I jazzed up a flyer for a NY music event.
The Harlem Sessions is a weekly live jazz event, located in Harlem, NY, and hosted by jazz luminary Marc Carey. The sessions aim to build and explore a new common repertoire, with original arrangements through ensemble work. Having built a solid following over their first two years, I was tasked to create a new poster/flyer/social media banner design, to coincide with a celebratory birthday event for the venture.
Objectives:
To create an engaging standalone communication, and a new visual style for the Harlem Sessions.
Results:
Increased social media engagement around the event.
From Trad to New.
The brief was to avoid and transcend typical tropes associated with jazz-associated communications (sepia photography, retro typography, ornate borders), and present The Harlem Sessions as a contemporary, accessible and engaging experience.
The existing event collateral and flyer design exhibited many of these traits, from old-style typography to sepia imagery. A large part of the Harlem Session’s plans for expansion, is to position the even as modern, contemporary and relevant, as attracting a younger crowd could prove a crucial element to the burgeoning brand’s success. This outreach would be an initial attempt to create a style and story for the event.
Previous flyer for The Harlem Sessions
Uptown Funk.
Given my own love of the genre, I always perceived jazz as dynamic and vibrant, as opposed to staid or traditional. Therefore my concept was to use bold colour and typography, to create movement, energy and excitement.
I took inspiration from the theatre design work of Paula Scher, and the marketing design from early Spike Lee films – images full of life, colour and energy.
Sourcing an image that presented the genre in a suitably contemporary context, I combined this with angled, jarring type which in itself creates an urban environment within the communication, making it feel very metropolitan to typify New York.
Key messaging and information lies juxtaposed with quotes, taglines and words, drawing the viewer in to decipher the image, and get a flavor of the event itself.
Services:
Creative Direction
Poster Design
The Harlem Sessions flyer front & reverse by Greg Bunbury
The Harlem Sessions flyer Facebook cover photo