Initial idea

I have been starting to consider which type of font to use and the possible layout and colour schemes.

At the moment I have been using a similar font to the original Mogwai branding. However I have slightly eroded the lettering of the title burning for added texture and a 'burnt' effect.

MOGWAI Live Film "Burning" Teaser

Warning, don't turn speakers up. It may start quiet but it does rapidly get very loud!

Target audience research

Comments from Mogwai fans after their gig at Newcastle Sage last night.

"You don't see Mogwai live, you experience them!"
"The bass notes from the final track are still resounding in my ears from the Sage last night, brilliant!"
"Mind blowing gig at the sage"
"Absolutely amazing last night at the Sage Newcastle! seen Mogwai twice now and still just as fantastic as the first time I saw them :)"
"amazing gig last night! my first Mogwai concert, so glad my dad asked me to come, definatley the best music experience ever!"
"There are only a few band who play good HONEST music. I witnessed one today. Cheers :)"

a couple of images of Mogwai playing live

Phobia theme idea

Gnomeo and Juliet publicity

Last month Touchstone pictures set up a nation wide advertising campaign for the release of 'Gnomeo and Juliet'. Along with the usual posters, billboards and viral ads, the creative team also set up a mass publicity stunt targeted to commuting, employed, adults. The day before the release of the movie, they placed hundreds of small gnome statues all over Liverpool street station. I think this was a really interesting idea and defiantly illustrates the 3D aspect of the movie. Although it is a children's film the creative team knew that the people buying the tickets would be their parents, so I can see why the advertising designers had an adult target audience.

DKNG Studios Poster Designs

A nice set of poster designs for various music artists. I particularly like their take on 'The Kooks', 'Foals' and 'Fall out boy'. The designs would probably be well received and appeal to a teen target audience. Each poster has a good use of minimal colour pallet, I think some are monotone and duo tone, such as the below Kate Nash design. This is a good way of lowering printing costs and I think provides an identity for each band.

Karen Kutycki

Band poster collection
These vibrant posters work well to grab a viewers attention. The circular paint splodges, defined by a vector over lay give the impression to me of a speaker and a sense of loud 'noise'. The typeface in upper case is clear and informative, with minimal colour. Also, very similar to the font Mogwai regularly use.

Who are Mogwai?

Mogwai are a Scottish post-rock band, formed in 1995 in Glasgow. The band consists of Stuart Braithwaite (electric guitar, vocals), John Cummings (electric guitar, vocals), Barry Burns (electric guitar, piano, synthesiser, vocals), Dominic Aitchison (bass guitar), and Martin Bulloch (drum kit). The band typically compose lengthy guitar -based instrumental pieces that feature dynamic contrast, melodic bass guitar lines, and heavy use of distortion and effects.

Their website


Music Style

Their style has been influenced by bands including MC5 , My Bloody Valentine , Sonic Youth, and post-rock pioneers Slint. During 2004, the band supported tours by two major influences, Pixies and The Cure . Mogwai's style has easily identifiable connections to genres like Shoegazing , Math rock , art rock and occasionally instrumental metal. Debut album Mogwai Young Team was described as "stunningly dynamic...[shifting] seamlessly from tranquil, bleakly beautiful soundscapes to brain scrambling white noise and sledgehammer riffing".

Barry Burns once stated in an interview with Chillville that he and the rest of the band don't like the categorization of post-rock because he believes it overanalyses everything.

Braithwaite has commented on the absence of lyrics in most of Mogwai's music, saying:

I think most people are not used to having no lyrics to focus on. Lyrics are a real comfort to some people. I guess they like to sing along and when they can't do that with us they can get a bit upset.

—Stuart Braithwaite, The Express

Their visual identity

Colwyn Thomas

The option of water colour can create a soft appearance with a range of tones and texture. This designer has combined his watercolor pre imagery with a digital effect to add a sharpness and clarity to the imagery. I think soft water colour would suit illustration for a child audience and the contrasting, sharp, dark effect of the digital finish could be used well to illustrate a story such as James and the giant Peach which has quite a dark almost sinister tone as well.

Lovely use of 'aquatic' colours and white space.

Type study

Front cover of FUKT magazine based in Berlin designed by Ariane Spanier.
I like the natural look of this design, I don't know how it was created but it reminds me of pressed flowers and other natural forms.

This anatomy of type poster has reminded me, I will need to brush up on my basic typography skills before I can start to design my own Typographic design for the ISTD brief.

Ben Gibson