crescendo: the process

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THE PROCESS

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While my graphic design interests stretch wide, including branding, packaging, web design, and editorial

design, I have maintained a strong interest in design for the music industry. Since beginning my career, I

have passionately pursued album design and packaging, logo marks, poster design, and editorial design

for local bands and musicians at home and in New York City. Because of this, I knew that one of my

senior projects needed to be severely music oriented.

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MAY 2014EXCITED ALYSSA, BASICALLY:

“I WANT TO DO A TON OF BRANDING FOR A BAND.”

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PROFESSOR ANITA MERK, ESSENTIALLY:

“IT NEEDS TO BE BIGGER. HOW ABOUT A FESTIVAL?”

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THE IDEA

I spent my summer brainstorming music festival themes, which proved difficult to do without forcing

an obscure subject. I needed a reason or a cause for a new music festival, and concepts with underlying

factors such as “the environment” or “women” were just not the right way to go. At one point I began

contemplating what drove my interest in the subject of music and the answer became glaringly obvious.

Even before I entered high school I was hugely interested in local music specifically. I played flute and

piano but never had the skill or stage presence necessary to perform, so as a devoted music lover every

band member at every level of talent was an amazing hero to me. As an angsty teenager I loved the

idea that there were awesome bands that nobody knew about, and that some day if they made it big I

would have known about them before the rest of the world. This mentality faded with age and I developed

a desire to help them make it big. I saught to photograph their basement shows, deliver their album

artwork, and craft their Facebook banners. Eventually I was familiar with more local bands based in my

hometown than probably the bands themselves, and I was saddened by the fact that certain incredibly

talented bands would never receive recognition or acknowledgment outside of their small circles of friends.

In October of 2010 I began an online magazine, 716 Local Music, to help musicians in Buffalo, NY (my

hometown), spread their music to wider audiences. While it was simple—two interviews in eight pages

published online monthly—it was pretty successful. Bands began contacting me to be featured and I

had opportunities to publish extended issues, outsource the writing, release a downloadable music

compilation, and interview professionals in different areas of the music industry.

Reflecting on this, I realized that my festival needed to focus on local music. I resolved that it would

be the apotheosis of what I always saught to do for local musicians; essentially it would deliver their

music to listeners that had an incentive for listening. All bands would have the potential to exponentially

grow their fan bases and some would undoubtedly make it into the spotlight.

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Crescendo (not yet called “Crescendo”) manifested itself as a three-part festival. Musicians would sign

up online where listeners would vote for their favorites. Judges would sift through the top votes and

select a handful to compete in live battle of the bands festivals. Several winners would then be chosen

from the competitions to open for renowned national acts.

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SIGN UP

GET PICKED

GET FANS

GET HEARD

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THE BEGINNING

Crescendo (still not yet named “Crescendo”) needed a voice. Its identity needed to gear towards young

musicians and music lovers. It message of rising out of the local scene had to scream through. I started

with a very bright, colorful, powerful illustrated hand bursting through a rooftop.

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Alongside the brand development I needed to begin phase one of Crescendo (still not named), the

website. With a completely original concept that required a lot of explainging, this website needed to

be comprehensive. From a creative brief and site map to wireframes and page designs, I formulated a

19-page web design project.

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BEGINNING SITE MAP

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BEGINNING STYLE TILES

ARENA CONCERT NATIONAL BANDS

5/30/15 1:45 PM CONCERTSSENTENCE RELEVENT TO ARTICLEAs andaecus aut ea veles samus, officilictor alias et earchilique

non atur, as volupit voluptatis int parumqui laut elisimaios.

ARENA CONCERT NATIONAL BANDS

5/30/15 1:45 PM CONCERTSSENTENCE RELEVENT TO ARTICLEAs andaecus aut ea veles samus, officilictor alias et earchilique

non atur, as volupit voluptatis int parumqui laut elisimaios.

ARENA CONCERT NATIONAL BANDS

5/30/15 1:45 PM CONCERTSSENTENCE RELEVENT TO ARTICLEAs andaecus aut ea veles samus, officilictor alias et earchilique

non atur, as volupit voluptatis int parumqui laut elisimaios.

SHARE

SHARE

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DROPDOWN

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CRESCENDOA NATIONWIDE BATTLE OF THE BANDS

Color Palette

HEADFont: ITC Officina Serif STD, BoldSUBHEADFont: Abadi MT STD, CondensedHere is a sentence of body copy

Font: Abadi MT STD, Condensed LightTEXT LINKFont: Abadi MT STD, Condensed

Background Photo Treatment

CRESCENDOA NATIONWIDE BATTLE OF THE BANDS

Color Palette

Typography

Background Photo Treatment

PHOTOS RELATING TO BANDS

PHOTOS RELATING TO BANDS

PAGE TITLEFont: ITC Officina Serif STD, Bold

ARTICLE TITLE

Font: ITC Officina Serif STD, Bold

Here is a sentence of article body copy

Font: Abadi MT STD, Condensed Light

Here is a sentence of site body copy

Font: Abadi MT STD, Condensed

SUB

Font: Abadi MT STD, Condensed

TEXT LINK

Font: Abadi MT STD, Condensed

CALLOUTFont: Abadi MT STD, Condensed

BUTTON

DROPDOWN

ARENA CONCERT NATIONAL BANDS

ANNOUNCED5/30/15 1:45 PM CONCERTS

Posted by STAFF

SENTENCE RELEVENT TO ARTICLE

ARENA CONCERT NATIONAL BANDS

ANNOUNCED5/30/15 1:45 PM CONCERTS

Posted by STAFF

SENTENCE RELEVENT TO ARTICLE

As andaecus aut ea veles samus, officilictor alias et earchilique non

cores modismnit laut ELISIMAIOS et EXPLAM, TORERRUM eom.

READ MORE

As andaecus aut ea veles samus, officilictor alias et earchilique non

cores modismnit laut ELISIMAIOS et EXPLAM, TORERRUM eom.

READ MORE

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BEGINNING WIREFRAMES

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BEGINNING DESIGN

When I started designing the pages my goal was to incorporate photography. I thought it was important

for portraying the vivacity of live music. My color palette was limited; red was for musician information

and blue was for fan information. The photos were large and often spanned entire pages or were

randomly placed. This was not working.

A

Unfortunately my cartoon logomark

didn’t combine well with the mono-

chromatic photographs.

B

The wash of grey background was a

little drab, and the photographs were

too contrasting and distracting and did

not combine well with text.

A

B

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C

In some areas, bright graphics read well

over photos, but I needed to choose

one or the other. Ultimately, the photos

seemed too serious. While the logo and

graphics were maybe too lighthearted

at this stage, they were perhaps the

better direction to head in.

D

The “Judges” page was perhaps working

best with photos confined to frames.

C D

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THE SHIFT

I received positive feedback on the hand-bursting-through-the-roof-logomark and I liked it myself, but

it still seemed too playful and “kidsy.” I wanted to refine the identity to better match my graphic style.

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Settling on the correct color palette proved to be a ridiculously gigantic hurdle.

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THE NAME

At this point, Crescendo acquired the name “Crescendo.” After studying various festivals like Bamboozle

and Bonnaroo and failing to invent a new gibberish name, I settled on Crescendo, the musical term for

increase in loudness. This fit perfectly, as the festival itself was about growth.

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I wanted to create a custom logotype for Crescendo to emulate the lighthearted, bright, fun style of

the mark. A digitally typed logo seemed too rigid and serious.

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SECOND DESIGN

My website revision eliminated almost all photography from the website and matched it to the logo’s

bright, cheery nature. Instead of trying to force full-page elements here and there I standardized the

layouts, graphics, and typography a bit. Overall this was a better direction, but now too flat. Subtracting

the photos compromised the feeling of reality, and the colors were too playful and childish.

A

The new logomark and colors brought

a vibrant energy to the website.

B

The light grey backgrounds elevated the

graphics, but the dark grey seemed to

swallow the life.

A B

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C

Anita’s critique on some of the infor-

mational pages was that I was still

“designing like a print designer.” Too

many columns.

D

Still, the site overall felt like it was

geared towards a young audience.

While it was a positive step to eliminate

the photos in order to achieve this new

direction, the festival did not seem real

and engaging without them.

C

D

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THE RESOLUTION

Continuing with the design, I altered the colors to a less bright but still playful palette. This was still

fun while more mature (and less childish). I added the soundwave texture to areas for more dynamic

layouts and finally reintroduced photography. With the new changes, my logomark busied up the pages

too much so I created a simplified version to use in a single color. My multi-colored logo became the

secondary mark.

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FINAL LOGO

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FINAL WEBSITE

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THE FACETS

After online voting, Crescendo would translate to live festivals in order to showcase talent and determine

the musicians truly deserving of the grand prize. For this portion of the project I brainstormed all possible

collateral including signage, wayfinding, tickets, schedules, and VIP packages. I smoothed out the

festival operation with activities, maps, and scheduled sets.

STAGES

The stage sets went through several rounds of revisions. After studying stage banner designs, I noticed

that they were commonly kept simple. At first I struggled and added too many elements to the banners,

but I gradually reduced the design to something bright but straightforward.

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WAYFINDING

INFORMATION

MEDICAL LOST AND FOUND MERCHANDISE

MEN’S RESTROOMS WOMEN’S RESTROOMS

TICKETS SECURITY

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TENTS

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SCHEDULES

I wanted to create a handout for festival goers to refer to for set times, activities, and venue maps. I

contemplated brochures with hidden flaps and multiple fold-outs but knew that Crescendo realistically

would take a more simplistic approach. The compromise was a trifold brochure.

First iterations of the schedule were highly playful and a bit too childish. I also debated the best place

to place the map and its legend.

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POSTERS

The promotional posters were stressful. Since they were meant to feature each city, the first iterations

highlighted city photographs. I knew this wasn’t the correct direction because they lost the excitement

and the connection to music.

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The second tries were basically variations of the logo expanded They were described in critique as

“Mr.-Roger’s-neighborhood-y.” These were reverting back to the beginning stages of my website,

lacking photos and a sense of reality.

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VIP PACKAGES

To incorporate more in depth information I decided to create a VIP package. It includes the schedule,

as well as a booklet describing each band on the date and tear-out vouchers for food and line-jumps.

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I attempted to design another trifold with heavier stock and pockets for the deliverables. This left the

interior bland and filled with unncessesary slots that the items didn’t fit into well. The paper I chose

was too thick to fold that much but needed to be thick as an outer package. I tried adding margins to

eliminate such stark folds, but they made the package thicker and boxy when there were not enough

elements to fill it up.

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After trying many folds and many paper stocks, it hit me that maybe the VIP package just shouldn’t be

a trifold. I switched to bifold designs and simplified it again greatly to a more realistic design for its

purpose. The schedule sat under a flap on the left and the band description booklet was attached to

the right panel. The coupons and vouchers lived in the center of the booklet as tear-outs. Not only did

this house the information more effectively, it was more practical for the user to carry around a single

booklet rather than many individual pieces in a long fold out.

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MERCHANDISE

Additional items like tickets, shirts, and backpacks came smoothly.

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The backpack fabric was printed with the wave pattern and sewn together. I studied other drawstring

backpacks for the positions of the grommets and ropes.

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The lanyards ran into a problem when I attempted to sew them and turn them inside out; this was

impossible with such a narrow strip. I ended up gluing them and cutting the edges, which even made

them sturdier.

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The shirts were the last pieces completed. After examining the absurd prices of digital printing, I turned

to iron-ons. This actually ended up being a better option, as I could match fabric colors closer to Crescendo’s

brand colors rather than selecting from basics online. However, I was not aware at first that the white

of the paper would remain on the shirt after ironing, which presented a problem for all text and small

lines. To make the best of the situation, I switched to colored backgrounds that matched text boxes

throughout my site and branding.

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BACK TO POSTERS AGAIN

After abandoning them for several weeks, I took another stab at the posters to include live concert

photography, keeping in mind the brand’s use of a round grey border. With this element, traditional

poster dimensions did not harmonize, so I revised the layout to a square.

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LOGO CUTTING

With everything in place, Crescendo’s presentation crossed my mind. With such a dynamic and energetic

brand that included many tangible items, I wanted it to be eyecatching and dimensional when on display.

To tie it all together, I laser cut the logo out of bright acrylic, the perfect finale.

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This project was created by ALYSSA PHILLIPS during the Fall 2014 semester at Pratt Institute.