Back 2 Jazz!
Brand Identity
Case Study
2024
Welcome to the world of Back 2 Jazz! Back 2 Jazz is a fictitious jazz fusion festival taking place in Sacramento, branded as a “jazz revival” and celebration of Sacramento’s historical jazz scene. Back 2 Jazz posed the challenge of building a visual world for an entirely fictional event. From lineup to layout, I crafted a believable, engaging, and flexible design system that felt expressive, soulful, and rooted in Sacramento’s jazz history.
The goal is to advertise and promote the upcoming festival, encouraging people to attend/purchase tickets, and showcase the immersive event that attendees will experience.
During this project, I established a distinct visual identity for Back 2 Jazz, creating a cohesive system with every piece of collateral throughout the process. I embraced a bold, expressive visual style that celebrates the energy and personality of jazz fusion. The design collateral is vibrant and rhythmic, echoing the festival’s lively atmosphere and the emotional richness of the music.
This design relates to my festival’s audience, message, and system by means of the illustration style. It feels fun, playful, and colorful, all things representative of breathing new life into the jazz genre. I decided to present my character in a very traditional jazz sense– wearing a suit and holding a saxophone. This still lets this audience know this is a jazz festival, but the art style and colors help it feel diverse and expressive.
The bus poster reinforces the attendee’s excitement for the festival after driving or walking by it. It features additional details about the festival such as the lineup and eye-catching imagery of another character for Back 2 Jazz. These two elements are teasers for the viewer, getting them intrigued to see more. With the addition of the lineup, they are able to see if they have any artists they are interested in seeing, solidifying the decision if they want to attend or not.
It’s time for the festival! On the way to the festival, the attendees encounter Back 2 Jazz’s celebratory banners, mural, and directions to guide them to and around the festival grounds.
While exploring the festival grounds, attendees also catch sight of the ID badges that some people are wearing. These mark them as staff, media, or volunteers for Back 2 Jazz.
Having something wearable is important to the target audience as they can show off their recent experience to others. Offering the shirts in white, black, and dark green ensures that there is something for everybody.
Buttons and stickers act as collectibles, which make them appealing as mementos. These items are easy to carry and display, allowing the attendee to constantly show off their participation in the event. This creates a natural promotion for the festival when these items are seen in public.
Water bottles functioned as a highly practical and eco-friendly piece of merch for Back 2 Jazz. Water bottles are items that people use regularly, whether at the festival or after the event.
Now having reached the conclusion of this project, I feel proud of everything I created, and with more time I would have loved to expand even further on Back 2 Jazz. It challenged my creativity and technical skills, and gave me insight into the world of jazz fusion. Before this project, I wasn’t a jazz fan at all and did not know much about it. In a way, this was beneficial as I was able to enter this project with no personal biases against this subject matter. I feel happy that I was able to learn about a new subject and also design it in a way that resonated with me and also my target audience. The process was just as rewarding as the final product, and I’m excited to carry the lessons and inspiration from this experience into future projects.
