Following feedback on my prototype solutions it was time to select two to further develop and research more. From personal preference and feedback I received from both tutors and peers, I chose the Fabric visual case study and the nightclub promotion that uses contemporary design to reach out to a new audience idea.
Fabric visual case study further research
Fabric first opened on 21st October 1999; though it started as an idea many years prior to that. The building alone took over three years to convert but the club now stands proudly in the renovated space of the Metropolitan Cold Stores in Farringdon, London.Simply put, fabric was conceived by people that go to clubs, for people that go to clubs. The club has three separate rooms (two of which feature stages for live acts) which each have their own independent sound systems. Aside from the unisex toilets, a unique feature of the club is the vibrating floor in Room One. Known as a "bodysonic" dancefloor, sections of the floors are attached to 450 bass transducers which emit bass frequencies, allowing clubbers to feel the music through the low end frequencies transmitted into their skeletons via their feet.
As the visual case study is about the court case that made Fabric the centre of news for many weeks, but in the end the electronic music community came together to secure Fabric’s future, but how much of this was down to the importance of graphic design and Fabric’s visual identity. The whole idea is about portraying the court case and happenings around the event in symbols and icons, as the savefabric icon/symbol did end up playing a pivotal role in helping saving Fabric.
A necessary start to further research was looking at what potential events could be told through icons/symbols. But knowing the exact story of the Fabric court case was the best possible research to undertake and from this I could highlight critical points in the case. The key happenings and occurings I discovered are below:
- August 6th, the night of one of the two tragic deaths of teenagers at Fabric
- Believed teenager took class A drug MDMA
- News of death circulates around news and social media
- Islington council revoke the licence following the drug-related deaths of two teenagers
- Save Fabric campaign
- £270,000 raised through campaign to Fabric legal fees
- November 28th, court case to appeal Fabrics closure
- Fabric wins appeal but under stricter license conditions.
- January 6th, reopening night
As this idea focuses on graphic design and in particular symbols and logos communicating Fabric, for more extensive research I looked at how symbols and logos aim to tell a story in both literal and lateral ways. I found a really inspiring project in which one designer uses icons and symbols to intrigue an audience, the symbols and icons he creates are full of pop culture references that hark back to old video games, familiar toys and the internet. As a result the visual language he’s created feels familiar but still ambiguous enough to engage viewers.
The identity for San Marino University’s design workshop week puts icons and symbols to excellent use. Graphics for each event in the seven-day series at the Italian institution utilised different icons. The symbols related to cartography and map-making. Simple and largely undecorated, the back-to-basics design is thoroughly pleasing to the eye.
These icons represent touch, taste, sound, vision, smell and balance, for the BBC’s Cape initiative. Cape (Creating a Positive Environment) is aiming to raise awareness of the need to improve access to work for people with conditions such as autism, dyslexia and Tourette’s. The icons aim to highlight the fact that senses affect those with neurodiverse conditions in hugely different ways and each icon uses a triangle as its focal point in various forms such as an eye or tongue, or see-saw drawn from the angular logo. The logo uses an infinite symbol, with half-filled, half-line work to represent the two sides of the brain.
Nightclub promotion that uses contemporary design to reach out to a new audience idea further research
For further research for this idea I contacted Boiler Room lead designer Caterina Bianchini. Boiler Room is a global online music broadcasting platform commissioning and streaming live music sessions around the world. What I wanted to get from Caterina was seeing what she likes to reflect in the Boiler Room work, research she undertakes, what influences her and how she targets an audience.
One really helpful part of this was how she talks about incorporating a feeling into the designs she develops, and how this feeling usually reflects the genre of the music or the vibe of the show we are working on. 'vibe of the show' was one part of my essay which was about branding and marketing of underground electronic music. From her response about the artwork being really conceptual and based purely on a conceptual thought rather than the artists and the music itself, I decided to look at examples of work that is both highly conceptual but also plain and simple design that communicates the artists or music. To also narrow my research down I looked at event posters from Leeds as the this developed idea would most likely focus on Leeds nights or nightclub. As it the city I'm based and the clubs I'm most familiar with in terms of aesthetic, music and people.
These designs are for murky techno club nights and he is obviously referencing the dystopian discontent that is bubbling underneath fashion and music at the moment. Two event poster are displayed above for Wire and The Old Red Bus Station which are two of Leeds alternative clubs which offer a range of electronic music, and he uses a DIY inspired style to create an aesthetic that sums up the lineup of each night. All the artists are underground techno djs who reside in a more darker scene which I think is reflected in the designs. These are definitely more conceptual designs that are communicating a grainy looming techno dystopia and he is trying to translate into his own graphic language.
Above is set of posters that have a singular purpose in my opinion, sell tickets. One may argue that yes posters are for advertising and selling tickets of an event but in comparison to the other conceptual posters which have an underlying message of techno dystopia with the designer aiming to use his own style throughout. These posters are for Canal Mills techno events which are more for masses than say the murky events at Wire, the design includes the big linuep but also introduces the event space itself. With the addition of paint strokes and overlays to the design, it helps make these posters more aesthetically pleasing but the sound of the music is not included in the final piece in my opinion.
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