Redefining the graphical assets of an established label like Revealed Recordings is a bold and risky move. However, if done correctly, it can add some freshness to the branding and improve its social media facet. If last year’s one hit the sweet spot, the present attempt flies right past the bullseye, for us.
The foremost of the issues begin with the font. Bebas Neue has always been Revealed’s unique layout, and despite adopting another appreciable style, we can’t comprehend the necessity of this choice. The risk of upsetting the usual and recognised illustration is extremely high and there aren’t any noticeable advantages. Following the trend of “thicker” letters wasn’t compulsory.
Then the “grunge” style, amalgamated with the gritty look is extremely familiar.
Is it strange? No way, it isn’t, especially considering that it seems highly inspired by the Musical Freedom and STMPD ones, who take notes from the trending underground Hip-Hop arts. Fortunately, the competitors mostly release Bass/Electro House, which suits the dark and “underground” essence of the design.
Revealed, however, simply cloned a trendy format without second thoughts. In addition to that, adopting the torn paper effects on the borders and the middle fold for EVERY future art-work seems not only a debatable choice (a clichè, in the designer community) but half-baked and not befitting (that’s not a manuscript, but an EDM release!).
Speaking about Radar, the new “community” sublabel, this minimal design doesn’t change for every release (STMPD and MF have excellent artists that craft unique visuals every time), but simply switches a generic abstract background and the logo color, more like DOORN… The label with possibly the most unmodish designs. Say after fifty releases, the approach will become unbearable to see.
Revealed Radar may have potential, but upon introspection, it is nothing but a downgrade of an already simple blueprint for us. The insane amount of releases (three per week) keeps overshadowing the few quality tunes in there, and this method isn’t helping.
Previous year re-brand was highly praised by the community and fan-base… This non-essential move caught us by surprise, and not in a pleasing way. Only time will unveil what the Dutch imprint will settle for, because we are just judging the book by its cover, for now… Content always (in this case, music & management choices) is the key to audience engagement.
What do you think?
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