Branding and visual identity design for Sunderland-based pop-soul-funkers Vandebilt.

Infectious, energetic beats and loops are what underpin the Vandebilt sound, so I wanted to use them as the basis for the Vandebilt look too. I’ve tried to capture the band’s infectious heartbeat in a bold, dynamic identity, using musical form as a framework for a unique visual language. This underlying simplicity provides a striking, consistent and memorable style, which can be overlaid with the personality of the band and its music, lyrics and stories.

Using minimal geometric shapes, I created a custom font as the ‘vocals’ of the band. ‘Vandebilt Lyric’ is intentionally abstract and difficult to read, giving Vandebilt and their fans a unique language or ‘code’. For the rest, words simply become striking abstract art with a strong sense of rhythm.

A clean, iconic logo has been created using the Vandebilt Lyric font.

With digital and social media in mind, the logo is responsive, scaling from full word, through abbreviated syllables, to a single letter mark for profile icons and avatars. On saturated and highly competitive digital music platforms such as Spotify, Deezer and Amazon Music, the logo is a vital brand asset that promotes recognition and recall. Iconic and recognisable graphic work also embeds a layer of ‘collectability’ in any artist’s work.

The visual identity has been designed with movement in mind. Bold, solid colours and a lively, popping animation style help to create thumb-stopping social media posts and instantly recognisable streaming content.