RESEARCH
What is Bolero?
Bolero music is something me as well as many other Vietnamese grew up with. While the name Bolero comes from a style of music in 19th century Cuba, Vietnamese Bolero is completely different.
In Vietnam, the term is a generalization of music from Southern Vietnam that is written in a slow tempo and has simple yet beautiful, memorable lyrics.
Keywords: pre-war music, resilience, generational, slow, gentle, sentimental, slow tempo, longing, love, nostalgia
How might we celebrate the legacy of Vietnamese Bolero music to contemporary culture and audiences?
Visual Study
Bolero music is something me as well as many other Vietnamese grew up with. While the name Bolero comes from a style of music in 19th century Cuba, Vietnamese Bolero is completely different. In Vietnam, the term is a generalization of music from Southern Vietnam that is written in a slow tempo and has simple yet beautiful, memorable lyrics.
VISUAL IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT
Wordmark explorations
Going in, I had two main directions for the wordmark: 1. Focus on the rhythmic and elegant aspects of the publication and the topic, playing with the flow of the baseline of the letterforms. This turns out to be either chaotic or too western/modern for the concept.
2. Lean into Vietnamese vintage lettering style in the word mark.
First-round explorations
A callback to old newspaper in the wordmark
The word mark puts focus on the rhythmic and elegant aspects of the publication and the topic. My approach here is to play with the flow of the baseline of the letterforms and incorporate Vietnamese language scripts and punctuation in the word mark.
Nostalgia invoking elements
From the visual study, I knew I wanted duo-toned treatment for the images. As a reflection of Vietnam's national flag, I chose a muted tone of red and yellow as the main color accents for the publication.
Paired with two serif typeface, I aim to celebrate this culturally symbolic genre and its elegance, in contrast to the powerful word mark.
SPREAD DEVELOPMENT
Movement across pages
A main typographic grid divides each page into eight columns, plus a secondary grid dividing each of these columns in half. This provides flexibility to section off images and create a sense of rhythm and movement in the layout.
Tension is created through overlapping, but still legible, type and images.
Connection across spreads
Putting emphasis on the connection and nostalgia of bolero music in our culture, playing with the placement of the headline, connecting type by using alignments and grouping.
FINALS
