Print & Visual Identity, Self-Initiated, Ongoing Since 2024
Moderate Sounds Posters: Identity Design for a Touring DJ Night Across Greater Manchester and Cheshire
Moderate Sounds is a DJ night I run myself, taking an eclectic, Balearic-leaning selection to a different venue for each date: Wine & Wallop in Knutsford, Buxton Brewery Trackside and Riley’s Taproom in Chorley among them. Since 2024 I’ve designed a new poster for every date, using the series as an ongoing sketchbook for colour, pattern and type rather than a fixed, static brand.
The Brief
There was no client brief here. Moderate Sounds is a night I book and run myself, so the brief was one I set for myself: design a poster for every date that could travel to a different venue each time, without losing whatever makes it recognisably a Moderate Sounds night.
That’s a different problem to solve than a fixed identity. Rather than lock the series to one palette or one layout, each poster is its own design, built from a shared attitude rather than a shared template: bold flat colour, geometric pattern, and hand-set type that treats the name itself as the main graphic.
The Design
Every poster starts with the wordmark, MODERATE SOUNDS, always set as the loudest thing on the page, and builds outward from there. The Knutsford poster for Wine & Wallop uses a quilted diamond pattern in dusty pink and navy; the Buxton Brewery Trackside poster leans into a radiating dot-grid in hot pink, more rave flyer than café blackboard; Riley’s Taproom in Chorley gets sharp diagonal stripes in maroon and gold.
The variation is deliberate. Each poster only has to work for one night, in one place, so it can afford to take a different risk each time: a different type treatment, a different colour temperature, a different rhythm, while the name, the tone and the confidence of the mark stay constant.
The Outcome
Each poster is printed for the venue and shared digitally to promote the date, then becomes part of a growing, informal archive of the night’s identity, closer to a series of gig posters than a single corporate mark. It means Moderate Sounds reads as considered and intentional wherever it turns up, even though no two dates look alike.
It’s a small, low-stakes strand of work in one sense, a poster for my own night, not a client deliverable, but it’s also where I get to test ideas quickly and honestly, in a way that often finds its way into paid design work afterwards.
Commission a Similar Project
If you run a recurring night, series or event that needs a flexible visual identity, something that can change shape for every date without losing its nerve. This is exactly the kind of project I enjoy. Get in touch if you’d like posters, a wordmark or a wider identity built the same way.
These posters are for nights I DJ myself too, so if you’re planning something similar and need someone behind the decks as well, that’s part of what I offer.
Get in touch about a project like this →Book Mark to DJ →
Questions
What is Moderate Sounds?
Moderate Sounds is a self-initiated DJ night run by Mark Jermyn, playing an eclectic, Balearic-leaning selection of jazz, funk, soul and psych rock at different venues across Greater Manchester and Cheshire.
Where does Moderate Sounds take place?
Moderate Sounds moves venue for each date rather than holding a single residency. Recent dates include Wine & Wallop in Knutsford, Buxton Brewery Trackside, and Riley’s Taproom & Wine Bar in Chorley.
Who designs the Moderate Sounds posters?
Mark designs every poster himself, as part of his wider print and visual identity practice, the same design thinking he applies to client branding work.
Does the poster series follow a fixed template?
No, deliberately not. Each poster is a fresh design sharing an attitude: bold colour, pattern and confident type, rather than a fixed layout or palette.
Can Mark design posters or identity work for other events?
Yes. Recurring nights, festivals and community events needing a flexible visual identity are exactly the kind of project this strand of work leads to.
Does Mark also DJ these nights?
Yes. Mark books the venues and DJs every Moderate Sounds date himself. The posters are one part of a night he also plays start to finish.
Selected Work