Album & Brief:
For this project, we were tasked with creating three iterations for a record cover for a band of our choice. We then developed one of the ideas to include a polished cover (front, back & middle), An A2 poster promoting the album, and a process video documenting and explaining our design decisions and reflection.
PVRIS Original Album Design:
I chose to design a cover for PVRIS, one of my favourite bands. They are marketed as an alternative rock band with a grungy black and white aesthetic but I have always thought of their music as more colourful. This project was a good chance to explore other aesthetics that are still in line with their music.
Mapping out the concept:
I started by listening to their latest album “Use Me” on loop & looking up interviews with the band on the intended messages and themes through the album. Through this process, I was able to compare the intended themes & metaphors from the artists with my own.
From these ideas, I started to research different ways to visualise music and came across editable versions of visualisation programs. In this stage I used these programs to create a variety of base images from the album and expand my existing ideas.
Record Asset Alternatives
Final Cover
Design statement:
PVRIS’s Album Use Me, is deeply rooted in emotions and hold rich visuals that are not reflected by their current album design. The record’s design was based on the songs ‘January Rain’, ‘Hallucinations’, ‘Use Me’ & ‘Thank You’, all songs that evoke a bittersweet feeling from the audience and an aspect I wanted the design to reflect. The inspiration for the title single of the album came from the tv show ‘Euphoria’ (Lynn Gunn- PVRIS, 2020) making the psychedelic and disorienting record cover quite fitting. The floating design glitches that melt down the album, also a reference to the album’s lyrics:
“Standing in a summer haze/…/Did I wash out in the January rain?” (January Rain).
“I can't tell what's real and what's/ Hallucinations” (Hallucinations).
“Float to the ceiling/ You don't wanna be coming down/ …/ Baby breathe/ And use me” (Use Me).
“Dressed in silver linings/… /but I’m floating out of reach” (Thank You).
The final cover in keeps with the album’s theme of hallucinations in a subjective reality, perfectly working in tandem with the music and it’s artists.