By Annette Cinelli

If you saw the Green Monster-inspired poster for local band Craig’s show this past summer at JJ’s Sports Bar in Northborough, or the CD face for Uncle Billy’s Smokehouse’s 2006 self titled album, you were looking at the work of Jonathan Daby, designer and owner of Liquid Fragile.

Liquid Fragile is a local design company specializing in promotional material for up and coming musical acts and businesses. It started when the band Air approached Jonathan for help designing promotional material; from there things blossomed into a full-fledged business.

Jonathan, always interested in design, took a class in it during high school, but that was before computers played such an important role in the field. Then someone gave him an early version of Adobe Photoshop and he “…just started playing around with it, sitting at a computer for hours saying, ‘What happens if I do this? What happens if I do that?’” He is mostly self-taught (although he is currently taking an online program) but and has undeniably developed his own unique style.

For now the company consists solely of Jonathan, who also has a full time job in tech support. Eventually he hopes to have a bigger company with illustrators, photographers, and office space. The internet, especially My Space, is really helpful for Jonathan in terms of making new connections with bands, for whom he feels good promotional material is very important. “My philosophy is if you want to get people in the door, the first thing they see is a poster, mailer or hand out. They aren’t necessarily going to hear the band first. They will see some material, so one of the most important parts is to have it there.”
Some of the bands he works with are very particular about what kind of design they want because “…they have a certain message they are trying to convey.” Other times, Jonathan is free to come up with his own ideas, especially with bands like Oak Street who have worked with him a lot and are comfortable with his ideas and instincts. His work has “…no set rhyme or reason. I guess it’s just what I’m inspired by at the time.”

Although his freelance design work takes up a lot of his nights and weekends, Jonathan really enjoys having his own business; he feels a great sense of accomplishment with what he does and enjoys the freedom of doing what he wants. The challenging part is finding clients in such a competitive field.

For the upcoming year, Jonathan hopes to increase his business to a steady customer base of 5 to 10 bands or businesses. Stop by www.liquidfragile.com to see some of Jonathan’s work, and if you or someone you know is in a band, definitely consider having Jonathan work on your next CD, mailer, or poster!

Check out Liquidfragile.com!