EVERYMAN FESTIVAL, LONDON
Music is one of the the oldest forms of entertainment which has stood the test of time to emerge into one of the most reputable industries in the world. With thousands of different individual genres in every language, music is made for everyone, however, it is also very subjective and personal. Every person has their own individual taste and their own reasoning for listening to their music. Generally, people’s music tastes feature songs and artists from their ‘younger years’ (teenage-early 20’s), as well as a few current songs and music that they grew up on from parents (‘nostalgia’). In total, this would give a lot of people a taste of music that spans decades, possibly across a few genres, and with streaming services like Spotify or YouTube, music is more accessible than ever.
I took this idea of ‘music for all’, and turned it into a conceptual music festival set in the 1970’s, called ‘Everyman Festival’. The name is a reference to the idea that anybody can come to this festival and most likely find at least one artist, or genre they like. An important aspect to this festival, however, is the personal element, and that all the musicians are my personal favourites, with the headliners representing my all-time favourite artists. It creates an interesting view of how a song can be so personal to one person, yet be known by almost everyone in the world.
As I wouldn’t have been able to actually carry out this festival, I had to represent it in other ways. The way I chose to interpret my idea, I created a 2-minute long promotional trailer for my festival as well as 5 posters, 4 in an A3 size, and 1 in A2 size. The trailer was important to give a sense to the type of music and sound that one would hear at the festival, which a poster alone wouldn’t have been able to provide. The importance of the posters was to showcase the design and illustration styles that were prominent in the 1970’s. The style I was the most interested in, was a psychedelic ‘Jefferson Airplane’-esque design with decorative text and bold colours and outlines.
I chose to base Everyman in the 1970’s as the 70’s as an era was a very interesting time for music; on one hand, it was the birth of some of the now-musical legends such as Led Zeppelin, Queen, AC/DC and The Eagles. The 70’s, although filled with unrest from the Vietnam War, brought an idea of unity and peace through music with music festivals like Isle of Wight becoming more accessible than ever. In addition, the 1970’s was truly the start of the idea that music is for everyone with so many genres making its way to the top of the pops: it was the birth of hard rock, disco, funk and punk. Finally, I wanted to base Everyman in the 1970’s as it was an opportunity for me to learn more about this decade and stretch myself and my creative capabilities, to embody the style of such an iconic decade.
