Timeline:
June 2024-Present
Proficiencies:
Merchandise Design, Photo Editing
Problem:
Dollhaver had the support of the local college community but needed cohesive design to make band life more sustainable. With an existing logo but little else, they needed a language and marketing that could travel, on bodies, walls and across social platforms.
Insight:
In the local music scene, being able to wear your support of a local, underground band is everything. A band's merchandise wasn't just revenue, but an organic, highly mobile billboard. If the design were engaging enough the community would respond, and market themselves.
Big Idea
Build a visual identity rooted in the aesthetics of heavy metal and the venues Dollhaver built its fanbase from. I sat down with the artists from the band and worked through their strongest inspirations, working their favorite albums into the work. Sourcing religious symbolism and iconic contrast, leveraging the gritty texture of thicker inks in my screen printer. By designing shirts that people took pride in and leveraging local artists like Teezo Touchdown, to be photographed with the shirt, the campaign turned organic community moments into measurable awareness.
Results
200 shirts screen printed and sold out entirely. Still spotted in the wild today.
Print Around the City
Three posters and three venues, the winter tour around North Carolina. Posters were each designed from the ground up, sourcing the inspiration from the name and history of each location.
Distributed across Charlotte followed up on Instagram, the winter tour posters both built anticipation for the upcoming album while putting the first rounds of merchandise in front of an audiences. The shirts sold at the shows. The posters brought them through the door.
