Role Switcher

Brief: D&AD New Blood Awards 2020- Typographic Notes: The Empowerment of Music Find a genre, song or musical movement that best represents a cause and use typography to being it to life. Response: Role Switcher- A record compilation celebrating discotheques androgynous or queer artists who embraced both masculine and feminine qualities to their music or persona. Role Switcher is a music campaign that I originally created for the D&AD Typographic Notes brief: The Empowerment of Music. The brief asked of me to create a record cover using primarily typography to promote a certain song, artists or genre that represented an important cause. As a lover of disco music I researched the cultural and societal issues related to Disco and the 1970's.  I took a particular interest in LGBTQ+ issues around the time and became inspired by the queer and non-conforming artists of the era that embraced their sexuality and shed stereotypes such as Sylvester, Grace Jones and Donna Summer. I came across a quote from Grace Jones "I feel feminine when I feel feminine, I feel masculine when I feel masculine, I am a role switcher" The phrase 'role switcher' perfectly encapsulated the essence of the androgynous attitude of Disco and this in turn went on to inform my design process.  In my design process I stayed away from traditional and sometimes jarring disco design and typography and tried to create something that felt more fresh and modern but still maintained the fun energy of disco. I experimented with switching the typography and playing with an upside down/switching style that might make the viewer turn the designs around to view them just like someones gender would make something re-think or view differently what they think they know.