Gaptooth, an electropop artist based in London required a completely new logo that really captured her unique style of music. Described as someone who “mixes the electronic pop mastery of The Postal Service with the riot girl attitude of Le Tigre and the dry wit of The Magnetic Fields” it was crucial to find the right first impression for her. Especially in the fast paced, dog-eat-dog world that is the music industry.
Now I’ll hold my hands up and admit I know very little about electropop, so I decided to find out more who Gaptooth was right from the start. I asked her to describe herself and her music without actually letting me hear any of it. I felt this was important because, like me, a lot of her audience would need to be wowed before they’d heard a single note.
Gaptooth felt strongly about keeping her identity as a solo female musician and wanted a brand that would help her be taken seriously as an electropop artist. When travelling back from a meeting in inner city London I was fascinated by the eye-catching, visual impact of the graffiti that accompanied my journey. I loved the urban, grungy feel and the contrast of vibrant colours against strong, solid blacks and how they jumped out from the city background. I felt this would be a great approach for Gaptooth.
I began by building up a colour palette; this was crucial to get right, as it would dictate the look and feel of not only the logo but also the entire brand. The next step was to sketch ideas for the logo. I worked along the grungy, graffiti theme and submitted several logo designs to Gaptooth showing how they would work with the various colours. A favourite design was chosen which went through several revisions until we reached a final logo that Gaptooth was happy with.
To complete the branding I showed how the final logo design would work across the entire colour palette as well as at various sizes and on both printed and electronic media.
