Branding | Advertising | Illustration
Happy Friday was an individual project where I created branded assets for a music festival concept focusing on a genre of choice. I selected pop-punk, specifically in the late 90's to early 2000s, featuring bands such as Green Day, Blink-182, and Paramore.
Thematically, the genre is associated with the emo subculture – rebellious, grungy, melodramatic, and addresses the struggles of adolescence. Growing up was challenging enough, and now these teens are grown-ups (in denial), many of whom are now working in the corporate 9-5 lifestyle.
I started by researching the music genre, more starting with the emo subculture, merging it with juxtaposing elements from the polished, office experience such as technical difficulties, office stationery, and corporate idioms. Hence the name Happy Friday – a favourite greeting to many, just "living the dream".
The final deliverables had a satirical destructive office theme, which includes a logo, posters, and merchandise mock-ups with a t-shirt, stickers, out-of-office postcard/sign, "motivational" poster, and mug. Adobe Illustrator was utilized throughout the project (significantly in the promotional poster design), while mock-ups were prepared using Adobe Photoshop.
Carrying this theme of a destructive office, a dark blue was a used instead of a typical black background colour on many pieces, allowing glowing, highlighter-coloured elements to standout as if viewing icons on a computer monitor from the 2000s.
A display, pixelated typeface was used as headers throughout the project to go along with the computer theme (even distorted in the logo to provoke that sense of unease, aligning with the music genre). Illustrations were developed in a comic/pop-art style to appeal to the youthful heartstrings of the (sadly aging) target audience.
Apart from the rest of the project, I was tasked to create a website layout with four pages on Adobe XD. I integrated a fictional fundraising campaign concept on this platform, showing guests that their attendance additionally supports mental health initiatives – aligning with the event's values.
The website pages are divided by colour but uses a high contrasting, bright green on buttons, links, and the ticket purchasing page to guide users in their interactions on the website and encourage participation.
Though new to Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, and XD at the time, this project sparked a determination to grow my skills in these programs and personally advocate the work-life balance we aspire to achieve.
Happy Friday!
Check out the playlist that inspired the concept:
Listen on spotify