We asked a few of the designers whom we have interviewed for our feature on ‘English Sleeve Design’ (200% #4) if 2011 has been, in terms of music projects / sleeve design, a good year for them?
VAUGHAN OLIVER – V23 (Cocteau Twins, Pixies)
Vaughan Oliver: In terms of quality of design, 2011 has been a good year for me but not in terms of quantity of commissions. I did some of my favourite sleeve designs (working with Tom Skipp) for a Swedish band called ‘I Break Horses’ from Simon Raymonde’s label Bella Union and I’ve just finished the David Lynch Deluxe box. The ‘This Mortal Coil’ box set was a carry over from last year and is definitely the best production job I have ever seen on a music package. It feels like high end, major brand cosmetics packaging.
200%: That must have been exciting. What was it like working on the Lynch project?
VO:I was kind of shocked when the job came in as I thought David would be surrounded by graphic designers, and I had never met the small independent record company ‘Sunday Best’. At the end of last year I did the first single, ‘Good Day Today’, and I got a free hand on it and it worked out really well. Marc Atkins’s photographs for the sleeve captured the atmosphere so well. When it came down to the album David presented his own images. Lovely “forensic” photographs and a scary hand with die. These worked best in the super deluxe box (attached) where the sexy, kitsch of the hand with die was explored through materials such as the black suedelle slipcase and red leatherette book cover.
200%: Do you have some interesting music projects for 2012 in the pipeline?
VO: More work with David Lynch and three or four possible projects with young bands. What is nice, though, for next year, is that I received a visiting professorship from Greenwich University. It’s interesting how record cover design is here recognized in the UK by the academic world. It’s strange when you think of how devoted attention to a ‘banal’ piece of ephemera [sleeves] has helped me become recognized as a designer. I should also say that I am discussing two major solo exhibition possibilities in London with accompanying books/catalogues.
MARK FARROW – Farrow Design (Pet Shop Boys, Manic Street Preachers, Spiritualized).
Mark Farrow: Most of our efforts in 2011 have gone in other sectors. In fact we have only worked on one music project this year, which was for the original score of a ballet, ‘The Most Incredible Thing’, written by Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe (Pet Shop Boys). It’s based on a short story written by Hans Christian Anderson who also created paper cuts, and the main cover image is based on one of those, a ballet dancer. The packaging took the form of a small book containing the CD. We also created a lavish vinyl version that was sold as a very limited edition.
200%: Do you have some interesting music projects in the pipeline for 2012?
MF: It’s interesting, having worked on hardly any music for a year, we are currently working on four albums for release in 2012: a Pet Shop Boys B-sides collection and new studio albums by Spiritualized, Orbital and Jacques Lu Cont.
200%: Is it tougher to continuously find interesting music projects on which to work?
MF: I think that is probably generally the case which is why we concentrate on other areas; the relationships we have with the artists, like Pet Shop Boys and Spiritualized, however, allow us to create great work and we will continue to work with them as long as they want to work with us.
In the article in 200% on English Sleeve Design some designers we interviewed said that musical packaging will disappear and the screen format will be the future medium for the visual identity of bands. Have you been working on new inventive ways of musical packing this year?
MF: People either want to pay the least amount possible for their music ie downloads and so on, or they are willing to pay a premium for something really special, not unlike the ballet project I alluded to earlier. These projects give us the opportunity to be really expansive with our thinking so that’s where we get to express ourselves on music projects these days.Obviously apps are being created but it’s not really an area we currently engage.
JON FORSS + KJELL EKHORN – Non Format (Black Devil Disco Club, Delphic, Milky.Disco.Three)
Jon Forss + Kjell Ekhorn: 2011 has been a good year for us. We’ve certainly produced fewer music packaging projects than last year but the ones on which we have worked have been fun.
200%: What has been memorable project(s) on which you have been working?
JF+KE: One favourite from this year is the ‘Black Devil Disco Club’ album ‘Circus’, and subsequent singles. We again commissioned the Belgian illustrator Géraldine Georges for this album. She produced a wonderful set of images for the campaign that worked well in conjunction with the custom typeface we created for the project. The album was produced as a CD pocket pack as well as a gatefold LP sleeve, which are always a pleasure to work on.
Another favourite is the ‘Ben Butler & Mousepad’ album which featured the typographic explorations of Rasmus Svensson. That particular project is on display as part of the ‘Graphic Design: Now in Production’ exhibition at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, together with quite a few of our other music packaging projects from previous years.
Other music-related work on which we have been working is in that of creating video idents for the Norwegian graphic design awards show, Visuelt. We commissioned the very talented Vincent Oliver, aka Oswald Skillbard, to create a series of music pieces for that project.
200%: Do you have some interesting music projects for 2012 in the pipeline?
JF+KE: We’ve just completed album packaging for a new band called ‘NZCA/LINES’ which will be released early next year. There’s a ‘best of’ compilation for ‘The Chap’ coming out soon, that has an unusual animal/human hybrid on the cover. We’re also working on the new album for ‘The Chap’ entitled ‘We Are Nobody’. These projects are all for Lo Recordings. We’ll be working on the Visuelt awards indents again for 2012, which will, hopefully that’ll be another opportunity to commission some more music.
200%: Is it tougher to continuously find interesting music projects on which to work?
JF+KE: Well, we don’t really look for them, as they tend to come to us. We’ve been offered quite a few music packaging projects over this past year, but we were unable to work on quite a few of them because of timing or budget issues. We continue to work with Lo Recordings as much as possible, though, as they offer us complete creative freedom: it’s better to work on fewer creative projects than many less creative projects.
200%: In the article in 200% on ‘English Sleeve Design’ some designers we interviewed said that musical packaging will disappear and the screen format will be the future medium for the visual identity of bands. Have you been working on new inventive ways of musical packing this year?
JF+KE: Yes, as it’s pretty clear that music is shifting rapidly away from physical packaging. We have yet to really get to grips with the potential of this move to screen-based formats for music packaging, but we’re more than happy to see music being represented this way. There are bound to be albums that continue to be packaged in the traditional formats using paper and plastic for quite a while yet, but we embrace the thought that, eventually, music will be accompanied by visuals that are almost entirely screen based.
200%: In his latest book ‘Retromania’, Simon Reynolds wrote about the return of the comeback. Are you happy that vinyl is back in fashion again?
JF+KE: Hasn’t vinyl been back in fashion since the early 90s? There was a brief moment in the mid to late 80s when CDs reigned supreme but it wasn’t long before people started a vinyl revival. Seems to us that is has been going on ever since. I[Jon]really like that vinyl has outlived the compact cassette, MiniDisc and now, it seems, even the compact disc. It seems unlikely that there’ll ever be a CD revival but, as Brian Eno once said, it’s the weaknesses of a technology that are the main cause of its revival. Or something to that effect.
GERARD SAINT – Big Active, Creative Director and Founder (Mark Ronson, Muse, Goldfrapp, Snow Patrol, Beck)
Gerard Saint: Big Active Design has been busy on a number of projects this year – notably Nero, and Noah and the Whale. We’re also working with some pretty exciting developing artists, many of whom will become more visible next year. Our favourite is Michael Kiwanuka, whose album, which is amazing, will be released in March 2012. Mat Maitland is also currently heavily involved in working on a singles album for Goldfrapp, which is also out in the New Year.
200%: Is it tougher to continuously find interesting music projects on which to work?
GS: Big Active Design is always being approached about new projects on which to work. The only tough part is that record labels and artist have less money to spend on commissioning and developing the creative, which means we’re all having to be more resourceful. There’s a lot of visual noise out there and it’s important that good design can be used to effectively cut through that. The issue really is that, as budgets get further and further cut back, many of the best designers will look elsewhere for creative opportunities…
200%: In the article in 200% on English Sleeve Design some designers we interviewed said that musical packaging will disappear and the screen format will be the future medium for the visual identity of bands. Have you been working on new, inventive ways of musical packing this year?
GS: I don’t agree that physical packaging will totally disappear. Music design is, now, more about releasing material in appropriate formats. Whilst the digital environment may be used as the basic default, we believe it’s more about how a range of formats can be used in different ways to compliment each other and to create an appropriate story around a release. Every band and artist is different, and the variety of mediums that are available allows them to engage with their audience in different ways.
200%: In his latest book ‘Retromania’ Simon Reynolds wrote about the return of the comeback. Are you happy that vinyl is back in fashion now?
GS: Yes, we are happy that vinyl is more widely appreciated once more. Pretty much every release we are working on features a vinyl format to some degree. As I said earlier, the main thing is for artists to use the appropriate formats with which to engage their audience. Hopefully, a new generation of fans will begin to appreciate the sublime beauty of music realised in this analogue format.
Interested in more? 200% #4 features an extensive 26 page article on ‘English Sleeve Design’ for which we interviewed the designers Neville Brody, Peter Saville, Mark Farrow, Tom Hingston, Vaughan Oliver and Non-Format.
http://www.200-percent.com/
