Striking product packaging for an old-school metal record on vinyl
PROJECT – PRODUCT PACKAGING MODULE
ROLE – UNDERSTANDING AUDIENCE, EXPERIMENTING WITH CONCEPTS, CRAFTING PACKAGING
DATE – 2019
The context
Those Once Loyal is a classic death metal album by the band Bolt Thrower. I managed to effectively capture the aggressiveness and contemplativeness of this record through my intense and striking illustrations and typography. “There is no time for despair, enter the void of your worst nightmares!” This project achieved a First Class grade and an examiners award for excellence upon marking.
NOTICE THE MANY FACES IN THE RED AREAS, MY INTENTION WAS TO MARRY OBSUCRITY WITH DIRECTNESS.
The themes of fear + confusion are induced in the packaging
The user journey is apparent and enjoyable in the sense that the user experiences varying levels of impact with each piece of the packaging. For instance, from the initial cover to the blood-red sleeves to the vertigo-inducing vinyl labels and, finally, to the music itself.
I went through multiple rounds of testing and experimenting to land on the two tone red and grey cover, which brings to life the faces of fear and anger. The black background and simple typography lets the illustration sing whilst still conveying legible copy.
DUE TO THE IMPACT OF THE VINYL COVER, THE SLEEVE AND VINYL ITSELF DIDNT NEED TO BE AS SHOUTY IN DESIGN
Understanding of audience was paramount to this design’s success
I became extremely intimate with the music and lyricism in order to get into the right headspace to produce this art. The album is so stripped back with its production and yet it says so much. By using clean typographic treatment I was able to deliver this lyricism clearly to other listeners whilst still feeding their hunger for aggressive death metal imagery. My lecturer said this was one of the best vinyl covers he had received from a student in years. I am extremely proud.
