DJ Helios
ROLE
Sr. Art Director / Designer
CATEGORY
Branding / Editorial
SKILLS
Art Direction / Design
OVERVIEW
DJ Helios is a bilingual DJ based in Austin, TX. When we started working together in 2020, she needed a rebrand of her logo, website, and imagery. Over the years, we’ve collaborated on flyers, album art, stickers and photography. Below are some of my favorite selections from our partnership.
MILLION PIECE
MISSION
THE GOAL
ADDITIONAL
CONSIDERATIONS
Keeping with
a vision
WORKING WITH PEOPLE
SUGAR RIBS
DJ HELIOS
BRINGING IT TO LIFE
RISE ABOVE
A GUINNESS
WORLD RECORD?!
WELCOME TO ZULILY
ENHANCED HUMAN
COGNITIVE OPS
DJ Helios started as a wedding DJ, but wanted to transition into more artist based gigs. Her goal was to create a branding presence to attract nightclubs and festivals to book her. We knew her branding had to communicate that she was strong, independent and, above all, cool as hell.
STOP, AND LISTEN
AND THEN,
COVID HAPPENED
HOW IT WENT
It was my responsibility to help define the kind of world we were going to build. In working with a copywriter to develop ideas for the scenarios mom would be in, we landed on a Willy Wonka meets Wes Anderson visual look with an unexpectedly delightful tone. The copywriter and I were also responsible for helping with scripts, storyboards, art direction, photography, selecting the production partner to work with, casting, wardrobe and set design.
THE VIRTUAL AIRMAN
We filmed our Airmen using a data capture camera that we could overlay effects on. Coaching our talent to sound like a helpful guide through the experiences was a great way to spend the day.
RAPID RECON
In this head-to-head style game, users competed to press the color of the word listed on the screen. “RED” could be seen in yellow, but only the yellow button is the correct answer.
Lessons Learned
- Collaboration with the owner of the brand. Sometimes in advertising, the creatives can view the client as an entity trying to kill the work. Working with DJ Helios is always a joy because she has a clear vision of what she does and doesn’t like, and it’s incredibly powerful to be able to lean into her instincts as well to make the work better.
- Get playful. When working on a creative brand, it’s always a challenge to break outside the box of what I know. With DJ Helios, I try to stay loose with the designs and practice play.
FANTASTIC PEOPLE
I WORKED WITH
DJ / Co-Creator - Laura Villalobos