Designers by-passed in EMI celebrations

Design consultancies appear to have lost out in the centenary celebrations for record group EMI, with commissions going to advertising and marketing agencies instead.

A centenary logo, EMI 100, has been designed by Phoenix Advertising while the EMI-sponsored exhibition, Music 100, is being designed, constructed and run by marketing communications group Purchasepoint, a sister company to Design in Action.

Purchasepoint has also created a logo for The Music Sound Foundation, a charity which has been launched as a key part of the centenary celebrations, as well as education packs to tie in with events. The agency was appointed two years ago in order to help develop the EMI 100 programme.

A spokeswoman for EMI says Purchasepoint was chosen for most of the design work because it was already working on the project.

Music 100, which will include interactive displays with video clips and a section on the Nipper logo, opens in Edinburgh next month before touring to London’s Canary Wharf in the summer and York next year.

A range of books is also being published as part of the celebrations. These include The Abbey Road Story, designed by freelance designer Lisa Pettibone and The End of Innocence, featuring images from the EMI photo-library, with design by Berlin-based Hans Werner Holzwarth.