At the heart of the hardcore punk community that we all love is the music. The lyrics we are drawn to, the riffs that make us move and the passion which shines through. But another huge part of what makes hardcore is the visual elements of it. Whether that is a live show, album artwork or an iconic flyer. It is these visual images which remain in our brains for years and decades after the fact.
As such Just An Insight aims to showcase some of the other creatives who bring to life this incredible subculture we all immerse ourselves in.
One artist that we wanted to spotlight was German graphic designer Julia Ehrahardt, who over the last year, has had their work become synonymous with metalcore shows across the UK and mainland Europe. Her images have become so recognisable for her use of grit and textures to give her work a real depth to them, but at the same time paying homage to the old xeroxed photocopied flyers from the 80s and 90s.
So how did someone who has now produced posters for bands such as Earth Crisis, Pain of Truth and Sunami – to name a few – get their start into the hardcore graphic design world?
“I really only got into it through my job – which is also graphic design,” Julia explains to Just An Insight.
“After finishing school, I didn’t really have a path for what I wanted to do—both in life and job-wise.”
She continues: “I always really liked drawing, so I decided to get into a graphic design apprenticeship. I didn’t know anything about graphic design, but I really learned to love it. That was in 2022.”
It was also around this time in 2022 when Julia started to attend local hardcore shows and would see all the different variations of posters for up coming shows. With her love for graphic design, and falling in love with hardcore it made perfect sense to combine these two passions.
“I always loved seeing all the different styles and just really enjoyed hardcore and the scene, so I wanted to get involved and give something back.” Julia added.
Julia’s work has almost become instantly recognisable when a flyer is posted on the internet for the use of live band images, mixed with grainy textures and bold fonts. All her works brings a real sense of energy to them.
And with her working gaining a reputation for having such a high standard across the UK and Europe it is no surprise that people keep asking her to produce work to showcase their respective scenes. But for the artist herself, it is just the pure pleasure of creating which motivates her.
“Mostly the fact that I can make people happy with what I do, which is what motivates me the most. But also cemeteries, the artist Plastiboo, metalcore, and my friends.” She tells us very honestly.
Julia continues: “I think that a style is always very fluid and constantly develops whenever you create. I personally always try to change things up in how I create whenever there’s something new to design so I don’t get stuck in a cycle.
“Obviously, sometimes something doesn’t work out, and then you’ll revert back to old techniques.”
Having already worked with a lot of the big names in modern hardcore, Julia is very modest in her approach to her work and takes every piece as an opportunity to learn and develop further as a graphic designer.
“I’m usually most proud of my most recent piece because, after a while, you look back at older work and realize things you could’ve done better,” she explains.
“I really liked the zine I did, mostly because of how many cool people got involved and the fact that I even finished it.”
The zine Julia is referring to is the Deal With It Zine, which was a compilation of 54-pages of images and interviews of bands from across the hardcore spectrum discussing their love for the subculture and what makes hardcore the place it is.
It was a project which Julia spend a long time putting together and again was received to warmly by her peers and others within the hardcore world.
Julia is a shining example of turning something you love into an art form to share with the world and in the process adding to the rich pool of amazing visual imagery we can pull on for reference of hardcore history.
So what advice would Julia give to anyone wanted to get into creating designs for bands?
“Get at it and do not give up,” she adds.
“I know imposter syndrome is awful and often always in one’s mind, but never let that deter you from creating and doing what brings you joy.
“Create for the love of it”
Just An Insight 
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