The Victorian Youth Symphony Orchestra is Australia's longest running community orchestra. A suit who I worked with plays double bass, and she invited me to join the VYSO (I play violin - not very well, mind you!). After a few weeks, we came to the conclusion that VYSO needed a rebrand. So we got a crew together at J. Walter Thompson and overhauled the orchestra's identity. Classical music is cool, so an orchestra has to look cool. 

We designed an entirely new look and feel - a minimal design coupled with a hashtagged logo - #RAW VYSO. 

Each poster visualises the theme of the concert. From love and heartache to wars, computer games and agent provocateurs. And as soon as we started putting these images around town, classical musicians started to talk. Who was this rogue orchestra?

'Innocence & Experience' 

The vigour and frivolity of youthful innocence vs the heartache, passion and grit of experience.

'Battlecry'

You are a warrior, wielding a bloodied sword and a scarred flag, marching resolutely towards your enemy. You will fight, and you will win. We hit you with epic orchestral moments from World of Warcraft and a suite from epic video games. There’s also a good dose of Beethoven for you purists out there.

Write your own rules, then break ’em. Rebel against normal, against platitudes, against mediocrity. Agitate. In this concert, we play the music that broke new ground, pissed off the Establishment and allowed the new generation emerge. 

Heavy metal for orchestra, political deception, a gypsy rebellion and 1920s Berlin subversiveness. From the sublime to the bizarre, this is music that pushes the boundaries of what an orchestra can sound like. 

You are supposed to cry in this concert. Think of your one, true love – the love that you let go. Think of pain, aching and awful. Think of loss – of death, of tragedy.

Now, think of that sliver of light amidst the dark – cling to it, for it will get you through. 

Our Instagram feed is like a scrapbook - it's raw, visceral, not overly polished.