My concept – With Mēla being a guitar quartet I instantly thought of guitar stings and this was the base idea for the brand. Strings can be translated across a number of different mediums and are so versatile that you can create a large variety of new and exciting designs just by changing the line work. Lines also represent a connection between different points, which I feel is relevant to the influences from around the world that have inspired Mēla’s music

The main shape that I have used within the brand is a circle, I chose circles as they represent unity and I felt this to be very appropriate for Mēla. The brand itself contains a lot of white, as I wanted to show the very clean, refined and pure element of the music however the loud colours of the line work breaks out of the ‘classical’ stereotype and show the fun, colourful and playful vibes.

 

Packaging – I wanted to create something unique that would grab people’s interest and make them want to purchase the CD itself rather than download a digital version. I decided to make some string artwork using cotton. I used to word Mēla and made some interesting patterns within each letter by crossing over the threads to represent the different cross overs and notes from each band member within their songs. The common thread across the design is gold, I chose gold as it represents success, achievement and energy as well as linking to luxury and quality. With Mēla having 4 letters and there being 4 band members I used a different colour for each letter to represent each person in the band. The format of the packaging is a book that is sewn in a Coptic stitch style, which exposes the cotton thread, again to carry the string idea forward and maintain consistency.

 

Music video – The music video – water opal visually builds up lines in time to the music, each band member has their own colour and dependant on who is playing depends on what colour lines build in at that particular time. Each song would have its own colour scheme dependant on what is relevant to that piece; therefore each video remains new and exciting.