Background__A conceptual project. For a while I’ve been interested in designing a visual identity for a jazz festival based around an unfamiliar town or city. I settled on Trzebnica in Poland (because I like the sound of its name and certain letterforms have dynamism (T, Z) and, when joined, form pleasing relationships with each other.
The challenge__Being a huge modern jazz fan, I wanted to give graphical expression to a genre of music that can be —for me— exhilarating, touching, perplexing (occasionally) and a little maddening. My aim was to avoid anything Poland-centric, or ‘jazz cliché’, and instead explore a more international, modernist style. I wanted to bring typography to the fore, and chose an ultra-minimal two-colour pallet and a discordant, partially fragmented type treatment to reinforce the unpredictable nature of the music I love.
Deliverables__Potential is there for adaptation to a true jazz festival, with implementation across a broad range of festival materials, including poster, flyer, ticket, postcard, tote bag and lanyard badge.