ONE TRICK PONY
Link to the site for the 2007 Virgin Festival, a gathering of 40 bands and assorted entertainments, and the first thing you notice is what’s not there: no pictures of long-haired, sweaty guys in tight jeans bent over guitars or screaming into microphones; no images of crowds of people in rock tees and halter tops, fists raised as they pump to the music. The only guitars you’ll find are animated illustrations that fly along the bottom of the screen, ridden like racehorses by helmeted jockeys.

“When we showed our initial designs, one approach had huge crowd shots,” recalls Rob Reed, creative director at One Trick Pony. “And … the client said, ‘This is what everyone does, and the average person looking at these images thinks that they won’t have a good time.’ They challenged us to use something other than the typical imagery.” Because everyone at One Trick Pony goes to lots of concerts and festivals, the team was very cognizant that this one is different from the usual head-banging fare. The Virgin Festival offers a full range of performers, attractions, art exhibitions and high-quality food—no warm beer and cold burgers—as well as a stellar musical lineup of acts large and small from all genres, including The Police, Smashing Pumpkins, Cheap Trick, Panic at the Disco, Amy Winehouse and the Beastie Boys, to name a few. “We wanted to take the approach that this is a great festival that doesn’t have to tell you how awesome it is, and let it gain credibility that way,” Reed notes.

By examining photos from the festival of the year before, the team was able to isolate images that were both evocative and specific to the event. Because it’s held at Pimlico Race Course, a weathervane/track post with banners and flags became a key visual, serving as an organizing and navigational element. Illustrations of stilt walkers, speakers, horses, marquees and musical instruments slide up and down the post as you move to different areas of the site. The site also had to “handle a lot of backstory,” according to Reed. “When we started designing, the entire lineup wasn’t signed on yet, so we needed a structure that allowed us to add, delete and move names. We also had to take into account what type of billing each band got, what size the names were and which name went above the other.” A series of lightning bolts blasting from speakers on the home page became a device that allowed the design to “flex” as bands were added to the festival and surprises came up. “There was a lot of care that went into making sure sizing and placement was correct in relationship to other bands,” Reed explains. The resulting design manages to capture the energy of the featured acts without intimidating visitors to the site. Laurel Saville

ONE TRICK PONY | CREATIVE DIRECTOR: ROB REED | ART DIRECTORS: ELIJAH VARGAS, MARK TESI (VIRGIN MOBILE) | DESIGNERS: PATRICK MACOMBER, EMILY IANACONE FLASH PROGRAMMERS: JOHN BLAZEK, AJ KYLE | ACCOUNT MANAGERS: KEITH PIZER (ONE TRICK PONY), CHRISTINE CHOI (VIRGIN USA), LAURA JORDAN (VIRGIN MOBILE), RON FARIS (VIRGIN MOBILE) | PROJECT MANAGER: JIM JUSTICE | FESTIVAL PROMOTER: IMP | CLIENT: VIRGIN USA | WWW.1TRICKPONY.COM