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.

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

Today in the morning, in a conference call with my german design-team, I learned that the ladies went to see a live performance by some circuit bending kids Saturday night. Priding myself in being up to speed on popular music, I was baffled, but Stella quickly brought me up to date on the art of circuit bending. As described in this entertaining little YouTube offering: ‘These things exist that aren’t supposed to exist that you can bring into existence just by touching it, putting some switches on it and attaching some wires.’ Minimal electro just got Micro-electro i suppose. Quite inspiring. But for now I’ll keep my neighbors sane and the house from burning down…

First logos in the sky, now music on the road. Honda tested what they call a ‘Melody Road’ in Lancaster, CA. You can get a feel for it in this video. The concept was developed by researchers in Japan and it utilizes grooves that are cut into the road at different intervals creating the ’soundtrack’. Quite intriguing, but of course Lancaster residents complained and soon there will be asphalt trucks pulling in and it will be the day that music died. At least on that part of the road. A different kind of road kill, but an intriguing idea which I am sure will resurrect in different ways in the near future.

The indie band Deerhof found a creative new twist on promoting their soon to be released record. They uploaded the sheet music of the (not yet available, soon to be released) single ‘Fresh born’ and let the public record it solely based on the notes, which will limit the participation, but guarantee the hype, not only for the site that hosts the ‘cover versions’, but also for the new single, once it can be compared to the user generated versions. A very creative, hands-on intellectual and fresh approach to use the accessibility of the web to work to your advantage. You can find the project mini site here.

(First read about on Cool Hunting)