As part of a school assignment, we had to act as both designer and client. We had to write our resume as the designer, but also had to write a brief as the client. On the basis of those, we were coupled with a classmate.

For my role as the designer, I was briefed to create the graphic identity for fictional Ostend-based singer-songwriter Leonid Kosjev. The brief was: ‘think Leonard Cohen’. It was a great opportunity for me to use a dark colour palette and invoke a sense of melancholy and desolation.

I applied the identity on a vinyl cover, a poster for the record’s release show, a Facebook banner and two Instagram stories. The atmosphere is set by trying a modern take on ‘Western’ design: a condensed font, photographs taken in the desert and tones of grey and brown. For the poster I wanted to establish a deeper meaning and therefore used a vintage, yet mysterious, photograph of the venue.