written by PackFM on Mar 19, 2008

One of the advantages of being on QN5 is that more than half of the roster has a background in graphic design (Tonedeff, Substantial, Kno and myself all studied design in school). Which means with very few exceptions, pretty much all of the artwork is done in-house. So that automatically sets a high standard for the visual aspect of what we do. Luckily when it comes to cover art, and merchandise we have full creative control. But one area that is usually out of our hands is concert flyers.

You would think it’s not that hard to get a simple flyer that is informative and attractive at the same time.

WRONG!

Here’s the clause that is in the standard QN5 contract verbatum:

ADVERTISEMENT: Artists are to have FINAL APPROVAL of their likenesses/representation in any advertising.


We even email the promoters, hi-res photos and logos.

And without fail, we will get something like this in return:


How many things can YOU spot wrong with this image?

Usually after we tell the promoter his flyer is unacceptable, they get offended and say “Oh well, you know, my girlfriend did it, she does this for a living and designs all our flyers, we’ve never had any complaints before”

Yeah, that’s because most rappers don’t give a shit what the flyer looks like, or can’t do one better themselves. That aint us people. When it comes to quality, we believe the fans deserve 110% in every department possible. And if that means we have to start designing our own advertisements, so be it, we can’t sell you guys short.

Props to the promoters who do it right and hire professional designers to do their flyers!

And shame on you to the ones who get their little brother to do it on MS Paint just so they can save a couple bucks!

Be on the lookout for CunninLynguists, Substantial and DJ Flip-Flop on the Dirty Acres US National Tour coming to a venue near you!

Get @ Me