The Pocket is a small jazz club concept located in Alphabet City, New York, built around improvisation and intimate live performance. The name refers to the jazz term “in the pocket,” but also to the idea of the club being slightly tucked away and more underground. Alphabet City felt like a fitting location because of the East Village’s long history of experimental jazz and small, intimate music venues.

The identity draws from the improvisational color blocking and irregular construction of Gee’s Bend quilts, along with the rhythm, geometry, and color of Stuart Davis’s jazz paintings. I built a custom pattern generator that starts with a single block, divides it into irregular shapes, and introduces subtle movement, grain, and misregistration to give each composition a different character. The system was used across signage, posters, wristbands, and menus, helping the club feel energetic and unpredictable without losing the warmth and intimacy at the center of the idea.