BSMT
254
In a city where complaints equate live music with noise, highly amplified sound is hard to come so Vas Cranis (former manager at Lula Lounge) and business partner Alex Bordokas decided to go underground, literally. They transformed BSMT 254 (pronounced 'Basement Two Five Four’) which has an old Portuguese bar tavern vibe to it, into one of Toronto’s most welcoming venue for underrepresented groups in the city.
Over time they put up a coat of paint here, called an electrician there, threw a party, made some money, paid off some debts, applied for their required liquor licence and installed the custom built Higher Heights Hi-Fi Sound System. With tastes so diverse their programming philosophy welcomes a range of varied musical styles including monthly series of reggae, contemporary jazz, and Latin and South American influences, alongside regular electronic DJ events.
GRAPHIC DESIGN
BRAND IDENTITY
In the summer of 2022, I was asked by Alex if I could help rebrand their social media assets and create a visual identity that would bring to life their in-house promoted events. I presented a branding proposal with the goal of creating a new system of design that would capture the energy and momentum of classic world, jazz and electronic music and at the same time, increase relevance to newer audiences. This system also had to be malleable enough to be used across a number of campaigns using Instagram, Facebook, and Eventbrite.
Since many of the events include music scenes from the Caribbean and Central and South America, I drew inspiration from the visual and typographic language of classic reggae Brazilian, Latin, and Cuban album covers/posters and created a homage with a cleaner, bolder, finish. Riffing on this association, I utilized a primary colour palette of green, yellow, and red that is used frequently on album covers and compilations. Organic shapes and gradients are placed atop floral patterns used to make clothing from these various regions, which were then scanned, digitally altered and placed in the background.
The BSMT 254 logo serves as the anchor point for the important information which incorporates Roboto and Rubik fonts pulled from their website. New logos were designed for several of the monthly event series including Saturday Night Rockers, Pena Criolla, and Meltemi, taking inspiration from each of the different music styles they express. The result is a simple refresh that is confident, expressive, and implements a vibrant palette with bold typography as band members/DJ’s are positioned centre stage. This is a system that is no frills: just the title, type of music, the artist name, location, and cost, built to flex and stretch across every channel, and are deliberately complementary.