Micro-music Genre - Relevant designers

 As part of my investigation into the visual literacy associated with house music and the way in which I can explore things that do not exist I decided to look at graphic designers which are currently working within the music industry.

Sam Rolfes

Location: Chicago, Illinois; New York, New York

Style: Rolfes seems to be sending us messages from the future. His background in the fine art world is apparent from the painterly quality of his still images, and his videos proudly display his unique of warped, mind-bending abstract experimentation.
 The piece itself is confusing in the artist has made it as if the consumer does not understand what is going on at any point, similar to the way in which fidget houses confusing are layered in the audience is a bit unsure and the way in which it has been created. Not only the visuals job so to the music the piece itself is incredibly warped and distorted, Giving an unclear representation of the song. Just as house music does when it is layered with other types of music.

When asked about his design direction he stated "I'm just going off feels here, and it feels like more ground is being covered in typography and collaged graphic design right now than any kind of object-based imagery, other than the generic shiny eye candy that's been dogging the supposedly tasteful side of the new media world for the last few years (if not longer).I'm definitely more a part of the electronic music visual sphere than the white box art world at this point, partially just because there are so many more points of harmony between my work and worldview and those musicians than, say, a blue chip gallery curator. I try to set myself apart from it to the extent that I approach my creative path as fluidly as possible, flowing into whatever scenes and industries offer the path of least artistic resistance and the most leeway for me to both make challenging work and not have to come to terms with my short scene-attention span.
Especially in the realm of dance music, the inherently abstract nature of it and the way in which it operates partially within your mind with some creative freedom means the visual element that is paired with it can be incredibly important to communicating a narrative or emotional context to the listener. More than just a simple promotional device, which it's often approached as, the visual augmentation of a musical piece both allows for some added nuance to the sonic message and provides crevices in the rock-face of the track or album for the listener to grab ahold of. Without the anchor points of visuality, it's far easier to slip around and glide on the surface of a song without truly being able to explore the depths of its emotional or conceptual implications."

Dima Shiryaev

Location: St. Petersburg, Russia

Style: Shiryaev's posters and flyers are informed by his clear love for typography, whether it's a clean, well-placed sans serif or a riotous stretched font that allows letters to fill an entire canvas; he's also got a penchant for collage and messing around with shapes.

the artists approach the music is taking visuals and adding them in random ways which allow the audience to consider their placement and value to the piece, similar to the way that when listening to music one must consider the value of particular parts to the song. This tactile approach takes mixed media and puts it into a modern upbeat and contemporary setting.

When asked about her approach to design Dima quoted "There is a lot of different music being produced nowadays and one has to look for new and innovative ways to represent it visually. There are quite interesting, unusual, and even strange (in a good sense) approaches. It is curious to observe the evolution of these techniques and, at the same time, to be a part of it. I would like to design not only for dance music, but also for other styles (shoegaze, ambient, drone) but, unfortunately, there is no demand for such design.Graphic formalization gives volume to the music. It's an additional qualitative dimension. I think design should stimulate you to explore it for a long time, looking for all the details."