strecke records archives 16 – 22
This 112-page, A4-format publication documenting the activities of the Fribourg music label and event collective strecke records (2016–22) is striking for its contemporary use of unusually strong colour tones and diverse visual elements, images, colours, text blocks and fonts. The design eschews a table of contents and an identifiable structure, instead freely playing with and combining photographs of concerts, parties and performances with record covers, flyers, playlists, and so on. Some pages have a clear layout, while others do not; the photographs are sometimes placed individually, but also alongside one another and occasionally rotated, cropped or collaged. This free layout follows a long tradition in the documentation of music scenes, compelling the reader to engage with curiosity, eager to discover the next twist in the improvisation, though occasionally contending with disorientation. The design also gives the publication a strong visual identity that ties together the disparate and, in some cases, not particularly high-quality material. One key element is the party playlists which reappear in different arrangements, set in a uniform size in strecke’s company typeface. A few pages at the beginning contain various short texts in a different font, placing the collective’s activities in a cultural-political context. The pronounced DIY ethos and the strong local ties also come across in the successful collaboration with a Fribourg-based printer.
