Listen Out 2023: Brightening the Brand Identity

Listen Out is Australia’s primary national dance music festival, touring a dynamic hip-hop/electronic lineup and attracting over 200,000 patrons annually.

I was entrusted with the lead role of conceptualising and developing the entire brand identity for the 2023 national tour.

The Brief: The brief was to execute a crucial brand refresh: move the identity away from the previous year’s dark and brooding aesthetic and inject a new sense of vibrant color and energetic appeal.

The Conceptual Process: My conceptual process aimed to marry the requested brightness with the inherent 'grungy' energy of both hip-hop and electronic genres.

• Core Concept: The design was lightly based on visual elements of subway maps and circuit boards. This allowed me to mirror the raw, urban energy of the subway environment while symbolizing the structured, electric pulse of electronic music.

• The "Pipes" Motif: The resulting "pipes" motif was born from this concept, ensuring the new identity was bright and inspirational while retaining a gritty edge.

• Motion Rationale: I designed the pipes specifically for motion, intending for them to be animated to represent pulses of energy feeding into circuit boards.

Execution, Collaboration, and Impact: I maintained full ownership over the branding and overall graphic design production. For maximum impact, I collaborated with external specialists:

• Collaboration: Storyboarding and major animation execution were handled by Vandal, and video editing was managed by Leo Kaczmarek, allowing my focus to remain on core design integrity.

• Impact: The resulting brand design received highly positive feedback from the client and the UK parent company, establishing it as one of my most successful and creatively rewarding projects..