Willisau Jazz Festival 2025
Advanced Publication Design
Fall 2025
This project served as the culmination of our Advanced Publication Design course, bringing together the systems, typographic control, and layout strategies we developed throughout the semester. The assignment was to design a cohesive, magazine-style booklet that demonstrated our ability to craft comprehensive, well-designed spreads with a unified visual language.
Process
Concept
Given significant creative freedom, I chose to push the concept further by creating two distinct versions using the same content to evoke opposing emotional experiences. One edition embraces the improvisational, expressive, and fluid energy of jazz through dynamic layouts and movement-driven compositions. The other leans into jazz’s classical foundations, emphasizing structure, restraint, and a refined branding system.
Rather than choosing between expressive freedom and disciplined consistency, I explored both, using design as a tool to interpret the dual nature of jazz itself.
Inspiration
My visual approach for this project was heavily inspired by vintage jazz posters from the mid-20th century. I really liked the expressive layouts and the way they used rhythm to visually mirror the improvisational nature of the music itself. Many of these posters feel musical in their composition, which became a key influence in my designs. On the other side, I also looked at the more structured side of classic jazz advertising where strong typographic systems and restrained compositions give the music a sense of sophistication. These references would inform my two contrasting layout directions, allowing me to then mix these influences with my personal style to create more contemporary editorial spreads, while still reinforcing the project’s exploration of jazz’s identity: spontaneous and creative yet disciplined and refined.
