I was very honoured to be asked to produce the main illustration for the 2018 EFG London Jazz Festival

The image needed to be bright and exciting, feel fresh and represent the electricity that bubbles throughout the city when the festival is on. Making a cityscape the starting point I set about conveying the complexity, free thinking and energy of the live music by showing it as the literal underground. Placing ten simple musicians – one for each day of the festival – amongst the strong linework that I love, a variety of bold shapes, patterns and blocks of colour (shout out to Leger) I've hopefully created an illustration that captures the spirit of the festival.

As I'm also the designer responsible for all the printed materials (more of that here) I knew the illustration needed to be adaptable for a variety of different print and online needs, working in both portrait and landscape. It also needed to be part of the guide, having the musicians, colours, lines and patterns running through each page allowing the illustration to expand from the front page and become entwined with the listings.