Darcy Corrigan - Len Lye Branding

Len Lye Branding

Client

Student Project
– Yoobee College of Creative Innovation

Date

March, 2021

Brief

Using typographic elements you have previously created, design promotional attire to be used by a company running a stall at an event.

Tasks

– Investigate events that would celebrate your chosen icon.
– Connect this to a target audience.
– Research different production methods for deliverables.
– Ensure files are formatted correctly for production.

Black t-shirt – Front

Black t-shirt – Back

White t-shirt – Front

White t-shirt – Back

Icon

Len Lye, a New Zealand artist best known for his metallic sculptures and experimental films.

Company

Govett-Brewster Art Galleries in New Plymouth, New Zealand.

Event

The Festival of Lights, which occurs in New Plymouth every summer.

Purpose

To promote the Len Lye Centre at the festival, with a special screening of a DVD "Colour Box: 19 Films by Len Lye" to celebrate his work and life.

Attire and Production Method

– T-shirts: screen printing
– Tote bags: screen printing
– Notebook : debossing
– Button: digital printing

For the wordmark, I used Indian ink and dry brushes to create lines and marks similar to Len Lye's sculptures and artistic style, smudging, dripping and stencilling until I had created enough elements that I could then make letters with.

I intentionally used thicker, darker lines in the centre, to lighter, thinner lines on the outside. I felt that this best expressed a sensation of motion, as if the centre was moving outwards, which was a huge influence for Len Lye's art.

The final product was very organic and rustic, with the splotchy lines referencing Lye’s own drawings, and the more structured ones paying homage to his steel sculptures.

For the merchandise, I decided it would be best to vectorise the wordmark. Although this resulted in a loss of texture and detail within the forms, the wordmark still referenced my initial keywords and inspirations from Lye’s films and sculptures, and retained a sense of being handmade. The wordmark also needed to be vectorised to make it more appropriate for printing.