The cultural treasures of Düsseldorf bounce around Sebastian Onufszak’s designs for MTV Music Week

MTV is a channel well known for its grabby, genre-bending visuals, and Sebastian Onufszak’s designs for MTV Music Week are no exception. Characterised by bold graphic illustrations, a diverse colour palette and a high-energy feel, the designers work is perfectly suited for an MTV brief. The yearly event is one that takes place in a different city each time, and so it’s also important for the accompanying designs to have strong references to its host. In 2022, it took place in Düsseldorf, Western Germany; a vibrant, cultural city that Sebastian knew he would have no trouble sourcing plenty of inspiration from.

Numerous artists including Gerhard Richter, Katharina Grosse and Andreas Gursky have studied or taught at its renowned art academy, and like many cities across early 20th Century Germany, it was heavily influenced by the Bauhaus school. In the wider cultural sphere, the city also produced the pioneering electronic band Kraftwerk – arguably known as much for their visuals as their music – and features iconic buildings from architects Frank Gehry and Daniel Liebeskind. And so, from the very get go, Sebastian’s design concept “aimed to incorporate these influences to showcase the city's diverse cultural heritage” which, Sebastian adds, “is full of contradictions: old and new, chaotic and orderly, calm and wild”.

Moving from Poland to Germany aged three with his artist parents, Sebastian was exposed to the country’s rich design, art and architecture from a young age. But it was playing around with pixel graphics on his Amiga 500 home computer that really instigated his “fascination with digital design”. Sebastian later studied for a degree in graphic design before working as an art director, creative direction, and even spending a few years living in Düsseldorf, before settling as a freelance designer and illustrator in Augsburg, where he is now based.

Throughout the process – of which he designed the entirety of the event’s visuals – Sebastian focused on what he describes as a “modern and contemporary” direction, as influenced by Bauhaus theories and approaches. The graphic illustrations that litter the various posters – from safety pins, Maki rolls, and computer mouses – all refer to aspects of the city’s culture, with its Rhine Tower and Rhine Bridge also making an appearance. Further inspired by the city's architecture is the identity's colour palette, its predominant red blues and yellows reflecting the cities subway stations while notes of pink refer to Benrath Castle and green to the Kö-Bogen greenery. Such specific influence extended to the typefaces Sebastian used, with the Quartz and Futura fonts being chosen for their usage on Kraftwerk’s album covers.

Looking back at the project, Sebastian highlights how the “freedom” he was afforded throughout and “minimum specifications” he was given really allowed him to both make something that was a “truly enjoyable experience” and that was truly personal – both to him and the city of Düsseldorf.