Moodboards
I started the creation of the brand by weighing out my options and analysing them. After careful consideration and analysis I realised that I want to attempt to work in a more risky style which I have not experimented with in the past, for which the folk metal genre is perfect. It is a popular genre filled with history and culture but it is very rare to see it in mainstream media, nor does it have a demand, which means it is up to me to create a brand and a demand for the genre via this project. This genre was not simply chosen due to bias however, since this project is heavily focused on animated assets, I felt like this brand would heavily intertwine with animation due to how versatile and detailed the style is, bringing tapestry-like art to life and making it more interactive for the user to want to engage which would help with creating a demand.
Brand matrix
After finalising my choice I needed to gather more inspiration images in order to narrow down how exactly I want my brand to look and feel. Folk metal is very inclusive, ranging from songs about vikings and legends to pirates, it is my duty to encapsulate its rich variety in one singular music store. The most widespread versions of folk metal is vikings and slavic folklore/fairytales popularised by bands such as Amon Amarth and Woodscream, and due to that the genre would typically make people associate it with old art from those eras. It is very nature centred and traditional, meaning I will probably be severely limited by what kind of visual assets I am going to be able to create.