a spark to reinspire an appreciation for music and Wellington Town Hall’s role within the city’s music scene.
Project
Get Lost in the Music
Partner
Briar Lomas
Institution
Massey University
Wellington, New Zealand
Duration
6 weeks
Nestled in the heart of Wellington is the Town Hall, a once thriving music venue that is now deemed earthquake prone and holds an uncertain future. Get Lost in the Music is a campaign designed to generate support for the Hall to be quake-strengthened rather than torn down. The ‘musical jungle’ we created emphasises music’s immersive power, which we hope will re-inspire an appreciation for music and show the Hall’s integral role in Wellington’s music scene.
project brief
We were tasked with creating a transmedia campaign that would promote the importance of Wellington Town Hall as a venue for music and arts. The campaign would revolve around a central event to bring the community together, as well as an online presence and marketing collateral.
background
In 1904, the Town Hall was opened. It proved to be a fantastic venue for ballroom events, cultural performances, sporting events and political activities. Following earthquake activity in the region and a roof collapse during a concert the Town Hall was closed in 2009. Controversy has been raised over the value of investing over $84 million into retaining the Hall and developing it into a musical hub or demolishing it. Yet the Hall has a greater historical and cultural significance. It is reflective of important and representative aspects of New Zealand’s history through its long use as the capital city’s Town Hall and near consistent occupation by Wellington’s Mayor. It is also associated with many events and people of importance with artists such as the Beatles and the Rolling Stones performing on its stage. Furthermore the building displays design and technical accomplishment and is part of a wider historic and cultural landscape with its central position in the Civic Centre.
The Beatles performing in the Town Hall, 1964
strategy
With our foremost objective being to generate support for saving the Town Hall, our strategy revolved around re-inspiring passion for music and showing the Hall’s place within that. An exploration of music showed that it is truly a powerful force; one which generates unity as a reminder of our shared human condition, provides an immersive space to become fully present, offers a source of creative inspiration,and finally is a space simply bursting with passion. By sharing this with others we could create a convincing argument for the opportunity that would arise from restoring this esteemed building.
process
research phase
Early stages of our campaign began with site visits to immerse ourselves in the space, researching artist precedents and exploring various approaches to communicate our message.
Today the Hall still stands as a beautiful historic building.
We took a lot of inspiration from 60’s - 80’s vinyl art and band posters. We were especially drawn to the bright block colours, fun typography and energetic feel.
An early moodboard of our desired aesthetic; we were especially interested in the use of a woodcut or screen printed style.
Collecting tangible and intangible ideas to work with.
Rapid ideation through quick thumbnailing.
Selected higher fidelity prototypes and iterations. The poster on the bottom right became the driving direction moving forward with the campaign.
expansion phase
With the poster setting the visual identity’s direction, we moved forward with the other touchpoints; a website and a takeaway brochure which folded out into a calendar.
Brochure
The brochure introduced a character to add a more personable element and show interaction with the musical environment we have created. The character acts as a guide through the brochure helping to teach the reader about the power of the arts. The fold out calendar within aims to ensure continual interaction with the topic as it contains all related music events happening for the next month.
Exploration of illustrations.
The website:
Within the website the concept of these ‘jungle instruments’ is explored further as more elements are introduced. The digital format allowed the use of animation, adding another level of depth and movement to the concept. The website is easy to navigate, provides information about the history of the Town Hall, the importance of music, and a space to share images of participation in related events.
One of the animated gifs used within the website.
design solutions
Integrating instruments into lush jungle greenery portrays music as a dynamic, energetic entity which still needs support to thrive. The pieces work together to show the potential of escape through music and the excitement it can hold. Taking inspiration from 60’s to 80’s band posters, vibrant colours, fun typography and a hand drawn aesthetic worked together to create a campaign that is approachable and energetic. Each touchpoint had specific goals of what they were to achieve and evoke in the viewer:
Poster: Aims to captivate the viewer’s attention and draw them to read the details, leading them to the website. The poster should evoke intrigue and excitement for music.
Website: Aims to provide a great user experience, allowing for straightforward access to information, user input, sharing with friends as well as sparking passion to support the cause.
Takeaway brochure/fold out calendar: Aims to become a constant reminder with multiple user interactions. It also acts as an ‘exclusive reward’ to reinforce that they have done their part to support the cause.
We feel confident that this campaign holds the power to generate public support for Wellington’s Town Hall.
challenges
The most challenging part of this project was settling on a direction. To resolve this we developed our strongest concepts to a higher standard and then user tested each with peers. This helped us to determine which concept got the most positive response, and communicated our idea in the clearest manner. The ‘musical jungle’ received the most positive response with testers being particularly excited with the landscape we had created as well as the vibrant, energetic aesthetic.
software used
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe InDesign
Adobe After Effects
Proto.io