Imagining a visual world for the festival theme of 2019 "Cosmic Unity"
About the client
Gulbaba Music is an Istanbul based event organization and artist management company. Their artist roster includes well known Turkish psychedelic bands such as Baba Zula and Islandman as well as Turkish jazz icons Kerem Görsev and Ferit Odman. The company is organizing the urban music festival Sound Ports Istanbul for 4 years.
About the project
The first time our paths crossed with Gulbaba Music was in 2011 when the company was establishing. The partners Ahmetcan Taşdemir and Serhan Lokman contacted me to create the branding for their new company. It was one of my first branding projects. After 8 years, Gulbaba Music contacted me one more time, this time for creating the visual identity of the 4th edition of their urban music festival Sound Ports.
Brief & debrief
Sound Ports Istanbul is an independent art, culture and music festival dedicated to the city and its subcultures, interdisciplinary and intercultural exchanges, as well as positive people and positive thinking. This year's theme was chosen as "Cosmic Unity".
The theme takes its roots from modern spirituality. The idea of Cosmic Unity represents the lonely yet inter-connected state of mind of the modern urban lifestyle. Being a festival strongly rooted in the city, Sound Ports Istanbul has been the meeting and sharing location for many people.
The visual world of Sound Ports Istanbul bonds this urban night time gathering with the vastness of space. The night sky becomes the space itself where unidentifiable creatures are flying. The city vibrates by the soundwaves at the venues where the gatherings happen. We are united at a "cosmic level", we share this universe.
The process I worked with illustrator and painter Gül Durmayaz Güdücü for the concept development and illustration phases of the project. I believe her imagination and creative approach helped us create a beautiful landscape as design pillars.
After agreeing on the illustrative art style and the colour scheme, we started working on the key visual poster. During the 5-month process, I designed posters, flyers, roll-ups, social media posts, a logo for the creative gatherings section of the festival, maps, videos and many more ephemera perfectly embracing the theme. Gül created a 6m by 4m unique artwork as a backdrop for the main venue of the festival, Moda Sahnesi. The event took place on 8-9-10 November 2019 in Istanbul's hyped neighborhood Kadıköy. More than 1000 participants enjoyed the concerts and creative events to become one on the "Cosmic Level".
