Decoded Creative was approached by Jamie Stewart after seeing our Facebook post with regards to artwork and logo designs. Jamie informed us he was currently in the process of starting a record label, primarily to release his own music.
Realistically he would be looking at 6-8 releases for the first 12 months and asked if we could send over quotations for the following services –
– artwork only
– artwork and Facebook banners
– above + video assets
Jamie agreed to definitely go ahead with the artwork only service to begin with, soon after he also enquired about logo design. Prices were agreed then we made our start on establishing a firm design brief.
DESIGN BRIEF
“I’ve got a solid idea already for the artwork” Jamie said. He attached an image of a Wiley 12″ record to help explain things.
“So I would like the artwork to be a black background with a circle in the middle like a record sleeve. The circle in the middle will have a different image for each release, with the image/picture related to what that release is about and its story.”
The label represents dark, emotional progressive house and techno music. In time it will also release more chilled out progressive emotional house (old school 90s Ibiza Chicane vibes). The main theme in all the labels’ music is that it takes you on a musical journey.
The design of the logo should be simple but catches people’s attention with a black & white colour palette. It should also include an icon or logo mark that can be used on its own as well as part of the full logo. Some adjectives that best describe the label are – house, techno, progressive, emotional, journey, warehouse, euphoric and classy.
Additionally he informed us for the artwork design he would be looking for something similar to what the likes of Drumcode and Zerothree Music have.
To finalise, we then asked Jamie to complete a design brief questionnaire to further solidify the parameters for us to adhere to in the design process.
LOGO DESIGN
The logo design elements are comprised of three parts –
MINUS
– to symbolise the ‘sub’ in the name Subsonicá in its most simplest form.
LOGO MARK
– utilizing the ‘sub’ symbol within the shape of the letter ‘o’ of subsonicá and pairing it with the square cut-out middle of the letter to create a graphic that symbolises a ‘sonic’ waveform in its most minimal and simplistic form.
LOOPING
– the last two characters of the logo type (c & a) are looped to reflect the foundation of house, techno and electronic music production.
As per the logo brief the design is simple and eye-catching, is scalable and easily legible at small and large sizes, can be used across various applications, easily functional for use as an icon on mobile apps, is black & white, logo mark can be used on its own as part of a brand identity system.
ARTWORK
The debut release from Subjaax has arrived. The title track, ‘Is It Time?’, starts the journey consisting of hard-hitting beats, an ear-catching vocal and an overwhelming sense of euphoria, ‘Is It Time?’ is a peak time banger that instantly raises the energy levels. 3450′ and ‘The Return’ provide the B-Side, which takes the energy levels down a notch, setting a more industrial vibe – this EP will certainly draw you in and is already gaining support from Carl Cox, Adam Beyer, Joseph Capriati, Maceo Plex and many more.
Download or Stream here.
APPROVAL
“I’ll be honest… you completely smashed it out of the park! It’s exactly the kind of thing I imagined and wanted so I can’t complement your work highly enough! I must say, the fact you sent over a PDF with explanations and example images is extremely impressive. Not many do that so hats off my friend. Seriously mate, superb work and I look forward to a great partnership.”
TESTIMONIAL
“I can’t recommend Daz and the team at Decoded Creative highly enough. We at Subsonicá had an idea of what we wanted in terms of artwork and branding for the label but couldn’t picture it in our heads. Decoded Creative solved that problem and provided us with designs better than we could have imagined – we look forward to a long and successful partnership!”
– Jamie Stewart (Owner & Founder, Subsonicá)