Bringing music to light

Albums

Musician, Steve Umculo is a long-time client of mine. Upon his return to South Africa from Spain Steve was armed with an existing CI and logo. From that point onwards I took responsibility for his graphic identity. Over time we have adjusted his imagery according to the style of his evolving music.

Answer

Answer was Steve’s first collective release of music. The style was energetic, upbeat afrogroove. The brief was simple, as Steve had worked with another agency to build his whimsical logo. All that was needed was some logical display and some long discussions about how the colours should work on digital vs print.

Below are some examples of the artwork we utilised on social. Bright, popping visuals characterised the project, but both Steve and I had a new path to follow after his relatively direct introduction to the industry.

Philosophy

Working closely with Steve right from inception to the execution of Philosophy, it was clear that the album was to take on a more serious tone, without abandoning the ‘breezy’ style natural to the artist. As a contributor to the lyrical composition of some of the songs, I felt strongly that we should include some of the metaphor inherent to the music.

Below are some rough mock-ups prior to the final version featuring the familiar pattern in the shadow on the bright wall behind the artist. The marketing resources also took on a notably more mature tone.

Fall From Grace

Now fully immersed in the South African music scene, with regular radio plays and live performances, Steve was finding great nostalgia in the original groove of his art, but simultaneously pursuing an indie-folk influence. Wanting to represent that, I graduated his style once more.

With a clear goal in mind, the working phase was short for the Fall From Grace artwork. I was able to incorporate Steve’s own handwriting in an autograph-like canvassing.

Elements

Elements is currently pre-release. The goal is to stay true to the updated milieu when the album launches.

Single Art

Although arranged by LPs and Albums, music is most commonly released with prefacing singles. Below are some examples of original single art for the artist.