Blue Tongue
logo, sticker design & cover art
Blue Tongue is an Austin based funk fusion collective. Their music is served with equal parts funk, psych and electrifying live performances. I've known Blue Tongue for going on six years now and have witnessed their talent, passion and growth in the Austin music scene.
the challenge
Create logo, sticker, hand-drawn typography and cover artwork for local band Blue Tongue. Solutions should be eye catching and representative of the music genre. Apply solutions to merchandise.
sticker design
When I was originally approached for design work by Blue Tongue, they wanted me to create a sticker design for them. They wanted the band name and a cool tone colors with a groovy aesthetic.
sticker design in color
logo
After creating my sticker design, the band wanted me to create a similar design as a logo. For this design, they wanted the band name to be more legible and simple. I followed the same orientation as the sticker, but tightened up spacing between the letters. I provide three different options: filled in, a wavy outline and a solid outline.
cover art:
aurelia
This is the cover design for the unreleased EP Aurelia. They provided me this image of a jellyfish to use and gave me creative freedom from there. I wanted to create an underwater vibe to go with the jellyfish theme so I stuck to a cool tone color palette, with the addition of a few shades of pink. The wavy lines (similar to what's in the sticker design) resembles the textures of underwater plants like coral. I also created some abstract bubbles to enhance the theme. The background fades from a dark blue at the top to black at the bottom, almost like sinking to the bottom of the ocean.
drawing process
Warning: This video contains flashing colors.
cover art:
use the crew
This is a design for the band's latest single release, Use The Crew. This song is loosely about mowing the lawn with the crew. When I started this project, the band gave me an AI generated image that they made as inspiration. I pretty much only utilized that for color options and shape ideas for the main graphic. They wanted something that alluded to "the crew" which comes in the form of five face silhouettes for the five (at the time) band members. During a check in towards the end of my designing process, they also let me know that they would like some kind of lawnmower imagery. I was able to include this icon in a way that didn't effect the rest of the design and acts as sort of an easter egg for the music video they created for this single.
drawing process
Warning: This video contains flashing colors.
reflection
I've been making designs here and there for Blue Tongue for the past few years. I think including this work is important because it not only most representative of my personal style, but also because it shows my flexibility, adaptability and a bit of my evolution in working with the same people for a few years. Having started working for them before I really began my journey as a designer, I've made a lot of mistakes and learned a lot from having to teach myself something on the fly. I can look back on this work and see my own growth. I would love opportunities to create work for more musicians and creatives in the future.