The Sound of Sixteen

Ireland’s first radio broadcast was transmitted on the 25th of April 1916, in the middle of the most significant week in Irish history – the Easter Rising.

Everyone in Ireland knows the story of the Easter Rising, but the story of Ireland’s first radio broadcast is not so well known. Our objective was to mark the anniversary of Ireland’s first radio broadcast and raise awareness of this amazing piece of Irish history.

It was our intention that the design should convey a sense of distress and ferocity, reflecting the time period of the broadcast and situation surrounding it.

Our layout is a tri-colour grid system, based on the Irish flag raised above the GPO during the Easter Rising.

The key visual of the piece is a unique image, created using a mixture of historical stock photography and purpose shot photography of an era-accurate shortwave radio.

In terms of typography we wanted to reflect the time period of the event, and used a modified mono typeface. To increase authenticity, random letters were individually treated with a thicker weight.

Finally, the original Morse code message, is placed to mimic the bullets whizzing through the evening air during the weeklong rebellion.