Curious Cascade
Jazz Festival
A graphic design case study for a fictional jazz music festival, Curious Cascade Jazz Festival. I'm creating a branding package, website, and festival graphics.
My starting point for this project would be to meet with the prospective client for an initial consultation. I use this step to gather basic information, as well as asking about their goals, anticipated deliverables and design needs, and general timeline.
This project is self-paced, so this page will be updated periodically as it progresses. Use the pinned menu to navigate sections of this page and check out my progress.
Basic Info
Curious Cascade Jazz Festival is a new music festival that will premier in Washington State. The organizers are comprised of a group of music lovers and industry veterans (from this point forward referred to as the "Bebop Biscuits") passionate about modern fusion and crossover jazz genres such as free funk, electro swing, acid jazz, nu jazz, and more. The festival will take place at Fort Worden in Port Townsend, Washington in August 2025.
Why the Festival?
There are many jazz festivals in the world, but few are dedicated to "new" jazz music. Even fewer are specifically catered to the LGBQTIA+ community. Curious Cascade Jazz Festival was created in order to highlight little-known jazz genres, share them with a wider audience, and celebrate queer artists and fans within both communities.
Goals
Establish a unique identity; raise product awareness; drive traffic to website and make sales from event tickets and merchandise; recruit volunteers and staff; attract vendors and sponsors; and create graphics that support a positive festival experience. If the festival is financially successfully, the organizers hope to make into a recurring annual event.
Design Needs
Branding Package: Full logo suite, illustrations and patterns, font pairings, color palette, brand guidelines, and design files.
Specific Asks: Website with ticketing; merchandise (buttons, t-shirts, stickers, totes, poster); badges; map/brochure/guide; signage and banners.
Creating a Proposal
After the discovery call with the client, I create a proposal for the prospective client. This provides a general overview of the project deliverables, estimated timeframe, and investment/payment plan. If they accept the proposal, I can begin the transition from prospect to client.
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After the discovery call with the client, I create a proposal for the prospective client. This provides a general overview of the project deliverables, estimated timeframe, and investment/payment plan. If they accept the proposal, I can begin the transition from prospect to client.
As part of the onboarding process, I create a client profile using a project management tool like Notion which serves a centralized hub for the client to access information and oversee oversee the project's progress.
Link?
Bebop Biscuits want to develop a brand personality, visual identity and language that will reflect their company values. Their values are: joy, invention, diversity, and inclusion. In addition to these values, the company wants to highlight the Washington State flavor of the festival. Some of their sponsors are local companies.
This will be the debut year of the festival, which they hope to make an annual event. Based on their networking experiences, the Bebop Biscuits want to focus primarily on customers in the Pacific Northwest.
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Jazz Festival
A conceptual branding project for Curious Cascade Jazz Festival, a music festival to be held at Fort Worden in Port Townsend, Washington. (This is not a real festival, but created for case study purposes.)
Currently, I am in the stage of developing a creative visual direction for the brand. I am developing typography, iconography, illustrations, and imagery that will apply to many applications and contexts (e.g. stationary, website, wayfinding, posters and advertising).
At this stage, I created 8.5x17" mood boards to explore potential directions for the brand. I looked at colors, art style, typography, brochures and poster designs, and photos. I went for a collage-style mood to create visual interest and emphasize some design elements (such as the inclusion of cut=outs in the "Earth & Homegrown" mood board).
In the end, I made 5 mood boards, each with a distinct mood and creative direction. You can click on the images to see descriptions for my color and image choices.