When I began creating a look and message for the Greater Miami Youth Symphony, their best branding piece to date had been a professionally designed website that featured black backgrounds with reverse type and sky blue accents. They had a logo they were not interested in changing. I was called in to design print and web-based promotions and I began my work during their 55th year. My first assigned task was to promote a number of anniversary celebrations. (They had failed to celebrate their 50th anniversary during a time of underresourcing and wanted now to make a splash regarding their many years of service to the Miami community.) 

 

I began transitioning a look from their well-regarded and recognized website using black backgrounds while featuring the use of two hands--one adult and one child, palms up--to represent the 55th theme. (These pieces appear at the bottom of the portfolio. To see the progression, start from the bottom.)

 

This carried us through the first 3 months of my work with the symphony, and then I presented a branding and marketing  plan to push their visual impact to higher level. 

 

Part of the new visual look, in addition to getting rid of the black backgrounds, was to show musical instruments sprouting out of flowers and trees or morphing into other imagery (such as holiday ornaments) to illustrate that GMYS kids are in a growth phase, leaning on music to become something more creative than they might have been otherwise. 

 

I chose to work with bright colors without feminizing the work too strongly, and the use of subtle gradients, shadow effects, and transparencies create  a  feeling of depth on 2-dimensional surfaces. The basic grid for all program booklets follows one pattern. The covers wrap round to the back as shown in the first example below, as an element of continuity issue to issue. I also incorporate Miami symobls like tropical flowers, palm trees, and water into their marketing to make this youth symphony stand out as unique for its location as much as its prestige.

 

A complete copy of the visual branding plan can be downloaded HERE.

(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/28340936/Freelance/GMYS/2014.GMYSMarketingPlan.pdf%201.zip)

Above, the specialized logo created for the organization's 55th anniversary celebrations. This served as a social media profile logo as well as being used on the back of print promotional pieces. The image makes the hand, as symbol of friendship, mentoring, and music making, the central message of the year's promotions. Below, program booklets from major concerts during the 55th season.

Everything for the anniversary year worked in the symbol of hands. Above, art for an email blast promotiing a holiday concert. Below, a fundraising event promoting the group's  jazz band.

Below: Various Social Media peices that contine to push the Miami theme

All materials for promoting GMYS feature bright colors, layered gradients, and a sense of artistic depth created with transparencies and superimposed images. Part of the branding scheme was to take away the earlier use of dark, somber colors and standard photos and incorporate art that sings.