We've been working closely with the team at Proton Radio/Music in Los Angeles since Alphabetica first opened it's doors in January of this year. Proton Music is an all digital record label releasing music biweekly on iTunes, Beatport, Amazon, as well as other online music stores. They're also a 24/hr subscriber supported internet radio station that delivers music from hundreds of DJs and producers from around the globe. We think it's fair to say that Proton keeps us busy!

Our most recent challenge was to strengthen the online brand of one of their most popular record labels, Balkan Connection. Based on their popular radio show by the same name, Ogi Gee Cash & Synchronized decided to launch their label under the Proton umbrella. Their aim is to unite talents of the progressive house sound from the Balkan region and the world over.

With so many tracks, Balkan Connection doesn't have the time to produce album art for each new release. And with their tracks being sold exclusively on Beatport, and purchased mostly by DJs rather than general consumers, album art is not a high priority. It's actually quite low.

It's a 60 pixel x 60 pixel kind of low.

With the album art being so small, artwork has to be simplified to be successful as well as deliver the label's brand. And in some cases the artwork get's even smaller! Try 30 pixels by 30 pixels. Artwork this small is not only illegible, but it creates a very challenging branding problem for every digital record label.

Click image above for enlarged view +

Working with the team at Proton, we created a series of icons that will be used for all future Balkan Connection releases on Beatport. Using an existing reduction of their logo, an expanded color palette, and an evolving background texture, these icons can now populate the pages of Beatport, deliver the Balkan Connection brand, and allow each future release to stand on its own.

Even at the smallest size possible :)