The Los Angeles Philharmonic is an American Orchestra based in Los Angeles, California. The “L.A. Phil” operates with the intention of integrating 21st century music into its works and has been called one of the most forward thinking, contemporary and innovative orchestras in America. For this project I questioned what we naturally associate with music. I also began to consider the possibility of its evolving relationship with technology and how that could propel the genre into a new space.
BRANDING IDENTITY INSTILLATION PRINT CODE UI/UX
LOGO:
The Philharmonics approach to a more progressive performance has always been apparent in their choice of conductor, most recently thats been Gustavo Dudamel. This emphasis on having a strong choice of leadership was the driving concept behind my design and logo choice when rebranding the entity.
My logo is derived from the baton that the conductor uses to instruct their musicians to stay on beat. I channeled the slope of the baton as it makes an upbeat motion as a symbolic gesture to the developing nature of the genre while still paying homage to its long established history and tradition.
VISUAL LANGUAGE:
For this project I questioned what we naturally associate with music. I also began to consider the possibility of its evolving relationship with technology and how that could propel the genre into a new space. Although not classically trained in music myself, I tried to learn as much as I could while also utilizing means of design not traditionally associated with it like code and 3D modeling.
For the visual language of the Macro I looked the facets of the philharmonic, at the instrument that act as a conduit to transport the listener to a new place. The materiality they were made of, the shiny gold of the brass section, in relation to the contrasted black and white of the piano keys. And then from there I started to reimagine that space. What if we could look at the soft noise of a flute from all sides and see it drift in space? Or take a Sonata by Mozart and break it down using code to letter notation and then compare it with his other works? What would that look like visually?
WAY-FINDING:
The Phil is housed in the famous Walt Disney concert Hall and sees thousands if guests from all around the world annually. For this I designed a way finding system that would guide the visors like notes on sheet music. I took those symbols and re-appropriated them as ways to navigate the space.
SEASONAL BRANDING:
Keeping with the same logic I used for the macro branding, I started to develop what a season at the Phil could look like. I choose to have it focus on the different epochs of classical music and as I began to study the different periods I looked at the instruments played, the coinciding historical events and art movements of those time periods. I also thought about how the four main sections of an orchestra and how each epoch could emphasis a certain parts visually in order to define its unique sound. I begun to think about how I could take recognizable elements from the philharmonic and reimagine them. Sheet music as rotating Möbius strips. The Piano keys as rotating beams or as cascading Escherian stairs. A Violin turning into the backside of a woman in a Man Ray piece and then taking on the color. Or the conductor lifting his baton to lead the orchestra and the page turning in Z space to offer them a platform to perform as he looms over.
INSTALLATION:
Interactions that engaged the many philharmonic visitors was something I wanted to focus on. To do this I proposed an instillation that would live in front of the Walt Disney Concert Hall as a front line of defense when marketing the new season. I wanted users to feel like they were the conductor and were controlling the orchestra. To do this I designed an installation that uses a Kinect sensor and code. The sensor captures a users hand movements, ideally emulating baton movements, and depending on the tracking triggers hot points. Each point engages different sound that showcase a few of the different pieces being performed while visually showcases the dates for that particular show. That movement would not only offer an immediate payoff for the user, but also for the other viewers by washing the Concert Hall itself in a field of color.
