Visual Development Guide
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BOOK 02
CBGB Rebranding Process
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
TABLE OF CONTE NTS
Table Of Contents
Visual Development Guide
01
OUR NEW CONCE PT
The Past Identity
12
Our New Vibe
14
02
LOGO EXPLOR ATION
Initial Sketch
20
Secondary Sketch
28
Distillation
34
Similar Logo
36
03
LOGO FINALIZ ATION
Digital Refinement
40
Logotype Exploration
41
Type Adjustment
42
Color Exploration
43
Final Logo
44
Standard Inspiration
48
Moving Forward
50
In The Developement Phase With the vision to review CBGB's original brand soul and with the future mind, we move forward towards the development phase of our brand's identity. It primarily embodies the core attributes of the brand, and the exploration corresponds to each of the ideas. The goal of this phase is to produce a variety with diversity to help us narrow down on one focused direction that reflects the brand's soul harmoniously.
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BOOK 02
CBGB Rebranding Process
“
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Visual Development Guide
“ The only person I really believe in is me.� -Debbie Harry 9
BOOK 01 02
CBGB Rebranding Process
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THE NEW CONCEPT
THE PAST IDE NTIT Y
01
Visual Development Guide
THE NEW CONCEPT The Past Identity
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Our New Vibe
14
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BOOK 02
THE NEW CONCEPT
THE PAST IDE NTIT Y
As we move forward in reestablishing our new brand identity, it is necessary to understand what has been left behind.
CBGB Rebranding Process
The Past Identity THE UNDISPUTED BIRTHPLACE OF PUNK
The founder of CBGB Hilly Kristal stands in front of the legendary venue.
Modern American rock music would have been a whole lot different without the rundown dive mecca CBGB’s, a beat-up former flophouse bar that made stars out of young musicians and helped shape the musical edge of downtown Manhattan and moreover, the whole generation of punk rock. Owner Hilly Kristal may have initially envisioned a place for ‘Country Blue Grass and Blues’, but the music spawned by this little hole in the wall would define the contours of American punk and new wave. Welcoming legendary acts such as the New York Dolls, Blondie, the Ramones, Patti Smith, the Talking Heads, Elvis Costello, the Cramps, the Dead Boys, the Misfits, the Voidoids, the Runaways, and Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, and hundreds of others bands would never have been the same without this dank little club with the most notorious bathroom stalls in New York.
CBGB original hand-painted vinyl awing as displayed above the entrance of Hilly Kristal's CBGB OMFUG venue at 315 Bowert, New, York City. Estimate $25,000-35,000.
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Visual Development Guide
There are few images that sum up punk rock and the New York City music scene as succinctly as the CBGB logo, emblazoned on the famous club's awning.
Although the past logo hand-painted by Kristal is a classic identity and will always be, the overall atmosphere of past CBGB is lost behind the contemporary cultural scene. It's time to move forward to create a new identity for those unconventional artists today. We will create a new identity that reflects our mission of new CBGB and still bring the classic spirits of our past stage within it.
As a live music bar, CBGB was most typical of the times in which it lived. It became a face for that—a venue unafraid of looking weird, loud with its opinions, it set trends, pushed limits, and did all of that while generally not caring about what anyone else thinks—even though it was already out of business for more than 10 years, however, the spirits of CBGB is still resonate today.
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BOOK 02
CBGB Rebranding Process
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Visual Development Guide
OUR NEW MISSION
Supporting unconventional artists to realize their innovative creativity and artistic freedom, and inspiring other offbeat spirits.
The new CBGB will bring the attitude which embodied in the venue, transfer as a platform which supports artists who got unconventional thoughts and original works. Art could be thought-provoking, especially those controversial and incisive ones, but people need time to discover its value, just like those rebellious voices on the stage of past CBGB. We want to support those offbeat talents to complete their creativity, and protect the freedom for their artistic expression, and further, inspiring the public to discover and express their true self.
The new CBGB focus not only musicians but people who have a creative mind and a unique characteristic. We believes every individual has their unparalleled potential and that original voice is just the power to break the new ground. We provide the resource and stage for creative people and the opportunities t o be a partnership with organizations and people that dedicate to the creative industry. Moreover, we help creators promote their works and engage in creative education to prolong creativity to the next generation.
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BOOK 02
THE NEW CONCEPT
OUR NEW VIBE
In keeping with our re-branding objectives has set a couple of concepts central to our future expansion. When considering where to go from here, we will continuously keep these keywords in mind. CBGB Rebranding Process
Our New Vibe
To create a meaningful logo with our brand’s soul, we need to extract the essence which directly shows the brand what it is. There are three main ideas which highlight our future direction and help to explore the new visual system that fit our brand soul and mission. Base on our new mission, we come out with three keywords, that are Unconventional, original and inspire. Each keyword provides a different angle of approach. They also carry unique meaning and visual elements that help us create a meaningful and provoking mark.
ORIGINAL “Only original music was to be played—no cover bands allowed”, that is the first rule and the core value which ar tists should follow in CBGB.
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Visual Development Guide
UNCONVENTIONAL Those pioneers used to perform on the stage of CBGB were dare to be weird. Their unique sounds set trends, break the boundaries of the mainstream and doing all of that while generally not caring about what anyone else thinks.
INSPIRE Those legend ar tists like Ramones, Television, Patti Smith... who bir th on the stage of CBGB have inspired the whole generation from 1973 till now.
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BOOK 02
CBGB Rebranding Process
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LOGO EXPLOR ATION
LOGO EXPLOR ATION
02
Visual Development Guide
LOGO EXPLORATION Initial Sketch
20
Secondary Sketch
28
Distillation
34
Similar Logo
36
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BOOK 02
LOGO EXPLOR ATION
INITIAL SKETCH
Initial Sketch
CBGB Rebranding Process
The Initial sketches are based on our three keywords. We turned them into three phrases, which are more specific and help visualize the logo. We, later on, develop our new identity by sketching them into three separate camps, they are symbolic marks, graphic marks, wordmarks. provoking mark.
Keyword
Key Phrase
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ORIGINAL Innovative creativity is an expression of one’s true self.
Visual Development Guide
Keyword
Key Phrase
Keyword
Key Phrase
UNCONVENTIONAL Stay true to oneself and dare to be different from the mainstream.
INSPIRE Enlighten and resonate with people who have the same creative spirit.
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BOOK 02
CBGB Rebranding Process
LOGO EXPLOR ATION
INITIAL SKETCH
UNCONVENTIONAL Stay true to oneself and dare to be different from the mainstream. Both the lighting bolt and exclamation mark are workable directions of symbol.
SYMBOLIC MARK
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Visual Development Guide
GRAPHIC MARK
WORDMARK
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BOOK 02
CBGB Rebranding Process
LOGO EXPLOR ATION
INITIAL SKETCH
ORIGINAL Innovative creativity is an expression of one’s true self. It will confuse the audience when they see a logo which they can’t get the meaning behind it right the way. SYMBOLIC MARK
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Visual Development Guide
To use spotlight as a element is a workable edirection.
GRAPHIC MARK
WORDMARK
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BOOK 02
LOGO EXPLOR ATION
INITIAL SKETCH
CBGB Rebranding Process
Enlighten and resonate with people who have the same creative spirit.
SYMBOLIC MARK
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Visual Development Guide
There will be a legibility issue in a logo which posit the letters like this.
GRAPHIC MARK
Simply combine a exclamation mark with CBGB is a Straightforward but workable direction.
WORDMARK
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BOOK 02
CBGB Rebranding Process
LOGO EXPLOR ATION
SECONDARY SKETCH
Secondary Sketch Later on, we continued to refine our initial sketch. With the feedback from the first round sketch, four elements get more positive feedbacks, Which is lighting bolt, exclamation mark, spotlight and space. With these four elements, we found out they precisely interpret our brand soul–providing a stage for unconventional artists. In the second round sketch, we will use the concept to keep exploring the possibilities of our new identity.
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Visual Development Guide
LIGHTING BOLT
EXCLAMATION MARK
UNCONVENTIONAL
STAGE SPACE
SPOTLIGHT
Stage For Unconventional Artists
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BOOK 02
CBGB Rebranding Process
LOGO EXPLOR ATION
Stage For Unconventional Artists
SPOTLIGHT & SPACE
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SECONDARY SKETCH
To combine the space and spotlight is a good way to present the idea of stage.
Visual Development Guide
EXCLAMATION MARK & SPACE
SPACE (STAGE)
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BOOK 02
CBGB Rebranding Process
LOGO EXPLOR ATION
Stage For Unconventional Artists
EXCLAMATION MARK & LIGHTING BOLT
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SECONDARY SKETCH
The combination of lighting bolt and exclamation mark is still a effective creativity from the initial sketch to this phase.
Visual Development Guide
This combination of lighting bolt and cubical spaces is interesting and got potential.
LIGHTING BOLT & SPACE
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BOOK 02
CBGB Rebranding Process
LOGO EXPLOR ATION
DISTILL ATION
Distillation At this stage, we had explored as many as possible solutions as we can and will continue to narrow it down to a specific concept. With the consensus that the lighting bolt and space will best interpret the idea "stage for unconventional artists." We will do our last round sketch with these two elements
LIGHTING BOLT & SPACE
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Visual Development Guide
Our final choice in the sketch exploration is this signature combined with lighting bolt and exclamation mark. The jagged contour and inclined style well convey the unconventional and vibrant character of new CBGB.
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BOOK 02
CBGB Rebranding Process
LOGO EXPLOR ATION
SIMIL AR LOGO
Similar Logo Before finalizing our identity design process, it is essential to conduct a visual research and study of other logos in the market that share similar elements with our logo. The examination helps us to avoid making design similar or identical to the ones that are already existed. In this research, I focused on logos with the elements of lighting bolt, exclamation mark, and inclined space.
LIGHTING BOLT
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ACDC
Elvis TCB
Latin American Design Festival
DC The Flash
Excelsior Coffee
Tampa Bay Lightning
Visual Development Guide
INCLINED SPACE
EXCLAMATION MARK
Nagase Rubber
YO! Sushi
Yahoo!
Everything Entertainment
ยกLOLA! Beer
Google Campus
Bois Clo-Val Inc.
Google Creative
Wind Mobility
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BOOK 02
CBGB Rebranding Process
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LOGO FINALIZ ATION
LOGO FINALIZ ATION
03
Visual Development Guide
LOGO FINALIZATION Digital Refinement
40
Logotype Exploration
41
Type Adjustment
42
Color Exploration
43
Final Logo
44
Standard Inspiration
48
Moving Forward
50
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BOOK 02
CBGB Rebranding Process
DIGITAL RE FINE ME NT | LOGOT YPE EXPLOR ATION
LOGO FINALIZ ATION
Digital Refinement
As we have the final choice of our new logo, we can take the next step to do the final refinement in the digital version
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By shaping with several oblique angles in the same degrees, the digital refined version logo has a perfect balance, but the wildness and offbeat characteristic of CBGB seems to lost in the robust structure. We will try to use different angles to create a contour with a stronger personality. The customized logotype will seem more incisive if the letter's stock could share the same width.
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Visual Development Guide
Logotype Exploration
After we decide our graphic mark, it's time to find the best font to be our logotype. In the phase, we chose Gotham Ultra Italic as the base of our wordmark. For the next step, it needs some adjustments to work with the graphic mark.
C B G B Obviously Narrow Medium
Gotham Ultra Italic
Futura LT Extra Bold Oblique
Pragmatica Extended Black Oblique
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BOOK 02
CBGB Rebranding Process
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LOGO FINALIZ ATION
T YPE ADJUSTME NT | COLOR EXPLOR ATION
Type Adjustment
To make the logotype works perfectly with our graphic mark, there are some details that need to be adjusted. The form of the wordmark base on the typeface Gotham Black Italic and alters into the same degree of inclination with the graphic mark.
Visual Development Guide
Color Exploration
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BOOK 02
CBGB Rebranding Process
LOGO FINALIZ ATION
Final Logo
+ Lighting Bolt
Exclamation Mark
U NCONVE NTI ONAL & I NS PI R ATI ON
The new logo consists of a symbol and wordmark that conceptually and visually expresses the core value of new CBGB, "supporting the unconventional artist and inspire other offbeat spirits." The signature is a combination of the lighting bolt and exclamation mark which both symbolize the idea of "unconventional" and "inspire." the wordmark is customized and matches the symbol's angle. The sharp angle and slanting form conveys the energetic vibe of new CBGB and also keep the spirits of our past in a contemporary way.
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FINAL LOGO
Visual Development Guide
Here is the primary and final logo for new CBGB, which can be used in dif ferent formats by following the subsequent usage guide.
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BOOK 02
CBGB Rebranding Process
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LOGO FINALIZ ATION
FINAL LOGO
Visual Development Guide
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BOOK 02
MOVING FORWARD
STANDARDS INSPIR ATION
In the development guide, we show the process of elaborating on our new identity. In the next phase, we will introduce our new identity with a detailed and systematic system. Also, presenting our future programs that practice the mission of CBGB in the real world.
CBGB Rebranding Process
Inspiration of Visual Standard Guide
The standards of graphic elements of Mennonite Church and Electrolux show us how to perfectly interpret the brand style into the visual system in a concise and systematic approach.
Menonite Church
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Electrolux
Visual Development Guide
In the corporate identity guide of FedEx, the chart of parallel-color bars show the logo color variations clearly at a glance.
FedEx
Mexoco / Mtrl
In the visual identity guide of Mexico and Mtrl, they use a grid in the logo anatomy section for the identity which is more complex.
In the visual identity guide of Nexstar and BCCB, the way they compile diverse information on one page, the legibility, and the balance of layout are all good examples for us to follow. Nexstar
BCCB
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BOOK 02
MOVING FORWARD
MOVING FORWARD
In the development guide, we show the process of elaborating on our new identity. In the next phase, we will introduce our new identity with a detailed and systematic system. Also, presenting our future programs that practice the mission of CBGB in the real world.
Please check the CBGB Rebranding Process
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CBGB Visual Standard Guide
Resource
Visual Standard Guide
Unsplash https://unsplash.com DEATH TO STOCK https://unsplash.comhttps://deathtothestockphoto.com CounterPulse http://www.counterpulse.org/?fbclid=IwAR2o8vHZwjPfyXDQt5jiPNOL9cdwQhU0k5a1i75 PJhTR8V-J1JTd-w5QsMc Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts https://www.bemiscenter. org/?fbclid=IwAR1aRf3kv46eAm-LUDApXDAbp8UY5Lj9g0Ib5i2EnJXJffPumeJFqM0gUno iscp - International Studio & Curatorial Program https://iscp-nyc.org/?fbclid=IwAR2uhKFITv62eCwDIQR183AjV Y27O-nlcaevKQBae0ijQ779V-T0ta6fLIw CBGB Official Site https://www.cbgb.com/about The Bowery Boys: New York City History http://www.boweryboyshistory.com/2010/05/cbgb-omfug-punk-music-historyon-bowery.html Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
This book is a non-commercial project for education purposes and is not intended to represent the CBGB.
All right are reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means electronic, mechanical, recording, photocopying or otherwise prior permission of Shane Lee.
Copyright 2019 Shane Lee Design Shane Lee Course Nature of Identity Instructor Hunter Wimmer Academy of Art University
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