Yamaha

Inspired by the stylish lines and effortless performance of the Café Racer motorbikes that coloured 1960s London, the Revstar guitar embraces stripped-down, tuned-up workmanship with everything it's got. So, to commemorate its launch, Yamaha wanted to make sure the incredible craft behind its creation got the recognition it deserved.

We designed a limited-run zine detailing the journey of the Revstar — from the history which inspired its creation to the campaign which helped it stand out in the market. A compilation of interviews, articles and visuals that celebrated both the makers' and players' stories.

Agency / forpeople  
Year / 2018 
Team / @alex.kosmidis

Every Revstar we create takes our players on a journey — towards mastering their craft, towards their first step on stage, towards their final performance.

This book takes enthusiasts and experts on another journey. One that chronicles both the development of the Revstar — from the story behind its origin to the campaign that put it in front of the world — and visually captures the details and drama that make this guitar unlike any other. 

A journey that turns our craft for making into your craft of playing. 

We Make You Play Introduction

The question persists: how do you make the traditional relevant? Yamaha may have been crafting instruments since 1887, but by complementing its ingrained knowledge with innovation and advanced engineering they have taken their craft forward. Testing. Re-testing. And testing again. Learning the rules to break the boundaries, challenging every assumption to stop at nothing for players. All to understand what makes a truly amazing guitar.

Approaching the  creation of a new Yamaha

Guitars have always been hard to quantify, cloaked in mystique. So, whether designing them, building them, or selling them, the usual ways of doing things are usually the ones that apply.

For many guitar builders, that's fine. It's the way it's always been. Many feel the electric guitar was, more or less, perfected 70 years and that their job is to try and stay true to that. There's no shame in it. These were the guitars that started it all.

But for us, it was a nagging question. An itch that forced us to take a hard look at the nature of guitar development. Because the promise of music has always been to question things, to do things differently, to never conform. The rest of the world moves on, why doesn't the guitar industry? How, with daily advances in thought processes and technology, with a global bank of knowledge, isn't there another way?

Questioning what makes The Revstar

Open any guitar magazine and you're more than likely to see the same thing. Posed photography, atmospheric backdrops, recycled headlines — page after page of nostalgic 80s spreads harking back to the golden age of electric guitars. So, when it came time to develop a campaign for the mould-breaking Revstar, we weren't interested with fitting in. Instead, we did everything to stand out.

Introducing The Campaign

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