20 Piges
Turning twenty years of French hip-hop into one visual object
Key art and promo graphics for MTV's 20 Piges, a documentary celebrating two decades of French hip-hop. I developed a visual metaphor around a turntable whose record becomes a timeline of artists, using one object to communicate music, history and progression rather than filling the artwork with a collage of familiar genre clichés.
Brief
MTV needed a key visual that could represent twenty years of French hip-hop in a single image and work equally well as static key art and animated promo material.
It needed cultural credibility and energy, but the documentary tone also called for something more considered than a loud collection of graffiti, microphones and archive photography.
The Challenge
The main problem was representing time without making the piece feel like an infographic.
The visual had to acknowledge different generations of artists without favouring one era, while remaining simple enough to read quickly across posters, broadcast graphics and digital placements.
Execution
I designed a conceptual turntable where the record surface became a circular timeline, with artist names integrated into the grooves across the two decades.
The object was treated with a marble-and-gold visual language to give the documentary a more curated, archival quality while keeping the turntable unmistakably connected to music culture.
I then translated the key art into motion for broadcast and digital promos, using the same circular structure as the basis for animation rather than designing a separate motion language.
Stills & Styleframes
Results
The final key art and promo package were used across MTV's broadcast and digital platforms. The turntable provided a clear visual story for the documentary and gave the campaign a recognisable idea that could survive both static and moving formats.
Personal Reflection
This project was a good example of why I prefer concepts that can do more than decorate.
Once the turntable became the timeline, the rest of the design had a reason to exist. That usually makes both the static image and the motion much easier to defend.