We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kari Petsche and Suzannah Snell a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Kari and Suz thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

(Suz) Yeah, thanks for having us! There were several projects that really stand out to us as pivotal moments. And just to note that for all of these we go more in depth on our website about our creative process.

The first is Outside Lands. From the festival’s inception in 2008 and for many years (prior to founding Color Punch) I was the creative director for Outside Lands and Kari was a lead designer, so she and I worked closely on all of the artwork for it, from overseeing the branding to creating all of the marketing assets and all of the onsite printed assets. In 2018 we were selected to create the identity for the festival. This was really a full circle moment for us having invested so much into the production of this event and getting to be a part of its growth and success. I’d also been able to collaborate with so many other amazing artists as a creative director, but to get to create the artwork was really a treat. There’s something to be said for getting the chance to create an identity for a festival you’re so familiar with and understand so well.

Our intention for this concept was to create a scene that conveyed the feeling of being in Golden Gate Park, with the ever changing San Francisco sky during the daytime, as well as the feeling of being there among the glowing magic at night with all the trees lit up. We knew we really wanted to incorporate fine art for this so we conceptualized and illustrated a series of floating isles to ground all the elements and then we painted them with watercolor. It was really fun to bring to life!

The next notable project for us is working with Billy Strings. We had the great honor of designing the album packaging for his Grammy-nominated album Renewal, as well as designing different tour creative for a handful of runs. Like the world we’re floored by Billy’s talent, and the process of working with his amazing team while he was rising to stardom was so creative and collaborative.

Creating an admat for an artist is so much more personal than for a festival and that’s an aspect we really enjoy. So it was really fun to start with some photos of him just being his joyous, quirky self and from there we created this triptych image that really employs movement in what felt like a clever way. The logo design was another opportunity to showcase his personality through typography, and of course much thought went into the color schemes!

Another really memorable opportunity we received was to be a part of the Chase Center Gallery and then also have an artist profile piece created about us highlighting the history of Color Punch and expanding on our creative process. It was so special to us to be celebrated in this way, especially as a woman-owned small business working as artists. We have over a dozen of our gig posters on display at the Chase Center, for artists such as Lizzo, Sam Smith and Glass Animals. Getting to go see them displayed during a Warriors game was so fun and we’re really grateful to our friends at Another Planet for inviting us to be a part of this.

I think the last project we can’t exclude is the honor we had of creating the festival identity for Monterey Pop International’s 50th Year Celebration. In 2017 Monterey Pop returned exactly 50 years later from the legendary and historic 1967 festival. This was the festival where Jimi Hendrix and Otis Redding had their major introductions and was one of Janis Joplin’s first large-scale performances, so it was a pretty big deal.

We knew we wanted to modernize the lady of Monterey while paying homage to the original 60’s artwork and the poster art by Tom Wilkes that was so iconic. We created a composition that flows and fits together with a logo inspired by the original festival tickets. This is hands down our favorite screenprint we’ve ever done and the super talented guys over at Monolith in Alameda really helped us nail the bright colors we were hoping to achieve.

Kari & Suz, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

(Suz): We are the founders of Color Punch which is a creative studio based in the Bay Area. What drives us is artist authenticity and a love for design. We work with concert promoters creating the branding and marketing for large scale music festivals, as well as working with individual artists on their album packaging, tour creative, gig posters, merchandise and more.

Kari and I both were really devoted to art and music from an early age, and unlike many artists we were fortunate to have the support of our families in pursuing our art, which is really everything. I think this put us both on the path to working as designers in the music industry.

I studied graphic design at the Savannah College of Art and Design and began working on the Visual Design team at major music festivals like Bonnaroo and Phish during the summers. After graduating I became a Creative Director at Superfly and where we produced some of the nation’s largest events including Outside Lands and Bonnaroo. Kari came into the fold and we worked closely on those events together for many years. What we learned during those years of festival production set us up to have a rich knowledge of all that goes into creating successful branding, marketing and operations design for production of a large scale event. The amount of year round work that goes into producing a major festival is something I think most people don’t understand or think about. We also get to work with some of the best, brightest and hardest working people I’ve ever known. I feel like my early experience and kind of growing up in the industry and the years we worked together prior to Color Punch is part of what sets Kari and I apart from other design teams or agencies, especially being a woman-owned small business in the music industry which is not super common.

(Kari): I attended the Art Institute of Pittsburgh where I studied illustration and design. After school I was hired as a package designer and motion graphics animator at McFarlane Toys, and from there went on to be an Art Director at Dixon Schwabl Advertising, in Rochester NY. After having my first son, I decided to leave the corporate world and start my freelancing career in hopes that I could have more flexibility in my schedule while caring for my family. I connected with Suz at the right moment in time during this transition and that’s when I became part of the design team at Superfly. Over those years, we worked closely together to develop a creative and collaborative working relationship which I feel is what led to our lasting friendship. Our ability to take on any project and to have fun during our creative process is our happy place. I really value the trust and support that we have for each other, and I strongly believe that we are the dream team!

(Suz): After gaining as much experience as possible and knowing as artists one must take risks in order to evolve, we decided to go out on our own and founded Color Punch in 2016. Because we had developed such a strong friendship we felt really confident about becoming business partners. We work really well together and have a deep mutual respect and support of each other. There’s also this feeling that between the two of us we can figure anything out together, and that’s what makes this magic work for us.

Another reason we feel our partnership works so well is because we have really dynamic but also really complementary skill sets. Our capabilities range from creative direction and art direction, branding and strategic marketing, to high level project management, to fine art and motion graphics. We try to always stay curious and are always open to learning new things.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

Making a living as an artist, working in our chosen and studied fields and running our own business is incredibly difficult but also very rewarding work. As often as possible we try to incorporate tangible fine art into our creative process which brings us greater creative fulfillment than only working digitally. Ways we incorporate that range from ipad with stylus to sketching, ink or watercolor, to photographing or scanning actual papers or fabrics, and working with a CNC machine to create 3D elements. Our creative process with each other never ceases to lead us to interesting places and is very energizing and inspiring to us.

We are also deeply grateful to work alongside the most wonderful people in our industry who truly appreciate the value of professional artists. We find so much joy in the process of creative collaboration and nurturing our relationships with our network.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

As artists we’re always looking to evolve, to stay curious, and to seek new inspiration. We strive towards creative fulfillment in our projects as much as possible (and, it’s not always possible). When navigating which projects to take on or seek out we have a four part filter list that we work from. Ideally we can achieve at least 2-3 things from this list.

– Does it create a new and important relationship?
– Are we creatively excited about it?
– Does it add value to our portfolio?
– Is it financially worth it?

In the beginning when we formed Color Punch we spent a lot of time figuring out what was most important to us and how to strategically go after it and still try to navigate decisions around projects from this place. Sometimes a project might not feel super exciting creatively but it starts an important new relationship that could lead to other, more creative projects in the future. Or a project may have a low budget but feel really creatively exciting to us and be a great addition to diversify our portfolio. So we try to make choices with an open mind and consider the big picture. When our bandwidth supports it we try to fit in work that supports our communities, such as fundraising or amplifying other voices. We have a deep love, knowledge and history of working in the music industry but we’re also always open to any exciting creative opportunities! Thanks for having us.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://colorpunchcreative.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/colorpunchcreative/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/color-punch-creative