches
Initial type compositions and sketches with the key information such as: date & time, DJs, location and ticket prices. The am is for the flyers to look individual to the locations yet fit as a set within the pack. The way to do this was to stick to the same character styles but change the compositions, images scale ect so began experimenting with these elements until there were four different ones that complimented one another.
Typefaces
Using three different typefaces to represent the different hierarchys of information. The main being 'LIES' in a heavy font which will also work as a logotype for the flyers. The secondary which will spell out 'Long Island Electrical Systems' and be used on the front and back of the designs. The third is for the small sub-text such as dates, location, DJs.
Some considerations for the primary typeface, paying close attention to how the three letters work together at different sizes and when distorted.
Below are variations of the logo - I have decided to use the typeface microgamma as it is a font that was used on some of the punk flyers and is a subtle reference to them.
The circular logo can be printed as stickers and included in the pack and hopefully makes the identity less throw-away and expands the reach and longevity of the brand.
After sketching out some possible compositions I then applied them to a grid so I had some freedom to arrange yet knew the set of flyers would remain the same if they adhered to this grid.
Digital renders of the sketches using the chosen typefaces and compositions.
Some different colour combinations for the flyers using vibrant paper stock to make the posters stand out, I will ask for advice during an interim crit on which ones to go for.
As for the back of the flyers the same grid was used for the essential information. The designs as mentioned before can be paired with any of the front and are linked together with overlapping type.
The text information is set to a grid where it can be interchanged to create more variation between the designs.
Test Prints (2 Colour-ways)
Before digitally printing I tested the colours to see if they stayed consistent on and off the screen as this was a problem I had with printing in the past.
Besides the low quality of the print outs (because of the printer used) the colours printed as intended and only appear different due to the scanner adjusting the colour levels and contrast. However they are still too varying ti be a final outcome so ail still need to be adjusted.
As the designs are intended for print I used a 275 gsm stock from GF Smith papers. I was printing large blocks of colour and didn't anticipate that the digital print would be affected by the weight of the paper. I ended up with printouts that were faded and grainy where the toner hadn't responded well to the paper.
The solution to this would be to use a thinner paper stock or screen print onto the original paper.
Below are some digital mockups of the flyer packs which work well as a set despite the varying colour saturation.
Digital Prints
I felt the most appropriate method of printing for the flyers was through digital printing. After mentioning the problems I had with the digital printouts previously during a crit it was suggested that I print them through an inkjet printer instead of the laser as it binds the ink to the page giving it a higher quality and smoother print for the large sections of colour.
No comments:
Post a Comment