'REFLECT' by DJSARHI I Brand Design

“I WANT THE AUDIENCE TO EXPERIENCE MY MUSIC THROUGH THEIR EYES BEFORE THEY DO WITH THEIR EARS.” - THE BRIEF WAS AS SIMPLE AS THAT. WITH SO MANY DJS CROWDING THE MUSIC SCENE, DJ SARHI WANTED TO STAND OUT THROUGH A UNIQUE VISUAL IDENTITY TO LAUNCH ALONGSIDE HIS NEW ALBUM - ‘REFLECT’.

CONSTANTLY ENTICING, DISRUPTING, EVOLVING...BUT ALWAYS PERSONAL. THAT’S WHAT DJ SARHI’S MUSIC IS ALL ABOUT. EACH MOMENT, EACH PLACE ADDS A NEW SHADE TO THIS CAVALCADE OF CASCADING TUNES. A DIFFERENT PICTURE...A DIFFERENT TALE...EACH TIME. AS PLAYING IN EACH VENUE CREATES ITS OWN PALETTE & TEXTURE, THE CHALLENGE WAS HOW TO MAKE SOUND SERVE AS SOURCE MATERIAL FOR DESIGN.

A GENERATIVE TOOL CALLED ‘VIBE (VISUAL BEATS) GENERATOR’ WAS DEVELOPED TO ALGORITHMICALLY GENERATE UNIQUE DESIGN MOTIFS BY FUSING IMAGES OF THE ARTIST AND THE LOCATIONS THAT ARE MUSICALLY RELEVANT TO HIM - PAST AND FUTURE PERFORMANCE VENUES AND ORGANIZES THEM INTO ‘AURAL IMPRESSIONS’ BASED ON VARIOUS PARAMETERS INCLUDING DATE & TIME. THESE ‘MOMENTARY MUSICAL GLIMPSES’ THEN ‘LISTEN’ TO THE MUSIC FROM THE ALBUM AND TRANSLATE THEM INTO POTENTIALLY UNLIMITED NUMBER OF CONSTANTLY EVOLVING UNIQUE ORGANIC ‘RORSCHACH BLOT’ SHAPED VIBES WHICH REFLECT THE MOOD & TEXTURE OF THE MUSIC. THROUGH THIS TOOL, IT WAS POSSIBLE TO GENERATE UNLIMITED ITERATIONS OF CURATED DESIGN MOTIFS, UNIQUE TO EACH CASE. NO TWO DESIGN GENERATIONS WILL BE THE SAME & NO GENERATION CAN BE REPLICATED AGAIN.

Cannes Lions 2015 Winner

Red Dot 2015 'Best of The Best' Winner

Red Dot 2015 Winner in Brand Design & Identity

Red Dot 2015 Winner in Poster Design

A'Design 2015 Winner in Graphics & Visual Communication

A'Design 2015 Winner in Algorithmic, Generative & Parametric Design

V I B E G E N E R A T I O N P R O C E S S

THE SYSTEM WAS DEVELOPED USING OFX, A C++ TOOLKIT FOR CREATIVE CODING. THE SYSTEM FUNCTIONS WITH FOUR SEED INPUTS :

1. LOCATION - AN IMAGE OF THE GIVEN LOCATION WITH META-DATA IS FETCHED USING A FLICKR API

2. ARTIST - IMAGE LOADED FROM LOCAL DATABASE

3. MUSIC - AUDIO TRACKS FROM THE ALBUM

4. TIME & DATE - LOADED FROM THE SYSTEM CLOCK

LCG AND TRIANGULOID FUNCTIONS ARE USED TO GENERATE THE TWO MESHES FROM THE IMAGES. A SNIPPET OF THE TRACK GOES THROUGH FFT AND THREE MUSIC INFORMATION RETRIEVAL PROCESSES. THE FINAL STEP SUPERIMPOSES THE TWO MESHES; USES PERLIN NOISE AND KALEIDOSCOPIC EMULATION FILTERS TO CREATE AN RT ANIMATION; AND CAPTURES VIBES FROM IT.

V I B E G E N E R A T O R I N T E R F A C E

V I B E G E N E R A T I O N D E M O

GATHERED IN A SET OF 12 UNIQUE POSTERS AND ALSO COMBINED ON A CARD, THE 12 VIBES FORMED THE MUSIC ALBUM - ‘REFLECT’ THAT COULD BE LISTENED TO INSTANTLY, WHEREVER AND WHENEVER. ALL IT NEEDED WAS A SMARTPHONE OR A TABLET. BY SCANNING WITH THE APP ‘LAYAR’, THE ‘VIBE’ WOULD BE RECOGNIZED AND THE CORRESPONDING TRACK WOULD BE INSTANTLY PLAYED. THESE WERE SPREAD OUT IN NIGHT CLUBS, PUBS, LOUNGES, BEACHES, PUBLIC SPACES ETC. DIFFUSING DJ SARHI’S MUSICAL VIBES AROUND THE REGION.

THE ALBUM ARTWORK, POSTERS & THE OTHER ELEMENTS CREATED A BIG IMPACT WITH THE AUDIENCES WHO ARE USED TO SEEING CLICHÉ FLYER, POSTER & PROMO DESIGNS FROM DJS. THEY WERE AMAZED AT THE CONCEPT & INTERACTIVITY OF THE DESIGNS. IT WAS A UNIQUE EXPERIENCE LISTENING TO THE ‘VISUALS’ & SEEING THE ‘MUSIC’. ONLINE ENGAGEMENT WERE HIGH ESPECIALLY ON SOUNDCLOUD & FACEBOOK WITH NEW FOLLOWERS & LIKES EVERYDAY.