Discipline
Identity Design
Brand Guidelines
Packaging Design
Merchandise Design
Electronic Music Malta
I joined the Electronic Music Malta board as Chief Brand Officer to sharpen the visual design attitude across the marketing and collateral. EMM was established in 2016 by a collective of local electronic musicians, DJs and pioneers with a longstanding heritage as some of the founders of Malta's electronic scene. Through funding and self-promoted activities, the organisation provides an educational institution devoted to all aspects of electronic music production to ensure the longevity of the scene through creativity, innovation and research.
One of the key elements which deserved a refresh was the company's identity. The existing logo reflected the core focus of the brand but lacked a more robust and contemporary form. It was also too specific in its visual cues — using modular cable wires as the only iconic element.
We wanted to maintain the heritage of the cable in some way but make the logo more robust, confident and accessible. The main idea was to explore a much more solid form for the silhouette. The current one felt too spindly and was often overpowered by other logos it sat alongside, as well as disappearing in the composition.
The solid square forms can be used as solid or outline fills (for flexibility.) Then paying homage to the original cable concept, I picked up on the connectors of a few key cable types used in electronic music to knockout the square shapes and establish the letters "E" and "M". The result is a highly unique and recognisable logo with a very minimal and simple form that can be represented in a multitude of ways.
We opted to keep things straightforward for the typeface and typesetting of the name to compliment the slightly cryptic letters. The letters use Galvji and are scaled to span the full width of the EMM blocks. The aim is the main logo will be the blocks, but use the words when required.
The colour palette hasn't changed from its original monochromatic character. But we did introduce some different shades of grey to add some flexibility for the collateral in the future.
