Vulgarxito is a project that started a few years ago in Bogotá (Colombia) with the album “Boleros del Ayer” (2010). The record is born from the band concept to combine the romanticism present in bolero music and traditional rock elements. Sebastian took this original idea and created a collage in Photoshop, combining different elements such as a record player and a drum kit or an old door with an electric guitar.
In 2011 Vulgarxito released their LP “El Cu4rto” and they ask me again if I can be in charge of the design for the album, a complicated task in itself as I was living in Barcelona (Spain) at the time. The name of the album comes from the word game in Spanish that recreates both the fact this was their fourth album (cuarto being fourth in Spanish, but also meaning a bedroom) and the fact they were creating a hypothetical room where one can create, live and which also is a reflection of the current world and society. For the design of this album I created another Photoshop collage taking into account some of their lyrics as well as diverse musical elements the band was experimenting with, specifically of the blues-rock genre.
-Juan Sebastian C.R.
Originally, the idea was to make the room like a pop up from a children’s book: even though this had to be adjusted due to budget issues the project itself was very architectural, creating each wall and each space from scratch, with photographs taken in different spaces. The challenge was to direct the band, telling them how photographs should be taken and how should they look, but the final result pleased them and me as well.
-Juan Sebastian C.R.
The album “Barco Viejo” (Old Ship) (2013) was for Vulgarxito a discovery album: the supporting tour for this album took them to Peru, Argentina and Ecuador, giving them the chance to discover new music and different experiences. For the cover design I worked with the concept of age, reflecting it through different textures I achieved with another Photoshop collage, while keeping in mind that the key idea was that of a boat sailing from port to port similar as they go from bar to bar playing their songs. The ship also grew and became a vessel for ideas and sponsors: the challenge then was to place brand names and logos, adding them so that they could join their surroundings and with what the band has become. This is the reason behind keeping the colors of the Colombian flag on the cover, as they have become a national band with good trajectory and reputation.
-Juan Sebastian C.R.
In spite of the constant changes and evolution within the band, Vulgarxito did not have an identifying logo. For this reason, in 2014 I created a logo with their alter ego: a boy from the streets that bears with the daily injustices of a country, surviving them and keeps striving for a better world, telling the stories from the city, making his voice heard and denouncing both the society that surrounds him and the politics behind it, among other things. This design started as a hand drawn idea and was completed in Illustrator.
-Juan Sebastian C.R.
About Juan Sebastian C.R.
Juan Sebastián Cárdenas Rodríguez is from Bogotá Colombia and he always had the idea to become a graphic designer. He received diploma in Graphic Design and Audiovisual Producer from the Jorge Tadeo Lozano University in Bogotá, but his main area of action has been illustration work. He have worked in several design companies, both in Colombia and in Spain where he also studied a Masters Program in Visual Media Design, Design and Image at Elisava (Escuela Superior de Diseño e Ingeniería at Barcelona) and a postgraduate degree on Illustration at Bau (Centro Universitario de Barcelona). During his time in Spain, He have showcased his work in different illustration and photography expositions, both in Barcelona and Madrid.
Currently, he work as a freelance illustrator and he consider himself to be a design illustrator.
His portfolio can be found in his Behance profile.