So here’s how we helped Into The Ark achieve their creative vision by building them a logo and branding identity they were super proud of. If you’re in the Cardiff music scene, or are looking for Cardiff music branding, this story should (hopefully) at least slightly interest you.
We started working with the Cardiff band in 2016 with some pieces of artwork that were released. Fast forward to a year later, and Into The Ark were competing on The Voice, which lead the guys really wanting a strong branding identity that reflected exactly who they were. We had a meeting and instantly became excited, bouncing ideas off each other while listening to their unreleased songs for inspiration.
Designing for artists is very different from designing for businesses. It’s much more creative, much more of an art form, and although we try to be as strategic as possible (not in a gross way – we just want to appeal to the right target audiences), it’s much more of a liberating process. One thing we’d never want to do in front of a corporate business is design directly in front of the client, but with musicians, it’s slightly different. Being in the company of the artists themselves gave us a chance to get their creative input, tell us exactly what they were feeling when they wrote the tracks, and for music artwork, this can be invaluable and a crucial part of the process.
So, our meeting concluded with wanting a classic design with soulful elements, reflecting Into The Ark’s music. We went away, and spent some time crafting some elements that could give their brand distinctive elements. We worked with a variety of serif typefaces to achieve something memorable and timeless, and both the band and their management team were over the moon with the final results. Not only did we want this to stand out in the Cardiff music branding world, but we also wanted it to be timeless.
… And of course, we provided a digital folder full of assets to use when their team is designing – including brand guidelines, fonts, and social media assets. We’re super excited to look back, and to say that our brand has proudly been worn by thousands of fans. Their merchandise was sold all over the world, including at Tom Jones’ UK and American tour, where the boys supported him in a ton of venues. As a Welsh person, that was cool.
So, if you’re looking for help with your music branding in Cardiff, you know who to talk to. Not only do we try to understand the artist, what they want to achieve, and what their target audience looks like, but we also love getting into the nitty-grits bits – details of the song, the inspiration of that song and more…