Objective: To redesign a CD cover, case, and booklet utilizing photography design that thoughtfully captures the genre and aesthetic of a selected album
Research
By creating a mood board to identify photography styles that appealed to me, I discovered that much of the album art I find captivating is rooted in surrealist photography.
Inspiration Moodboard
After exploration, I chose to reimage the cover art and visuals for Magdalena Bay's synth-pop album, Imaginal Disk, shown below.
Original Cover
Original Cover, CD, and Sleeve
Inspiration & Sketches
When deciding how to go about taking my image and designing my cd cover, I concluded that keeping an "infomercial" type layout and having a maximalist style within my photo would best communicate the chaotic nature of the album.
Inspiration Imagery
Sketches
Staging and Capturing
To evoke a 2000s-inspired maximalist atmosphere, I strung CDs on fishing wire, arranged nostalgic childhood toys like Legos and McDonald’s Happy Meal trinkets, and creatively reimagined the album's "disk-insertion" process using the mannequin head.
Photoshoot Setup: Shot within my apartment closet
Close-up of constructed mannequin head
Iconography including play credit card, legos, googly eyes, etc
Additionally, I conveyed the eerie anomaly of a "doctor" portrayed within the album by experimenting with different iterations of a gloved hand interacting with the mannequin.
Magnifying glass experimentation
Edited iteration for back traycard, exacto knife experimentation
Scissors experimentation
Wire Experimentation
Every aspect of the photoshoot was deliberately crafted, including the wires embedded in the mannequin head, drawing inspiration from the album lyric: "Should've known those dirty bastards would put wires in your head."
Wire Experiments
Additional initial photos
Digital Iterations
Through my digital iterations, I created a branding system that conveys the 2000s infomercial inspiration in a modern style through bright contrast, san-serif type, inverted highlighting, and more.
Front Cover Iterations
Initial Photo
Iteration #1
Iteration #2
Final Iteration
Back Tray Card Iterations
Initial photo
Iteration #1
Iteration #2
Final Iteration
Final Prototype
Booklet cover and CD Label
Front cover and spread one of booklet
Back cover and spread two of booklet
Inside tray card
Prototype Demo
The final version, shown below, is a crafted CD jewel case including the two-spread booklet, CD label, and inside/outside tray card designs.
