Live music is a staple in every part of the world. Concerts, music halls, symphonies, raves, they all have different names and ways of delivering the songs. But, they are all connected in a core point - bringing people together to experience emotion through music and performance. SONOROUS is meant to be the peak of this experience. A facility that can change to fit the needs of any type of musical performance.
SONOROUS is live entertainment that goes beyond a regular experience. Musical experiences can be found in bars and at cafés around the globe. In a world where something can be trending one day and old news the next week, you need something malleable.
But, what is the actual theater like? It is a dome, with a 360º stage, a rising floor, indoor pyrotechnics, wind effects and projections.The band would be placed around the guests, with bridges going from the main front stage to the two secondary side-of and behind-guest stages. This setup would allow for limitless options when it comes to reconfiguration. Projectors offer new backdrops which can transport the audience to exciting locations or be used to digitally extend the size of the stage.
Everything begins with research and inspiration, and SONOROUS began in the same way. How had other theaters and spaces used technology to amplify the music performance experience?
And, how had other music and audio-based brands used color and shape to showcase dynamic aspects of their companies.
A project such as this needed a strong visual identity. After more than 500 initial logo sketches, I came up with an arrangement of logos to bring into Adobe Illustrator. These logos needed to portray vivid energy in a simplistic form.
My initial logo ideas were vectorized, and while it gave some ideas on how to form the final look, it wasn't exactly the feeling of the experience. And, some logos ended up too close to that of other speaker brands or concert halls.
I decided to take inspiration from the simplest form of the name, the actual audio wave of the name itself. Since SONOROUS is this idea of bring light and magic from sound, why not use the sound to produce the visual. This audio wave gave me these individual markers to create with.
This provided me with dots, which were to represent human beings in the space. I was also given lines, which I used to represent the audio and light in the space. I used these elements to form an abstract shape of a dome.
Vibrant colors were used to showcase the energetic nature of the entertainment offering. And each color was given a meaning. The pink symbolizes the audience, wrapped by the sound and light. They are the basis of the experience, so they are also the base of the logo. The blue symbolizes the light, as it reaches ever upward, much like light itself. The light also helps create the roof of the dome shape of the logo. With projections filling the dome, light will literally be the roof and walls of this space. Lastly, the green symbolizes the sound in SONOROUS. The logo, much like the space, surrounds the audience with sound. Sound is intertwined throughout everything, and this needs to be visible in the logo.
First to be released, a teaser of things to come. The introduction of this attraction needs to be focused on this idea of sound, light and magic. It also showcases the logo bump.
Advertisements would keep this idea going. Behind-the-scenes videos would give away sneak peeks of this concert hall. Music partnerships would be revealed as it got closer to the opening.
Here we can see two different kinds of advertisement for the experience. On the left is a double-sided print that would be mailed with gifts for media and influencers. On the right is a flyer that could be plastered all over a theme park or entertainment district. These would go up the day of the first soft-opening concert and stay up for a few weeks after the grand opening. Much like when bands take their flyers all over a city before the big day, SONOROUS would also cover their respective areas in these ads.
The biggest advantage of SONOROUS would be its ability to host major artists every single day. Through the use of the Pepper's ghost illusion or look-alike performers, major artists could "take the stage" for numerous concerts a day. Projection mapping on the dome, combined with spotlights and pyrotechnics, could bring music videos into the real world.
SONOROUS could be applicable in populous entertainment cities, like Las Vegas. But, as showcased in the ads above, the original idea for this experience was in a theme park like those at the Universal Orlando Resort. NBC, being the parent company of Universal, could use this space to show off their newest musical artists as well as have tie-ins with upcoming films and shows. For special weekend events, SONOROUS could be used for private concerts. Free virtual shows during the day, with an exclusive showing from the true artist that night for a fee.
This space could run shorter shows twice an hour, with a heavy focus on the projection mapping and lighting. Or, it could have fewer showings, but longer concerts with a full scale band. The projection mapping and Pepper's ghost effects allow the shows to be scaleable. Music genres could change with each showing, with the daily shows starting with country, moving to pop in the afternoon and ending the night with electric house music. The ability to pre-load in projections, pre-program lights and digital talent, as well as having live talent alter their performance from show to show makes SONOROUS easy to update and keep fresh. And, the powerful feeling of music in a shared space, with the emotion behind well-timed lighting and special effect, makes for a timeless experience.
SONOROUS – Where Sound, Light, & Magic Meet.