SARAH KLASSEN



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SUMMER EYES
2023–2024

Summer Eyes is an award winning Alternative/Indie trio from Abbotsford, Canada. I served as creative director during the release of their debut album Bending Towards the Sun. The project included leading a social media campaign, designing album art, photography, copywriting, designing and screen printing merchandise, and directing music videos.




Growing an audience

Social media content made up the bulk of the project. I created teasers, filmed interviews, made behind the scenes content, and promoted live performances. Summer Eyes released 4 singles leading up to the album; each was assigned a unique symbol which subtly referenced a lyric in the song. The symbols then came together to create this geometric visual identity which I used throughout the teasers, merchandise, and advertising.






Encapsulating the project

In collaboration with Vancouver artist Scott Radnidge, I created the album art for 2 of their singles and their debut album Bending Towards the Sun. The artworks were selected based on our initial moodboard and cropped for the covers. Then, I used the remaining artwork in a series of teasers that revealed the full image.





Exploring new skills

In the process of designing merchandise, I learned how to screen print and made their first run of merch by hand. I designed a tee shirt and sticker based on the geometric symbols assigned to each single, and later a shirt and sticker featuring their album art.





I also learned how to shoot concert photography during this process. I attended three of their live performances to take photos, and enjoyed experimenting with light and color.





Rewind

This is the first video I created with Summer Eyes which I directed, filmed, and edited myself. I chose this location to mimic a dream-like memory in which I imagined the band was recalling.







Another Life

This music video was created entirely using Wii Music. I designed Mii characters to look like the band members and recorded them playing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star dozens of times. Then I edited it to appear as though the band was performing their own song. I used this nostalgic video game setting to match the dynamic synthesizers heard in the song.






How might we create inspiring and thoughtful content that gets viewers excited while showing authentically who the band members are as artists?

At the beginning of the project, I hosted a design workshop where we honed in on the band's collective vision. From our initial meeting, I identified their core values and project goals, created a rough schedule, and put together a moodboard. This became the framework that we worked with throughout the project to ensure we were creating content that aligned with the band's values and creative vision.

Chris and Jeremy wanted to grow their audience beyond friends and family, and generate excitement about their new music. They also wanted the brand to acknowledge that Summer Eyes is creating new and relevant music, but it comes from seasoned musicians. This authentic life experience is reflected in the music but also in any creative content released.