Listener
Jiwon Kim
See it On Campus: Level 2
Visitor InfoProject Idea
The First Exploration
I asked people close to me what songs reminded of me for what reason and collected five different songs. I thought the elements of those songs had some aspects that could express me and decided to make posters that each express me as well as the song by visualizing the reasons they mentioned and the song’s musical elements.
Songs Collected
Walk With Me by Sunwoo Jung-a
나랑 걷자 – 선우정아
“The lyrics of this song say exactly what I want to tell you. Those who care more about others and the warmth of it come to my mind when I see the lyrics, and this reminds me of you.”
Monitus by Park Jeong-eun
“If you were a color, I think it would be achromatic but it’s not dark and dull. So I chose a song that feels clean and achromatic, but with a melody that is not dark. The lyrics are Latin sayings and I think it suits you as well.”
Anti-Hero by Taylor Swift
“It felt new that Taylor Swift wrote such lyrics. She seemed to have a lot of worries in her mind, and it reminded me of you in that you don’t bring up the negatives inside.”
Giorgio by Moroder by Daft Punk
“I feel like the lyrics of this song are expressing your attitude towards life.”
A Lover’s Concerto by Sandy Linzer
“You always seem like a true person to yourself, so this lyric “Be always true to me” reminds me of you the most.”
Self Portrait Series ⏤ Five Posters
From Walk With Me to A Lover’s Concerto, five posters express a shift in emotion from complexity to freedom, as well as songs, depending on the color, lyrics and sound waves of the song used.
The Second Exploration
I distributed a survey from October to mid November in 2023. The purpose was to collect people’s personal stories about their memorable songs and understand how individuals perceive, rely on, and value music through certain events in life. 56 responses with different songs and stories were collected as a result.
Branding
Listener was created based on the overall project idea and the resource from the survey.
Listener is a brand born with the belief that a song is composed of the listener’s memories and feelings and can be visualized by them. There are a lot of stories between you and your cherished songs, and Listener re-interprets and turns them into the only tangible objects in the world. When the request form is submitted, the visualization process begins based on it. After production, Listener ships the completed piece to you with a card showing what elements of your story were used.
Wordmark & Logomark
Inspired by F clef(Bass clef), the logomark symbolizes an ear and creation.
Typography
Color Palette
Request Form
The survey was turned into a Request Form in line with the branding idea. Listener uses it to receive clients’ song-related memories and gather keywords to visualize.
Three of the survey responses were chosen to be Listener’s works,
and three songs were visualized using people’s answers as materials.
Marjorie by Taylor Swift ⏤ A postcard for…
The story from this listener:
“My grandfather passed away in 2021 and whenever I listen to this song, my memories with him come to life vividly. In the lyrics, Taylor’s grandmother gives advice to Taylor, which feels like a message to me.”
Design keywords:
Advice, Reminiscence, Death is not parting, Remembrance.
Memories, soon to be a chapter of an anthology by Shin Jihoon
신지훈 – 추억은 한 편의 산문집 되어
⏤ A light anthology
The story from this listener:
“I feel very light, my concerns being lifted up by a little, and very comforted after listening to this song.”
Design keywords:
Dreamy and light feeling, Nostalgia, Being lost in thought
그대는 어떤 장면들을 지우고파서 후회 속의 꿈 꾸는 걸 잊었나요
What scenes did you want to erase so you forgot to dream in regret
저 멀리 저 멀리 사라져 가는 이 시절이 의미 없게만 느껴져
These days that fade away seem meaningless
우린 잃어버린 것도 없이 뭔갈 찾아 헤맸네
We’ve been looking for something we haven’t lost
그러나 밤하늘을 올려다봤을 때 함께 세었던 별들이 그대로였죠
But when I looked up into the night sky, the stars we counted together remained the same
이 시절도 가네요
내 손 꼭 잡아요
그저 우리 훨훨 날아가자구요
Days are passing by
Hold my hand
Let’s just fly away
Go by Nell ⏤ A calendar: parting steps
The story from this listener:
“I went to Nell’s concert at a time when the distressed feelings of wandering alone followed me every winter. I ended a long-delayed breakup there.”
Design keywords:
Farewell, December 2019, Time travel, Nostalgia, Film in the projector
The calendar is completed as each page depicting the memories from the breakup piles up according to this person’s story of listening to this song in the process of accepting the breakup.
Product Card
Sticker
Exhibition
I would like to thank all those who have shared precious stories for my project.
Also a big thank you to everyone who has encouraged and guided me throughout the eight-month journey.
