Network identities are great fun for designers with a determination to author and innovate anyway, but this project was even better. It was about RocknRoll music, and it was about a part of print design history that hadnt been properly explored yet, thus combining two of our biggest interests.
VH1 Classic is a 24-hour channel airing nothing but music made between the Sixties and the Eighties. It shows songs taken from feature films, promo videos, documentaries, TV shows and bootlegs. The programming consists of ten different themes. The 60s, 70s and 80s shows play music from a specific decade, while Pop Show, Rock Fest, Soul Power and Metal Mania cover specific genres. A show called Headliner features one artist only, Tuesday Twoplay is VH1s version of back-to-back videos, and All Star Jam is used for any editorial configuration that is not covered by the other nine themes.
The project was a great opportunity for us to research the history of graphic design for rock music; from obvious sources like album covers and concert posters to more obscure ones like backstage passes and T-Shirts. It was very interesting to see how the best RocknRoll records and the greatest musicians have frequently been represented by mediocre, sloppy or vernacular design, and that some canonized high design movements have never even dealt with rock music packaging. Another great aspect of this job was the irreverent and ironic attitude of both the content and the client, which enabled some oblique puns to make the final cut.
We were thrilled by the chance of appropriating some bad and obscure designs and make them our own, including work from the Eighties that hadnt been plundered yet (remember, this project is from 2001). Early on, we decided to simply redraw everything, from headline type and iconic graphic elements to portraits of musicians. Using vector-drawing softwares, we interpreted still images that originally were photographed, airbrushed, water-colored, collaged or xeroxed. This way, we could reference and even quote specific sources and eras and still give it an overlying aesthetic.
We made up this aesthetic as we went along. In the process, authenticity and story-telling was always more important than to create something pretty. By avoiding to copy directly, by avoiding styles loved by current retro movements and by animating images that originally were still, we arrived at something that feels simultaneously familiar and new.
The client was never even remotely interested in coherency. Every show open had its own story and its own look, reflecting the sometimes broad scope of content. In addition, every show received its own version of the VH1 Classic logo. The only unifying strategy was to start each open by scrolling down a printed poster that announces an event. The audio for all of these spots is a collage of musicians, announcers and audiences warming up for a great show.
These block opens aired for more than six years.
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I Love the 70's - 1979 (Part 1/3)by younghenryjonesjr7,995 views
Love it. Do you have the Classic Soul montage?
r1981474 1 year ago