David Watson's profile

8 panel digipak design for The Future Sound of London

FSOLdigital presents Mind Maps. Design and artwork for a limited edition 8 panel digipak CD mix album featuring remixes of other artists by various aliases of The Future Sound of London.
This album started life as a promo mix for the release of A Controlled Vista and was another dream project for one of my favourite artists on one of my favourite labels. I began by researching imagery of various landscapes and thought about how the topography of the natural world could be used to represent the mind: rivers become veins, deltas the nervous system and mountain ranges become tissue. I found some amazing and inspirational satellite imagery by the United States Geological Survey that I overlaid and reworked to form the seamless background (it is a seamless mix after all). The detail and vastness of the imagery also fit into the FSOL narrative and helped to convey the moods and emotions of the music.

Initially I only set out to design the album title in the custom typography (inspired by the twisty folds of a brain) but then hit on the idea of the stylised Ms next to each other actually resembling a brain. It shows the left brain/right brain (analytical/creative) and could also be sound waves or brain waves.

Pleased with how well the brain inspired typography had turned out and seeing as there was very little text to work with (not even a track listing), it made sense to construct the names of the various remix aliases (FSOL, Humanoid, Yage and Synthi A) in the same style. This added more interest to the artwork and also gave a glimpse into the music without giving too much away. The graphic ended up on the far left inside panel (the last one you see as you open it), reversed out of the imagery which balanced the design with the white CD design.
As there is no track listing I came up with a tagline about the mix inspired by the epic satellite imagery
A matt finish 8 panel digipak was chosen to show off the vastness of the imagery
Custom typography inspired by the shapes of a brain is used throughout
The CD design is reversed out of white as a contrast to the rest of the packaging
This custom typography led to me designing the MM used on the cover
More custom typography showing the remixers: FSOL, Humanoid, Yage and Synthi A (all aliases of The Future Sound of London)
The under tray features a Mind Maps compass but you'll need to use your own needle
The album was sold exclusively by Touched Music and FSOLdigital with all proceeds going to Macmillan Cancer Support.
8 panel digipak design for The Future Sound of London
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8 panel digipak design for The Future Sound of London

Published: