Whether it’s Tipp-Ex or crayons, David Heofs builds music identities from physical materials

The Madrid-based graphic designer David Heofs sits at an interesting creative crossroads, straddling both graphic design and production. In 2010, he founded Bandiz, a creative studio dedicated to contemporary music, producing films, music videos and commercial work alongside graphic design within the same space – be it album artwork, posters or artist identities. Mirroring the variety of character and voice among the music industry, Bandiz’s output is similarly eclectic. However, it also maintains a distinctive underlying approach, one that’s led by subtlety and visual instinct.

This specific tone comes from both David’s enjoyment of mixing his two disciplines and the purposefully physical processes that underpin his practice. Using anything from Tipp-Ex, ink and pencils to wax crayons, felt tips and collage, there is an inescapable tactility to the work Bandiz produces, resulting in proudly imperfect, textural work. It feels alive and energetic – authentic to the artist it’s representing – and often serves as an analogue contrast to the digital execution of David’s typography. Across his compositions, there is an understanding of hierarchy and discipline that David can expressively disrupt, creating striking arrangements that dance around analogue work or sit in stark juxtaposition.

Music occupies a space that David finds particularly rewarding, due to the expansive and complete world it can allow him to craft. With every project and artist, he gets the opportunity to find the language and voice of the musician and build out an extended visual narrative. Jorge Drexler’s Taracá, for example, directly references the candombe drum – the hand-painted drums used in Candombe music of Uruguay – through hand-painted lettering applied directly onto wood, following exploratory themes of territory and memory in the process. Beyond the artists themselves, David’s other influences revolve around collections such as rare books, fanzines, DVDs, CDs, toys and books. All of which culminate to form the sundry of popular culture that makes up David and Bandiz’s creative fibre.