The Evolution Of Heavy Metal Design
Alan Rapp at Print provides an interesting review of Heavy Metal design in his article entitled "The Exile of Satan from Heavy Metal Design."
This comment, in particular, drives home what has changed in this design community, versus what had visually grabbed me in my youth:
Heavy metal design today comprises a vast field of images that no longer compulsively refer to adolescent power and provocation fantasies.
This evolution of design may provide additional diversity within the Heavy Metal scene, but the diversity has also erroded design's ability to define the "brand" for individual artists. The effect, while evolved, creates a watered down view and removes the "iconography" that this music category perfected, allowing it to connect and unify its target audience.
I commented on the value of rock branding a few years back. Check out my previous post related to rock branding. (Note: I am still working to migrate images into Posterous, so sorry the main photo for this post is not currently displaying)
