CYN Music — Branding and house bag
CYN Music is an independent record label specialising in electronic music. Since its inception in 2010 as a means for the producer, Cyantific, to release his own choice of material, it has grown to become a platform for some of the most exciting artists emerging onto the drum and bass scene.
The CYN team required some new and powerful branding to push the label on, as well as a house bag to be used for releases from a variety of artists. The sleeves are individualised with bespoke artwork in the form of stickers applied to each release.
The idea behind the brand is to imagine the record label as a scientific research facility, continually striving to develop new and exciting advances. With this in mind, an industrial style approach was proposed. A series of icons based on a combination of chemical hazard symbols and packaging graphics were designed. These icons could then be mixed and matched when applied to various products thus suggesting a versatile, constantly developing company. The artwork for the house bag, printed in black on a cardboard style stock, is deliberately roughened to give the appearance of having been printed flexographically.
It's the little touches that make a brand narrative like this work. For example, in reference to the record within the sleeve — its full chemical composition is listed, along with the approximate weight in grams of the vinyl.
