Music Against Racism
Powered by music Driven by change
With a mission to educate racism out of society through music, Music Against Racism’s brand refresh centred on the idea of ’Tuning In’: when we tune into music, we tune into each other, and together we can shift the dial on societal change.
Inspired by both a record and a radio dial, iconic forms of disseminating and tuning into music, the logo spins to shine a light on a spectrum of under-represented voices. Combining handmade collages and a bespoke typeface, the brand is grounded in the anti-racist history of music and embued with a distinctive voice to bring about a better future.
For this project we designed and created a bespoke typeface inspired by the iconic shapes of sound systems. Sound systems have been integral to the development of music in the UK: blues, reggae, punk, hip-hop, house (amongst many others) all have roots within sound systems. Alongside their literal function as a speaker, sound systems functioned as a community, providing a platform for cultural expression outside of the mainstream and uniting people around a shared love of great music, connotations which felt particularly appropriate for Music Against Racism.
Process
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As part of our research we went to the “Black Sound London” exhibition hosted by the Barbican and curated by Lloyd Bradley and Scott Leonard, which interrogated the history of black music in the UK from early jazz pioneers to sound systems, record shops, grime and house.
Soul II Soul was a British R&B and dance collective which revolutionised British music by fusing sound system culture, R&B, reggae and house.
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An example sound system at the “Black Sound London” exhibition, which formed the inspiration for our custom typeface.
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’DIY’ is one of our tonal words for Music Against Racism because we wanted to celebrate how, from homemade cassette mixtapes to music made through PlayStation software, music has been a democratic method for non-mainstream artists to express themselves authentically and speak about what matters to them.
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Our collage designs draw inspiration from Music Against Racism’s curriculum, highlighting musicians who shaped social movements and the roots of genres like early hip-hop. Artists such as Nina Simone, Sam Cooke, and Gil Scott-Heron feature prominently for their influence on both music and activism.
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Collages were made by hand in the studio, with the intention that they could be made by workshop participants in the future.
