Lead Design Director for Genius’ 4th annual IQ/BBQ at The Knockdown Center in Brooklyn, New York.

ROLES

Design Direction
System Design
Experiential
Graphic Design

PRESS

Brooklyn Vegan
NYS Music
Time Out
OkPlayer
The Gothamist
Vibe
BKmag

CREDITS

TEAM

Executive Creative Director: Inessah Selditz
Creative Director: Matt Dillman
Associate Design Director, Experiential: Stevie Meder
Associate Design Director, Graphics: Mike Zoppo
Lead Graphic Designer: Gerardo Mendez
Senior Graphic Designer: Mizuki Tsujikawa
Lead Producer: Katie Broderick
Account Lead: Levi Jacobson
Creative Producer: Kyle Greenburg

OVERVIEW

Beginning in November of 2022, Superfly and Genius collaborated together to reimagine Genius’ tentpole event–IQ/BBQ. Over the course of a year and four phases of work, our two teams brought IQ/BBQ back to New York in celebration of the 50th anniversary of Hip-Hop on August 19 at the Knockdown Center in Brooklyn.

As lead Design Director, I led the overall creation, development, and execution of IQ/BBQ’s VIS ID. This involved collaborating with Genius’ brand team to create a modular, unique, and bold graphic design system that worked across all touch-points from large-scale environmental graphics to small collateral.

Theme & Positioning

THEME & POSITIONING

Celebrating the first
50 Years of Hip-Hop

Genius’ celebration of hip-hop’s 50th anniversary was a year-long excursion illuminating the legendary lyrics, genre-defining beats, and insightful stories from the last five decades. Celebrating hip-hop is just another day at the office for Genius, but the 50 year milestone puts an even greater focus on our role in telling the deeper meaning behind hip-hop's most important moments.

Design System

DESIGN SYSTEM

Mood Board
& Inspiration

Hip-hop has always been a blend of technique and artistry. For The 50th design system, the interaction of precise and freeform elements bring this duality to life.

We found inspiration in hip-hop ephemera, rooting us in the exploration of knowledge around the genre's evolution and history. Subtle allusions to misprints and drafts show how even things that scale to the masses feel personal and tactile.

These small nods to found objects help bring out the grit from hip-hop’s foundations. A streamlined core palette with bold accents help us strike a tone of reverence. And personal, analog touches create a feeling of celebration.

DESIGN SYSTEM

Color Palette & Graphic Marks

DESIGN SYSTEM

Executional Elements

Streamlined Palette

Grey and black are the grounding colors for the IQ/BBQ design system.
Archival Marks + Ephemera

Archival marks and vinyl slip form fields are used as inspiration for design accents. These elements combined with abstracted raster overlays and strategic cropping of elements elevate the graphic/atmospheric nature of the system.
Accent Colors

Accent colors from our secondary color palette work to intentionally complement our lyrics and photography. Color is used to both add pops of color and work as wayfinding for attendees.
"Mis"registration Marks

Registration, crop, and mechanical marks are used to represent the “drafting” stage style. These elements are placed slightly off-centered to represent misregistration.
Lyrics & Ad-libs

Lyrics and ad-libs are cornerstones of the IQ/BBQ ethos and Genius’ core brand equity. They are woven throughout our print and environmental collateral to give guests the feeling that they’re encapsulated within the IQ/BBQ universe, both close-up and from far away.
Analog Marks

A nod to analog annotations and light imperfections adds secondary visual interest.