Brand WORK
Crowbar Brand Identity and Style Guide
OVERVIEW
Crowbar is a popular independent music venue that was looking to create a strong digital presence that would capture the hearts of their fans and speak to collaborative businesses. The project included creating a website, social assets, color scheme, and full brand style guide.
ROLE
As the Brand Manager and lead creator, I collaborated with the owner of Crowbar to capture the venue’s essence and energy in order to translate their vibe into a visual experience.
GOAL
Crowbar’s owner wanted their venue to make a positive lasting impact on government officials through their work with NIVA and the city, as well as growing their audience and strengthening the one they worked hard to create.
Process
BRANDING
I selected colors from Crowbar’s main signature tshirt designs and highlighted the feel of the room. The palette consists of strong red, black and gray, conveying the energy of the range of music shown and the strength of the team who drive the success of an independent venue.
TYPOGRAPHY
Growing from the existing logo, I created a foundation of base typefaces that conveyed the resilience of the venue and speaks to fans of rock, hip hop, synthwave and more. To capture attention, we use Langdon capital for headers and main information. The Calibri font brings a clean, easy style for descriptions and additional information.
SOCIAL ASSETS
Crowbar also needed a visual refresh on their most popular social streams. I created banners that invoked the vibrant energy of the space and brought together the identities of their related companies NIVA and DTour. The final designs draw attention to the main stage, main logos and were produced in Photoshop.
TAKEAWAY
Crowbar was working through fast changing state and city rules through the pandemic making it critical to produce clear, effective and timely results. I met regularly with the owner to discuss updates and output work for specific challenges that would meet their needs. Meeting multiple times per week allowed for production to adapt to the demand of constantly changing guidelines given by government agencies.
Through creating designs for this project I have worked with multiple programs in Adobe CC including Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and Adobe XD producing designs with an energized and cohesive feel. The use of industry standard software enabled me to tackle the changing timelines and pivot from digital to print deliverables in multiple formats while maintaining consistency.
RESULTS
With the completion of the project, Crowbar had a new brand arsenal that allowed them to effectively communicate with their main audience and their growing efforts in non-profit and community spaces. The portfolio included typography, colorways, social and print media designs. A full featured style guide allows for comprehensive reference for future needs.
Production of these assets filled the long term needs of an independent business recovering from a restricted market that recently relaunched into full volume mode. The venue can now move fluidly from algorithm changes to changing government regulations with ease.