VISUALISING DISSONANCE
Typographic poster for Kim Gordon’s new album, *The Collective*, inspired by her opening track, "Bye Bye." There was something fascinating about how Kim’s vocal delivery clashed with the seemingly ordinary lyrics—a shopping list mixed with industrial noise. This contrast creating a unique disharmony that stood out and became the starting point for a visual typographic experiment.
THE DELIVERY
The challenge was to translate Kim’s unconventional vocal style into a visual format. The lyrics, delivered in a drawling, almost drunken tone, stretch and contract, creating an unpredictable rhythm that leaves listeners waiting for the next line. This erratic delivery not only adds a new layer of meaning to the song but also presents an opportunity to explore how typography can capture the essence of sound.
THE APPROACH
To bring this vision to life, I began by isolating the text, focusing on how to visually represent the unique qualities of Kim’s vocal style. I chose OT Brut-Regular for its automatic, mechanical quality—a nod to the analogue machinery that seemed to align with the industrial noises in the track. The font’s stark, almost cold precision served as the perfect contrast to the chaotic energy of the vocal performance.
The vertical format of the poster was deliberately chosen to evoke the image of a printed receipt—a subtle reminder of the shopping list embedded within the lyrics. This format allowed the text to stretch and compress, mimicking the unpredictable rhythm of Kim's vocals. Words were elongated, syllables were cut short, and the spacing left room for the viewer to linger, just as the listener does with each line of the song.