Bringing The Music Works Brand to Life

Helping a charity pitch, build and brand a £1.8 million music venue.

The Music Works is a Gloucestershire charity that uses music to support young people. I come from a music background, and over the years I’ve worked with them as a contractor, some of it paid and some not. When they decided to build a new venue, I was there from the start.

The Hub

I began with the pitch documents, which were part of how they raised the money for the £1.8 million build. Then I stayed for the build itself. I worked with the architect and interior designer to scope what the space needed, then with sign makers, artists and a photographer to make it real. Wall graphics, vinyl, signage and door plaques, all worked out on site by measuring walls and planning where everything would go. It opened in September 2021, and it’s still in use.

Everything around it

Beyond the big projects, I’ve been their go-to for creative work of all kinds: flyers, posters, annual reports, a zine-style impact report for donors and partners, and the rest of the material a charity needs to keep going.

I also designed for Kings Jam, the festival they run in Gloucester celebrating Black music and culture. For every edition I did the stage graphics, banners and the visual side of the event. By 2024 it had reached more than 12,000 people, featured 12 national headline acts and given over 100 emerging local artists a stage.

When they launched Onatura, their commercial artist development arm, I helped with the brand too. [See Onatura]

Mentoring young creatives

Alongside the projects, I help with creative direction and with how they use their own brand. I also mentor young artists and creatives on their youth programmes. People apply with a proposal, a bit like Dragon’s Den, for a creative agency, a clothing brand or a music project, and I help with the creative side, from branding to web design, so they can reach their goals.

UNKWN is the clearest example. A young creative agency with a great idea and no real identity, so I built them one: bold typography, minimal layouts, a flexible system they could use without needing a designer every time, and a website to go with it. I give these teams the same standard of work I’d give a paying client.

What came out of it

The Hub was built, and it’s still in use. It is used every day by the community and music professionals come in every month to run sessions and seminars for young people