Graphic Design

Project Overview

In 2020 I commissioned a custom made guitar effects pedal from renowned pedal maker Zak Nelson with the caveat that I wanted to design the look. I would go on to work with Zak on what was desired from a design standpoint vs what was possible from a technical perspective.

Goals

My goal was to provide a legible and creative design to inspire Zak that would provide myself with a bespoke effects pedal, and the both of us with an attractive piece of design work to add to our portfolios.

My Role

As sole Creative Director and Designer for the project, I had to use all skills I had developed and observed up to this point to manage my time and productivity. I wanted a simplistic design that conveyed a similar mood that the pedal itself provided with its sonic and sound-mangling capabilities. To be specific, the combination of Reverb, Delay, and Chorus yields vast, textured audio landscapes that can evoke a sense of dread or eeriness that I wanted to capture. I relied on Zak for direct feedback from a technical view in relation to my sketches and design proposals. His feedback greatly impacted design and led to what I believe is an effective and evocative design.

Research

Through decades of playing music, I’ve had an up close and personal connection with effects pedals. Recently, some pedal manufacturers have been able to print more intricate artwork designs on their pedal casings, and this was the initial route I wanted to take.

Initial Sketch

The pedal has 3 effects with 6 dedicated controls each with their own knob for a total of 18 knobs that I would need to design the artwork around.

I designed this mock up in Photoshop with a silhouetted dead tree and classic spooky house.

Zak’s feedback was that while the design was great, the way that the internal PCBs would have to be placed would not allow for this design to work on a technical level.

The PCBs would be placed next to each other in a horizontal line under the chassis.

Technical Design

With Zak’s feedback in hand, I used Tayda Electronics’ template here to add each hole that needed to be drilled for knobs, switches, inputs/outputs, LEDs, and power with precise measurements.

Final Revised Design

Once I had the drill design finalized, I could go in and redesign the art in Illustrator. Knowing that the bulk of the pedal would be taken up by the text for the knobs and switches, I needed art that was large and simplistic to stand out against the details.

With the general direction of dread, eerie, spooky that I was going, I decided on a big and bold “666”. This serves a dual purpose: there is the mood, but there are also 3 sets of 6 knobs, therefore “666” fit perfectly.

Results

After a wait, Zak handed over the completed pedal. The design was printed perfectly.