The poetry foundation + Down beat magazine
For our communications class in the second semester, the assignment was to build a new brand, and
The pivot: What If poetry foundation decides to host music and poetry collaborations/Jams in order to reach out to a new audience and perhaps create a new poetry experience
Context :
The Poetry Foundation works to raise poetry to a more visible and influential position in our culture. Rather than celebrating the status quo, the Foundation seeks to be a leader in shaping a receptive climate for poetry by developing new audiences, creating new avenues for delivery, and encouraging new kinds of poetry.
Chicago can't claim to be the birthplace of jazz, but it's undeniably a city where the genre is thriving and evolving. The home of Down Beat Magazine and the fabled AACM collective, Chicago has pushed the art form in new directions for decades. While summer music festivals like the Chicago Jazz Festival and the Hyde Park Jazz Festival demonstrate the community's breadth and prowess, it's the small jazz clubs that keep the music alive throughout the year. Some of the city's best music venues are places where saxophones and improvised music dominate the calendar, introducing audiences to living legends and rising talent. Whether you prefer swing, bop, acid or free jazz, you'll find something to tap your foot along to at Chicago's best jazz clubs. - https://www.timeout.com/chicago/music/13-best-jazz-clubs-in-chicago.
Mood-board + Color palette
The intention was to build a brand upon the adjectives Nostalgia, Thoughtfulness and Improvisation, I looked for inspiration over minimal posters and font classes which reflected the characteristics of music and poetry and also took inspiration from the Bauhaus movement - the stress on experimentation and problem solving through making fine-art being thought more as visual art and more as a research science.
Logo mark
The Metaphor Cafe is the place where young and budding poets and musicians would come together to jam.A stage for every performer to create and perform poetry that engages communities and provides a platform for voices to be heard beyond social, cultural, political, and economic barriers.
The abstracted Quotation mark represents the thoughts of a performer.
The free flowing wave form at the bottom represent an impromptu music note signifying improvisation, which is a common factor in both jazz and poetry slam performances.
Brand Book - Metaphor
The intention of the class was to create consistency and cohesion to a system or experience - To build a Brand and use it over various touchpoint to create consistency across multiple communications and because of the Bauhaus culture we Inherit, emphasis was on a having a holistic learning experience. We had to learn the art of book binding.
See full project below
