Halfcase: How these Gen Z creatives have custom-designed their work lives

If you attended any Lawnya Vawnya events at the Ship Pub this year, you may have been surprised to see the stage designed like the rec rooms of your childhood.

A dart board, a foam finger from a Jays game, a cribbage board shaped like the map of Newfoundland, band posters affixed with strips of masking tape adorned a panel board backdrop. The design was the brainchild of Isobel McKenna and Jacob Cherwick, two young creatives known collectively as "halfcase."

"The whole idea was to make it feel like you were walking into somebody's suburban basement," said Cherwick. "It's not necessarily supposed to look like it's from a [specific] time in the past, but it's supposed to look like a place that's filled with a lot of stuff from the past."

Despite their young ages — both were born in the late 1990s — the duo brings a broad range of skills and experience to their design agency.

They have worked together creatively for about five years, working with more than a dozen local artists, artisans, and music groups. Their service offerings include music production services for local bands with diverse music styles ranging from folk to punk and hip hop. They also design album cover art, tour posters, brand logos, and apparel art.

"We're both of an age where we experienced a lot of those places as kids, maybe they don't exist anymore, those basements with all that stuff in them," said McKenna. "I bet a lot of people attending and playing at Lawnya Vawnya feel similarly or would recognize what we're doing with it."

Their Lawnya Vawnya stage design at The Ship is their largest project to date, encompassing the concept and physical staging, as well as graphic design elements like custom posters that were integrated among the vintage artifacts.

"A lot of design studios … do graphic design in-house, and maybe they publish books and have a printing facility as well," said McKenna, whose background includes studies in environmental design at OCAD University, and a strong interest in architecture and interior design.

Cherwick, perhaps most recognizable as a member of the Ukrainian-style folk band Kubasonics, estimates that he plays with about 10 different local bands in any given year. He believes the generalist approach in creative services is desirable in the arts industry.

"People are under pressure to get things finished quickly. Even if you're making music, it still needs a strong visual component and content you can share online," he said.

Digital services with an analog aesthetic

An older adult might recognize a sense of nostalgia in that rec room stage design, but aren't a pair of Gen Z artists too young to experience nostalgia? McKenna believes her generation, even people younger than her, have an appreciation for images and objects of the past.

"There's a lot of interest in older aesthetics. Those things are seen as kind of more real and genuine than more internet-focused aesthetics," she said.

Cherwick said it's a "20-year trend cycle," acknowledging the adage that everything old is new again, but this time with a twist.

"There's also right now a really big focus on late '90s, early 2000s imagery and aesthetics, just as the last era right before smartphones and easily accessible internet took over the world and reshaped the way everyone lives," he said.

As halfcase, the pair seems to negotiate between the internet-era and a more analog lifestyle. Because most of their work is digital, they work without the costly overhead of more conventional creative agencies.

McKenna believes their work-from-home approach enhances their collaborative spirit.

"We're both working in our office on opposite sides of the room at the same time," she said. "So we're talking about it all at the same time, too."

The halfcase team has recently been developing a logo and brand design for a local artisanal food supplier, as well as a t-shirt design for the Petty Harbour Community Museum.

Beyond their design work, both Cherwick and McKenna play in the punk band Sick Puppy, who are preparing to record an album of original music this summer.

"We're always trying to find a new thing," said Cherwick.

For the future, the pair hopes to broaden the scope of their work beyond the arts industry.

"We're still working mostly within the arts community, but we're hoping to push out of that a bit more and do some work with other businesses or brands or people that might need design work or some kind of artistic eye for whatever they're doing."

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