Melanie, McKenzie, and Madelyn Merchant are the oldest of 7 musical siblings from Gilbert, Arizona entertaining audiences from Arizona to New York. By 2006, Melanie had become a featured singer-songwriter and opened with an original song for a benefit event honoring the legendary Wynonna Judd. In the Summer of 2007, they formed their country-bluegrass band Melanie and Firefly to perform during Writer’s Night at the world-famous Bluebird Cafe in Nashville, Tennessee. They went on to share the stage with The Gin Blossoms, Ryan Shupe & The Rubberband, and Benton Paul later that year.
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In expanding Firefly‘s reach and fanbase, I created social media accounts for Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Reverbnation and Flickr (this was also when MySpace was still desirable so I did that too). No matter where you went on the web, Firefly once had a distinctive visual brand that matched their message. Every web address or profile name is easily remembered as “iheartfirefly.”
Over time, each website has changed its functionality, appearance, and user audience. Additionally, Firefly was given responsibility to manage their own accounts so none of the pages look as they once did when everything was streamlined in the visual brand I created for them.
Whether use at 120×120 pixels or reduced to 16×16 pixels, the idea was that you could still identify them by their logo and faces anywhere on the web. Here is the profile picture most often used by Firefly on each account:
iTunes requires artwork to be submitted the same time as music so everything can be registered as a bundle. We had the music but needed artwork so here is what I came up with using elements of their visual brand design portfolio.
When Firefly got their first tracks loaded to iTunes it was very exciting but we knew they needed something tangible to remind fans to go home and download their music after seeing their show. So, I created these printed cards:
Later, Firefly decided to release a Christmas single and we kept the iTunes artwork within the parameters of their visual brand:
This is a free-standing banner I created for Firefly. It’s important to have your name visible where your audience can see it. Many times they will not know who you are if you they did not come to see you specifically. Make sure to add your web address too so they can find out more about you and future shows.
McKenzie Merchant of Firefly playing near her band stage banner:
Banner Design:
AUTOGRAPH POSTER
I designed this 8″x10″ poster as part of Firefly’s merchandise line. During the Recession, fans bought smaller ticket items but still made some purchases. Many just wanted something for the girls to sign and this was an affordable solution in addition to concert tickets and t-shirts.
T-SHIRT
This is the original design for Firefly’s private showcase and then continued printing them for future concerts and events. We printed white ink with gold foil on black for adults and purple for young girls.
