BELLS is a mostly instrumental ambient post-rock band launched in 2011 by friends Sean Hennessey (This or the Apocalypse) and Jon Hershey (August Burns Red) in Lancaster, PA. Tim Kettering and Joseph Terranova (Castle Worries) joined in 2012, and BELLS launched their debut album, Our Forest, Our Empire later that year.
For my thesis project at Pennsylvania College of Art & Design, I wanted to create a brand system which evolves over each consumer touchpoint, becoming more and more unique and abstract as the customer approaches fandom while maintaining recognizability.
Chromatic Aberration
Traditionally, the purpose of a lens is to focus incoming light onto a specific point. When the lens fails to do this correctly, a visual distortion called chromatic aberration is produced. This distortion creates brightly colored "fringes" along edges of the image that exhibit high contrast.
BELLS' existing branding was comprised primarily of high contrast black content against a white background. This high contrast increases the potential of visible chromatic distortion, and I wanted to incorporate it as a design element. After trying a few different methods of creating this distortion digitally and failing to achieve the look I desired, I discovered a unique imaging process called scanography.
Scanography
Scanography is the process of capturing images using a flatbed photo scanner. This became the key to creating the brand's unique look. If a high-contrast image in motion is captured using certain types of scanners, it will appear split into its individual color components. This physical process was followed with some digital cleanup of the resulting scans.
Raw Results from the scanographic process
These distortions of the logo resulted were reprocessed and used as a graphic element, giving the brand color and movement.
Coloring in the Sun
BELLS' newest release is an 11-track album titled Coloring in the Sun. As part of this project, I created a jewel case and CD label design, as well as promotional buttons and stickers.
Web and Motion
A critical part of any brand concept is its presentation on digital devices. I created a motion piece depicting its gradual abstraction, and used it as the hero for the website. The site includes quick access to tour dates and tickets, places to stream and buy BELLS' albums, and a web store for BELLS merchandise.
Poster & AR Visualizer
The final component of the brand system included a promotional poster with a companion app. When running on a device, the companion app displays a 3D visualizer in augmented reality tethered to the poster, and plays select tracks from Coloring in the Sun.
Footage of the visualizer in action will be available after the PCA&D Senior Show & Celebration on May 3.
