A fictional music company
Proposal
Project Scope
Schools today tend to focus mainly on STEM subjects which are thought to be more important in standard curriculum. This has led to hundreds of defunded arts programs, causing lack of involvement or complete shutdown. Found in 2016 by the University of Southern California’s Brain and Creativity Institute, children with musical experience excels the development of language and reading while learning an instrument was proven to increase subjects surrounding math. A higher amount of music coincides with more intellectual, social-emotional, motor, language, and overall literacy development. When music is such a vital component to the development of young minds, the lack of music education has caused a drop-in grades as 98% of students in music courses end up in higher placement STEM courses. Music programs not only help to motivate kids to do better academically, but it also acts as a way to learn about culture, consistency, and a new way to express themselves. With hundreds if not thousands of music programs on the chopping block, enharmonic aims to give back with a buy one give one policy.
Enharmonic is a fictional music company that sells high end products with a focus on instrument and musician wellness. For each set of strings, rosin, polish, and hand cream, one will also be donated to participating schools in order to lessen the burdens that budget cuts have caused. They will also receive a booklet with tips and tricks for personal wellness and instrument care. With modern packaging and the added push to participate, this will hopefully bring a new excitement to join music programs across the country.
Target Audience
Due to the large range of people that enharmonic aims to reach, there will be two target audiences. The first ranging from about 8-18 as it is the age range for school music programs. Products for school aged musicians should be fun and eye catching for any student regardless of race, class, or gender. The second target audience is 18+ because music has no bounds on how old you are, just a continued willingness to play and enjoy the art of making music. The products for established musicians should feel high end, yet affordable due to the nature of the company.
Deliverables
Logo
2 Sets of packaging: strings, rosin, cleaner, multipurpose cream
Small booklet for personal and instrumental wellness
Microsite: landing page, shop page for one instrument
Instagram page
Set of 3 school posters
Objectives
To independently research design, and produce a logo, packaging, booklet, school posters, and create an Instagram campaign and microsite for enharmonic.
To research the decline of music programs and the effect it has on academics in order to design and produce a company which addresses these hardships.
To create a brand that encourages school aged kids to be more involved while piquing the interest of established musicians.
To produce a cohesive design to reach two target audiences while maintaining the brand identity.
To critique my work and make adjustments to improve the final deliverable.
To take others critique and when necessary, change designs to better the end product.
To build realistic packaging and marketing components that meet the industry standard.
Research
As a violinist, I know quit well that most of the packaging for orchestral instruments has a lack of good design but is not changed based on recognizability. Each brand may have several different types of a product, much like the beer industry, each line has a different image associated with it. For example, D’Addario string sets or a gold label Pirastro E string are household names that most violinists in my target audience would recognize. For a seasoned musician, they would use these based solely on prior knowledge that the product was great and well trusted compared to the quality of the packaging. Sadly, the packaging does not necessarily speak the same message to people who are unfamiliar with music and of school age.
By taking inspiration from things such as fashion posters and the curves of instruments, I created packaging that was able to speak to both sides of my target audience. A high end, fun look that speaks to the student and the established musician. All information of products came from pre-existing packaging I had collected over the past few years.
Process
In thinking of a name I really thought about what I wanted the company to embody. The word enharmonic means “relating to notes that are the same in pitch though bearing different names”. I thought this was fitting as it is made for musicians in all parts of life. Although they may have different skill levels, the products and uses would not change.
Logo
I wanted the logo to relate musically without feeling cheesy like many tend to do in the music field. I decided to base the logo on a font called wild mango due to the curves in the serifs and the similarity in shape that the o was to a whole note. The manipulated type has a very rhythmic feeling because of the contrast within each stroke. That rhythm was important for me to see because when you read sheet music, that same pattern is present both visually and through sound. The subtly related to the flags on music notes. The ligatures I created gave a feeling of movement which relates to the swinging movement in music as well.
Pocket Guide
A pocket guide is something I wish I had in high school. Of course we knew about some of the anatomy but using that knowledge to change strings or keep general maintenance would have been benefical for me as a student but also the teacher. They would have had far less questions and class may have run much smoother.
Posters
I think a vital component of these posters was figuring out how to relate them to the students. Having a student profile for each school poster showed students that they could do more than just music or sports or whatever the case was. By handling these in bright eye catching color, the goal was to make them stand out from other types of posters. Instead of being brand heavy, I chose to push them in an advertisement for the school orchestras and show that the students were just as capable while doing other activities. On the right are the initial layout sketches for all posters.
To the right are the thumbnails for the instagram page. These posts would be important for both target audiences. I would advertise the products as well as the educational aspect.
Final Deliverables
Pocket Guide link:
Microsite link:
