Genres and Logos

February 11th, 2017

Design is involved in music in music in many ways but most commonly in CD cover art, gig/tour posters, album leafs and band logos. We’re going to take a look at some of the most popular bands and their logos and see how design played a role in their image!

The Doors is one of the most well known bands from the late 60’s. You can feel the hippy counter-culture vibe in the trippy font used in “the”. “Doors” is kept simple and geometric to keep it from becoming too cliche with the hippy style. It is an iconic band that had an equally icon band logo!

Nirvana’s band logo has been used on t-shirts for over two decades! It is easily recognizable (as all logos should be!) and does an amazing job of showing the type of music the band plays. It gives a rock/alternative rock feel with the blocky but still stylized text and then the grunge with the doodle-like smiley face. After a little research, I learned that the smiley face was inspired by a strip club in Seattle. Something that seemed so simple and decorative can have a lot more meaning than you think. This is often the case in logos, but not always picked up on right away. To me, this is what makes design so fascinating; you can have the straight forward message then with further observation, you see hidden messages and meanings. I’ll save all this for a future post because honestly, I could go on and on!

Alright, let’s switch gears and focus on a different genre. Outkast’s logo is spot on with their design! It carries an energy which reflects they’re upbeat and energetic songs. It also has a hip-hop feel due to the graffiti-like font that’s used. It’s a great way of hinting towards that style without literally copying it. Hinting to a specific style is a successful way of keeping a design full of character while still keeping it polished.

 

There ya have it! As I mentioned before, design is incorporated into the music industry in many other ways, these are just a few examples. Artist of the Week is coming up so check back soon and see who’s going to be featured this week!

 

Entry Filed under: Weekly Look