902 Hip Hop
Overview
902 Hip Hop is a music publishing company that aims to shine a bright spotlight on local musicians creating a name for themselves in Nova Scotia. The recent growth of the company has given them an opportunity to expand into new waters in US markets. In order for them to put their best foot forward, they needed spank’n new branding and a website to reflect the quality of their artists’ music.
The Analysis
Having a long-standing relationship with owner Melissa Macmaster and the artists she represents gave us a head start in creating the brand world. After collaborating with many of the artists on the roster on previous efforts, it allowed us to have a deep-rooted understanding of their product from the start.
Early brainstorming sessions helped to identify the keys to creating a successful brand for 902 Hip Hip:
- The artist makes kick-ass music.
- Artist shares music online.
- 902 Hip Hop attends conferences and events to connect with bigwigs.
- Industry bigwigs go to the website to validate the product.
- The website makes it easy to learn about the artists and find the music they want to license.
- Artists get paid, everyone’s happy 🙂
Our job was to make this process as seamless as possible while positioning 902 Hip Hop as a global brand.
In doing so, we wanted to avoid all of the cliché iconography that tends to come with the Maritimes –
No anchors.
No rampants.
The Cure
In essence, 902 Hip Hop exists to make licensing their artists music simple. This core idea inspired us to build a modular brand that felt like Lego blocks. They’re fun, they’re simple, they’re easy to use and they’re small pieces that can be added together to create something bigger.
This leads us to build everything in an extremely simple way. We cut out the fluff and built a system that the staff could use to sell music and the artists could wear as a badge of honour. Everything from the primary colour palette to the user flow on the website is stripped down to an almost elementary aesthetic while still maintaining a sense of “cool”.
Dose never disappoints, their ability to bring your idea to life not only meets your expectations but over exceeds them.
Project Numbers
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0Rampants in design
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0Anchors in design
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VeryHow awesome is that
This was definitely one of those feel good projects where you know you’ve made a real difference in the lives of other local business owners.
DOSE Media
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