Of course we are delayed, but we are still having fun and hope that you will join in the fun. Just a little sample below…

Geyrhalter Design’ed web site and brand for Audiolife received a nice treatment on ‘Attack of the show’. Check it out on G4. 

Click here for a quite stunning 5 minute show by Virginia Tech students.

Via our good friends at The Rundown.

I taught a class at Art Center College Of Design with the focus on creating Brand Atmospheres™ for an artist or a band. I am very passionate about music, design and branding, so the outcome of the class was a big success for the students as well as for myself, which most often is the case when you put passionate people to work together.

Based on us just having spent 3 months designing for music as a group, it was reassuring to see today’s digital music fans being very opinionated, and also quite savvy, about design and brands that are being built around their favorite artists as new albums are being released.

Three of my favorite creative collaborators, Depeche Mode, U2 and Anton Corbjin, sparked this blog entry. Depeche Mode’s soon to be released single design to the upcoming ‘Sounds of the Universe’ album is, well, let’s face it ‘wrong’. I will not bash it more then others have already done before me, but it is amazing to see fans’ mock-versions appearing online when the single will not even be released until April 6th. As a bonus I throw in the design of the full-length, just so we all understand the depth of the design issue at hand. Anton Corbjin is the backbone of the visual re-launch of the Depeche Mode brand in 2009, and it shows that an amazing creative force with a unique vision for the moving image, does not immediately make a good graphic or brand designer. Or typographer of course:

The mock ‘remix’:

The full length album design (NOT a mock-version):

U2’s just as eagerly awaited full-length feels like the opposite to me and I was taken by its beauty and modern simplicity, yet the equal sign disturbed me mainly because of Coldplay’s very apparent and frequent use of the ‘trade fair’ symbol. Yet, as you can read here, fans of photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto and U2 had their own strong opinions.

And the ‘trade fair’ logo as seen in tattoo form:

The power of brand building, seen in one of its mass market – and most competitive and critically viewed – forms.

On that note I salute our friends at Audiolife for having launched their web site recently. The power of music and design, displayed in a visual language that, we hope, shares common ground.

…is an audiovisual massage in the form of Cornelius together with Erlend Øye and Eirik Boe accompanied by a video directed by Koichiro Tsujikawa. Even though it was released last year, it feels like it was made for the times. Breathe deeply and enjoy…

As I am slowly unwinding, sitting at the airport to go visit my family in Europe and to strategize the next year for Geyrhalter Design, I am sharing something I do every December since 9 years with you: My re:visited compilation series. My passion for music is something you have noticed if you have been following the blog regularely. Throughout the year I find myself painstackingly collecting the best music that is released each month in playlists. Come Thanksgiving I cut this playlist down to 80 minutes to fit onto a CD. This years’ ‘best of’ folder started with 78 contenders, only 18 made it. My first re:visited compilation was created in 2000, so this marks my ninth year of compiling a thoughtful flow of the best music the past year had to offer. I am taking this post as an opportunity to share this years’ compilation with you via a playlist and a link to iTunes (US) to download, or preview the gems.

We all have different inspirations that trigger creativity, this is one of mine and I am happy to share it with you ~ maybe you will download 2008 re:visited and it mighty become your soundtrack to 2009. Enjoy:

Side A

01 bubbles ~ james // 02 lights & music (single version) ~ cut copy // 03 time to pretend ~ mgmt // 04 a hundred kisses ~ she wants revenge // 05 lost! ~ coldplay // 06 farewell ~ greg laswell // 07 the golden floor ~ snow patrol // 08 water song ~ zach gill // 09 librarian ~ my morning jacket // 10 let it be me ~ ray lamontagne // 11 stepping stone ~ duffy // 12 you got it all ~ stereo mc’s

Side B

13 get my nails did ~ tobacco // 14 you’ll find a way (switch and sinden remix) ~ santogold // 15 the kids don’t stand a chance (chromeo remix) ~ vampire weekend // 16 blind (radio edit) ~ hercules and love affair // 17 disco lies (the dusty kid’s fears remix) ~ moby // 18 council estate (drums of death remix) ~ tricky

It seems like it is the largest playground where creatives get to design posters (For non-designers reading this blog: us creatives love designing posters), yet the Hollywood movie industry is also famously the most uninspiring and boring place to be a poster ‘designer’ or ‘Hollywood Photoshop Expert’, as I lovingly refer to the chosen ones. I did it myself a couple of times and it’s worth the experience, yet 100% unfulfilling as a creative (I can’t wait for your comments on this post – ouch!). These two new posters for soon-to-be blockbusters are such a rare sighting of actually creative (= no headshots, or, in Angelina Jolie’s case, no lips) hollywood posters that the horizontal Valkyrie poster (not shown) was enough to catch my attention when driving down the roads of Hollywood boredom…

(I took inspiration for the title from one of the first vinyl singles I ever bought back in the 80’s. If you are not familiar with the song ‘being boiled’ by Human League from 1978, take a listen and remember that this was recorded in 1978!)

A 20 second iPhone application download later you find yourself creating music. Or music re-creating your environments. Or you find yourself under the influence of digital drugs, as the creator of the software puts it. A very exciting, creative and stimulating, yet simple, idea that is hard to explain, so i let the creator struggle through it himself.

Too bad I did not know about this two nights ago when I found myself proposing to my then-girlfriend, now-fiancée, because I would have recorded the whole situation. It would have surely made for a unique wedding song…

After Coldplay’s videos have been unbearingly bad lately, the director had to pull out a special trick to stun the masses with the video for ‘Lovers in Japan’, which premiered yesterday. It turned out being a plain unimaginative copy of Picasso’s classic piece. Sadly it will still be a huge hit because most main stream music fans will not even know Picasso’s genius experiment.

The music biz is in the slump, as we all know. The ever so accessible, sharable and convenient, yet often illegal, and prior to official release leaking MP3 created a new and challenging environment for bands and their marketers. One that is mainly fought by shutting down music sharing sites and fan posts as well as promoting live acts and merchandise while upping ticket prices. Not an option if you are the ‘it’ band of the moment, like the – maybe as of today still Indie rockers – ‘Of Montreal‘, who launched their new release titled ‘Skeletal Lamping Collection’ 4 days ago in several innovative ways. Next to the digital download, the (extremely ‘cutting edge’ packaged) CD, as well as the LP, the ‘album’ can be purchased in these four formats: Wall Decals, Button-set, Tote Bags & T-Shirts.

All these unconventional items include a cool car-freshener-lookalike that features a download code of the MP3’s. A smart way to get fans to collect one – or all – and to offer merchandise before actual live dates. Also an innovative way of creating a more personal and artistic ‘brand atmosphere’ for the band, as well as making a statement of re-inventing how music can be published, packaged and monetized, while making fans ecstatic and creating a buzz.
Thanks to our ex subleasee and current client (we are currently working on a re-design of their web site), the ever so wonderful pals at blik, for sending over samples of the wall decals, which you can, among other items from the series, view below.

For another in-depth write up, as well as the band’s thoughts and imagery of all pieces of the release-bundle, go to pitchfork, where I found the photos.