Background & Challenge
The Annual Disruption Festival is a three-day experimental music and arts event presented by Warp Records. Performance styles showcased at this event are experimental and avant-garde, all prime representatives of cutting-edge alternative music. The festival will also integrate experimental and avant-garde film, during intermissions and during most performances to produce a multimedia experience for attendees.
Create a logo, poster, multi-page spread, and three animations exploring the theme 'disruption' to promote this festival.
Insight & Solution
Databending was identified as an effective technique of applying purposeful digital corruption to an image, by manipulating the raw data through audio software. Combining this technique with the themes that encompass Alice Walker's 'I Will Keep Broken Things' creates a design direction that conveys the beauty of disruption.
Research & Sketched Development
Logo Development
The main route that felt the most visually appealing and ambitious was the aesthetic created through the digital corruption of image files. A major artist analysed was Sabato Visconti and their work in the form of databending. This process involves the manipulation of the raw data of an image to produce striking effects. Another visual element produced was a vector-based pattern, which incorporated elements of both Visconti’s work and the effects of digital corruption.
Poster Development
The initial poster designs relied too heavily on vector-based corruption iconography, which resulted in a repetitive or unbalanced composition. Using databent photography as the hero image, with the vector iconography acting as a complementary element, was identified as the most striking direction for the festival's brand.
The photography focused on broken objects, keeping in line with Alice Walker's poetry.
A macro lens was used to emphasise the cracks and fractures throughout their structure.
A macro lens was used to emphasise the cracks and fractures throughout their structure.
Final Poster
Multi-Page Spread
Complete Edition
Disrupted Edition
The concept of the booklet revolved around the poem “I Will Keep Broken Things” by Alice Walker. This was chosen due to the impactful themes of accepting the imperfection of both physical objects and the self. The design for the festival booklet adopts a sixteen-page leaflet that expands into one spread. Having the line “I Will Keep Broken Things” set across the entire spread highlights the importance through its repetition in each verse. Making the last line of the poem “I will keep myself” more prominent allowed for more impact when viewed as a full spread: The viewer can immediately infer the entire message of the design through one glance but can further explore the individual verses across each page.
Animations
The three animations are intended to promote the festival on Instagram and incorporate a level of disruption in three distinct ways and visually link to the poster and booklet. This further promotes a sense of homogeneity and establishes a stronger overall brand design.
