Drum With Alex

Brand Strategy / Visual Identity / Social Media Design / Responsive Logo Design / Favicon Design / Merchandise Design

Drum With Alex is a rebrand of Alex Lewis Drum Lessons, the project aimed to freshen up the old visuals and create a cohesive, professional look and feel for their movement into a market of online lessons due to the impacts of Covid-19.

Brief

Drum with Alex, a drum school that caters to British tweens and adult beginners, asked for my assistance in achieving two objectives. Firstly, to rejuvenate and develop their current visual identity, which solely consisted of a single logo and the red, black and white colour palette. Secondly, to establish an online presence, primarily on social media, with the goal of enhancing brand recognition, bolstering student enrolment, and cultivating a sense of community among drum enthusiasts.

Inspiration

To ensure a comprehensive understanding of Alex’s requirements, I conducted extensive research, which commenced with holding a Zoom (This all occurred during lockdown) focus group. Attendees included current and potential students, the founder Alex, and the financing parents who although don’t necessarily play still make up a crucial percentage of the target market. Our research findings enabled us to define the brand's personality which needed to be exciting, fun and loud but cool, while also being supportive and professional. 

Important to note is that we discovered there was a potential market niche in celebrating purely British drumming; we took this and used it as a key influence. With that in mind inspiration was drawn from the British flag, British punk rock fashion specifically iconic figures and works of figures like Vivienne Westwood. Additionally, we incorporated elements from notes used in drum music notation.

Approach

We crafted a responsive logo that is adaptable and well-suited for digital branding across multiple platforms. The form of which incorporated the crash symbol from drum notation with the ‘x’ of Alex, giving the brand mark a distinct look. We pulled this concept further through the brand, using drum notations to create a suite of icons for the Instagram highlight reel covers.

After experimenting with colour the red, black and white stuck but was a accompanied by a gradient which added depth and gives a sense of progression, a positive feeling in learning.

We rounded off the identity by selecting a primary and secondary typeface that complemented the brand's character. For the primary typeface, we chose a bold and confident sans-serif, and for the secondary typeface, we selected a contrasting but cool and varsity-inspired serif that added an extra touch of personality. The supportive element of the brand was to be brought in through copy writing.

I worked closely with Alex and key stakeholders to develop and refine all of the visual elements. After the final designs were approved, I created a comprehensive visual brand guideline to ensure the safety and consistency of the brand strategy and image.

Outcome

We successfully leveraged the newly crafted visual identity to create a comprehensive suite of social media assets for launch. By utilising the suite of social media assets we had created, we were able to implement a successful marketing strategy that achieved a multitude of objectives. Developing a sense of community; encouraged active engagement amongst followers and ultimately resulting in increased brand awareness and an influx of lesson inquiries and purchases. This successful conversion resulted in significant growth and success in the online space.

Through the initial focus group, we discovered a shared passion for concerts and merchandise amongst everyone. Seeing this as a unique opportunity, we decided to create merchandise such as pin badges, tote bags, and tee-shirts as an avenue of additional income. This had a lovely bi product; once released from lockdown students were thrilled to see each other wearing the same tee-shirt or carrying the same bag, further connecting the community and creating excitement. At the same making these students walking adverts for the brand.

Ultimately the design work successfully achieved Alex's goals, creating a visually compelling brand identity that connects with their target audience, establishing a robust online presence, and promoting growth for the school.