Jazz North, Brand Identity
Campaign · Identity · Typography
“Jazz North is like the glue that helps hold us all together” — Northern jazz artist & promoter
We were briefed to create a brand identity for Jazz North that felt unapologetically bold, unexpected, creative — and on the very best side of weird!
This idea of being a ‘glue’ for the scene provided the inspiration to explore a fluid, globular, esoteric typographic concept, ultimately leading to the creation of a brand identity that stands apart from anything else in the local, national and international jazz scenes.
Throughout the brand, esoteric typographic forms represent the wide programme of work that Jazz North deliver, making for bold social assets, whilst the fluro palette speak to an organisation with an unequivocal vision for the future of the music in the north.
Expanding on the logomark, a full Jazz North graphic provides the brand with a bold element to apply to banners at events, for prints and on merchandise, as well as providing a pattern element for use throughout the brand.
Reflecting the work of Jazz North, we were seeking something that would join up a diverse set of individual elements, not in a rigid, or clearly regulated way, but something more fluid, with a set of forms that were related in attitude, but each full of their own independent character.
Whilst doing so, we wanted to steer as far away from the worn out visual tropes denoting “jazz” as they did any corporate visual/logo clichés of ‘networks’ — and corporate branding conventions more generally.
And of course, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to get inky with some eye-melting fluro inks — with the launch of the new brand being celebrated with a letterpress printing session to create a series of prints with members of the Jazz North community.