CHALLENGE
Redefining a music publication's visual identity to restore its original artistic direction.
Skills
Print Publication Design
Graphic Design
Creative Direction
Copywriting
Typography
Tools
Adobe InDesign
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Illustrator
BACKGROUND
Who and Why?
NME (New Musical Express) is a British music journalism magazine founded in 1952 that has transitioned into digital publishing in 2018. The magazine's cultural standing is informed by it's history of documenting punk rock & counter-cultural figures for decades.This branding project exists as a conceptual one-off NME print spread paying homage to NME's vintage issues and DIY zine culture from earlier punk / underground music movements.
This issue features the band The 1975's album release, "A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships".
An intentional juxtaposition is formed by creating a physical print magazine for an alternative genre-bending album that dissects and critiques facets of modernity, relationships and communication in an increasingly intangible digital age.
In stark contrast to their vintage releases, NME's more recent printed magazines developed a restricting layout that kept each monthly design repetitive. While designers occasionally took small liberties on thematic colors and text formats, the familiar logo and walls of dense text have remained consistent for years.
The blocks of text bury the images and intended ethos of their publication. More balance in the redesign can emphasize NME's initial artistic integrity rather than tabloid imagery.
RESEARCH
Analyzing the visual and thematic evolution of the featured band, The 1975.
Lead singer and frontman Matty Healy compared the modern social media landscape to his band's direction as both "a bit more deconstructed and raw". Noted influences are postmodern typography, the Situationist movement / Guy Debord, and existentialist philosophy movements.
