Indie rock turning synth pop darlings Tegan and Sara’s new album cover versus my photograph shot in Mexico City in 2005, funnily entitled ‘Two Apart’:

Creativity rarely runs a linear path, most creatives have artistic passions outside of their profession. As for myself, I turned my photography into a professional side gig that I share with our clients at times, but my passion for music is strictly separated and I only let it surface to this level once a year as I reveal my yearly ‘best of’ compilation. Take a listen, I am sure there are many new sounds you may enjoy, including a remix of Depeche Mode by yours truly (as ‘Happiness Won‘ together with my music partner in crime). With this last post of the year, and a little glimpse into my other creative passions, I want to wish all of you happy holidays and a great start into 2013! Let’s make it a creative one!

For a great lesson on how to immediately connect with your audience (and audiences captured via immediate viral spread), watch this video. I took it with my iPhone at the concert of the legendary band James at the El Rey Theater in Los Angeles last night. In a strategy that became a staple of the band’s entrance to their own concerts, the lead singer, sometimes accompanied by the band, starts the show in midst of the crowd (Figure A), slowly making his way onto the stage (Figure B, for your convenience), connecting with the non-die-hard fans in the back of the room, hence winning over the entire audience within the first 2 minutes of the show. Read the rest »

I have been buying a lot of used vinyl lately. Mostly for under $1 and a majority of it focused on establishing a collection of all the classics: The Carpenters, The Bee Gees, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Dave Brubeck, lots of Motown and Verve Records, and of course the occasional 80′s record that just brings back those childhood memories.

It is interesting when you listen to the 80′s pop genre. The music you know, you think of as ‘amazing’ and then once you hear B-sides or tracks on full lengths that you have not been exposed to, they sound, well, dated. Or shall we say ‘cheesy’, and often plain embarrassing.

The same holds true for the record sleeve designs, as you can see in the examples below:

Read the rest »

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