In this project my aim was to re-design Sam Fender's album Hypersonic Missiles, capturing Fender's political and social commentry within the design. Although visually interesting, the current artwork fails to represent Fender's political views (which are integral to him as an artist) and the themes within the album.
As album covers are no longer solely a physical product, it was crucial for my design to work sucessfully not only at large scale on a vinyl but also cross-platform on streaming apps on mobile devices. Creating cross-platform designs is a skill which I've developed across projects (see Sero!).
Analysying the songs and the emotions evoked by Hypersonic Missiles lead me to the theme of an endless circle of hardwork and suffering for no real reward and the concept of the rat race. Capturing this complicated concept in a successful vinyl design was a challenge, but by pairing my hand-drawn illustrations with depressing imagery I conveyed the loss of identity and mundane struggle to succeed within capitalism.
For the back cover, it was important to create a visually interesting design which carried enough of the brand style without feeling repetitive. Therefore, I continued the typography, mixed-media style and hand-drawn illustrations, but altered the content of the imagery and played with scale and negative space.
To create an exciting user experience, designing the interior of the vinyl was just as important as the exterior. I continued the theme of the rat race- creating a coherent style–but added a vibrant pop of orange to add excitement. Additionally, I played on the 'circular' nature of the rat race, using a zoetrope effect of rats running in circles but never getting anywhere on the centre of the vinyl.
For additional promotional material, I created a limited edition football jersey and rat mask. The mask is designed as a free handout for Fender's fans to wear during his concerts. The resultant effect of thousands of fans wearing uniformed rat masks would have a large impact, bringing fans together but also emphasising the theme of loss of identity.
