Imagining a unique music festival for lo-fi and anime fans
Context
Visual Communication (Graphic Design Studio Class)
ROLE
Brand Identity, Digital Illustration, Graphic Design, Motion Graphics
Tools
Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, Illustrator
TEAM
Solo
TIMELINE
Sep - Dec 2021
PROJECT BRIEF
Design an imaginary music festival combining two genres with one randomly assigned and the other can be chosen.
Lofi Isekai is a music festival concept that blends two unlikely music genres together. From the logo's early stages to the finalized festival kit, this project includes many deliverables, such as posters, digital ads, food and drink collaboration items, merchandise, and so on.
This project includes animated assets, which could not be included on this project page due to their file size. To view high-quality images and see the visuals in motion, click HERE.
✦ INTRO — GENRE Research & BRAINSTORM
I was assigned "Anime" and chose "Chill".
I started by doing research ↗ on both genres’ history, audience, and popular artists, and I also compiled visuals that emulated the "vibes" the music generated. Then, I created mind maps to expand my understanding and develop more concrete concepts, highlighting terms that stood out to me.
From my research, I discovered that though these genres are very different from one another, they both have loyal online followings. Thus, I formulated a name that merged both genres seamlessly: "Lofi Isekai".
"Lo-fi" music is a popular chill subgenre nowadays, and "Isekai" is an anime genre where the main character is teleported to another world, similar to the experience of listening to music.
✦ development — LOGO & brand guidelines
Inspired by vaporwave visuals, I started sketching out thumbnail drawings using my highlighted mind map terms. After a few rounds of critique and revision, I narrowed down to three distinct directions, chose each direction's best iteration, and finalized three solid contenders.
In the end, I decided that the cassette tape and cherry blossom flower would be the perfect logo for my festival "Lofi Isekai". The cassette tape with the masking tape label strongly reflects the DIY culture behind lo-fi music, and cherry blossoms are easily connected with anime as they frequently make appearances in springtime anime scenes.
I put together a brand and logo guidelines presentation ↗ to demonstrate the details of the festival branding.
✦ MARKETING — DIGITAL AND PRINT
I first created sketches following in four directions for my poster, each exploring a different concept. After a direction was set, though it was not a requirement, I decided to animate my digital ads, so I planned out the motions I wanted to implement into different elements in storyboards.
I decided to go in the direction of poster 11, which is based on a gif from the popular livestream lofi hiphop radio ↗ by the channel Lofi Girl. This livestream is a cornerstone of the lo-fi community, helping countless students study alongside Lofi Girl.
This looping gif is inspired by an anime character, Shizuku Tsukishima from Whisper of the Heart. Therefore, incorporating the lo-fi girl would represent my festival's concept clearly because her studying stance would be instantly recognized by both lo-fi and anime fans alike.
✦ MERCH KIT — PHYSICAL PRODUCT DESIGN
Now, we were tasked to come up with a festival kit, which would be given to festival goers once they enter, that included the following: ready-to-eat (RTE) item, ready-to-drink (RTD) item, wearable item, and a container to hold all items.
For the RTE and RTD items, I decided to collaborate with popular Japanese brands and create a cherry blossom-flavored theme as it matches my logo's flower and is a unique and popular flavor to introduce to festival goers.
For the wearable item and container deliverables, I designed a comfortable crewneck, featuring a Shiba Inu listening to music as the mascot, and a tote bag with two colorways that festival goers can choose from.
