JOSHUA LARKE
GRAPHIC DESIGN


Common Unity is a record shop and label based in the heart of Leeds.  It has been a cornerstone of the city’s music scene for over 20 years. They needed a fresh brand identity that reflects their core values of community, progressive music culture, and distinctive street style. The challenge was to build a visual identity that reflects the importance of community within the city’s music industry.

The ‘U’ in the word ‘Unity’ is shaped as a waveform, echoing the grooves which are etched into a vinyl record. The ‘U’ also acts as a symbol of community by physically connecting the words in the logo. To capture the raw and somewhat unpolished energy of underground music, I used an ink bleed effect, which merges the letters and words into one cohesive mark. This gives the logo an imperfect, hand pressed look, which is intended to mirror the brand's unpolished and authentic identity.

Event posters follow a consistent system, with the red, black and white colour scheme and a mix of grungy photography or the noisy gradients used in the previous posters. This follows the brand's unpolished and raw identity.