Here is my process as to how I went about using music to create an emotional and engaging response using design vehicles for the album The Suburbs by Arcade Fire.
I decided to utilize the theme of loss of innocence in children due to violence as the basis for the album cover. I am also drawing inspiration from grunge design to help portray this theme.
I wanted to play with grunge typography specifically inspired by David Carson.
I also wanted to use a faded muted color palette and expressive imagery inspired by Ray Gun magazine.
Here are examples of the type of imagery I wanted to use on the album. I want to show aspects of everyday life to children and show them being destroyed to symbolize loss of innocence.
Here is some mark making for different textures and brushes in Photoshop
Here are some thumbnail sketches for possible albums covers. I want to further develop the far right sketches on the bottom and top rows.
Here I refined my best thumbnail drawings and explored different variations.
Here I sketched variations for the front and back of the album.
I originally wanted to utilize this image as my front cover, but I decided the composition lead to an rather interesting back cover.
As for my front cover, I took a different approach from what I previously had planned. I decided to show the scene on the back from a different perceptive. After, messing with different variations of the front cover I ended with the last image.
Here is the final version of my album spread
Front Cover of album
Back cover of album
Here is my final presentation board that includes: album spread, record, text, and textures utilized throughout.
