Constants

Record Packaging - Custom 3xLP

Let's get right to the point... This was a giant undertaking and to deliver the same impact as their wall of amps and monolithic bio-diesel bus, the packaging and artwork needed to be bold and dense, and equally representative of these mass-produced songs as exercises in expanse and dynamics.

We chose a custom and rather rare format, the triple LP (that's three 12" records), to visually represent each of the album's conceptual segments. Aside from the 6 feet of artwork, we also created a precise pattern matching some of the elements in the design, printed with a spot gloss material which wraps around the jacket's exterior. Quite a nice finishing touch.

The album is also part of an entire print package created for Constants including custom CD packaging, and tour posters for their two-month trek of Europe and the UK.

Constants

Tour Posters

This was an experimental approach to creating a custom limited edition tour poster for their 2009 Europe/UK tour. Using the final flattened artwork files from the 3xLP, we "remixed" the files to create a variation with common elements. Something this special needed a bigger canvas and the 16" x 24" size was rather magical.

We also created a standard album version poster at a smaller 11" x 17" size.

The posters are also part of an entire print package created for Constants including custom CD and vinyl packaging.

MCV Photo

Web Site

Simple and clean, utilizing ample whitespace, we let the site's imagery and content speak more than anything else. However, the real story is the custom management of the site's massive image collections and worldwide Fashion Week schedules.

We allowed the site owners to use their existing Google calendar and Flickr accounts by collecting the images and content, styling them and displaying them on the site in addition to custom administrative options to manage it all at once, centrally located.

This is a fairly significant example of freedom and flexibility in content management.

Claire Voyant

CD Packaging - 8-panel

One thing that is amazingly apparent about Claire Voyant, and especially on their album Lustre, is their ability to create such lush and ethereal soundscapes while still being accessible.

We like that formula too, and effective design can create an experience without abandoning the user through abstraction. But really, it's luminous and glowing and we created a secret place, where the notion of gravity is fairly ridiculous.

The packaging eliminates any gap between sound and sight.

Artwork photography by Lauren Bilanko.

Claire Voyant

Web Site/E-card

Maintaining the established look of the album, we created a combination Web site and E-card, allowing visitors to hear audio clips, connect via social networking sites, buy the album and other merchandise as well as notifying friends through a feature that generates an e-mail from the visitor.

We also skinned their ZenCart store to match the artwork.

By the way, the site displays full-screen and the canvas fades through a few different designs. We would not think about boring you with just one.

Bonfire Madigan

Web Site

Bonfire Madigan, the musical brainchild of cellist Madigan Shive, is an assembly of Baroque folk-punk that is as important as her social activism. A tenant's rights advocate that "will play for change," she boasts three full-length records on Olympia's legendary and influential Kill Rock Stars (Bikini Kill, Sleater-Kinney, Deerhoof).

We developed a custom Content Management System for updating and editing all news and show dates which includes a rich text editor and image upload. It also includes a special feature for managing all venue locations worldwide. Finally, keeping the latest news accessible, the site's sidebar dynamically displays the two latest news entries while users navigate throughout the site.

Illustration provided by Kristine Virsis of the Artists' Co-op Just Seeds.

Hooray For Earth

CD Packaging - Digipak

This is the special edition reissue of Hooray For Earth's self-titled LP, packaged in a nice 6-panel eco-friendly digipak.

In design, it's important to exercise restraint and let a good idea hit you in the heart even harder with its simplicity. A band of pinks float over solid rich black, cohesively wrapping around the entire exterior. Then we make you crawl all the way inside to get sprayed in the eye with a bouquet of horses, TVs and fantasy eggs.

Always let the pink path lead you from darkness.

The CD is part of a Web and print package.

Hooray For Earth

Tour poster

Even with the lights off, the sounds that come out of your speakers from these blokes even at minimal volume are like colorful explosions of nuclear Pop Rocks.*  We dig, and it seemed to make sense to create something fun. I personally shot those horses in Texas (and I also crawled out of that egg at birth).

*Or maybe Andrew W.K. and The Magnetic Fields in a blender, with Gary Numan supervising.

Just look, then rock. Then look again.

Behold!

The poster is part of a Web and print package.

Hooray For Earth

Web Site/E-card

Here we have a portable Web site/greeting card with object color explosion and everything the kids need... tour dates, album preview and streaming audio, purchase option, video and a Send to Friend feature. With an e-mail address entered, the Send to Friend feature immediately generates an e-mail from the user to the provided recipient telling them to check out the band and directing them to the E-card.

This is digital promotion.

This is also a prefect example of how much we love what we do. When we have fun, your project will rock.

The E-card is part of a Web and print package.

Bee and Flower

Web Site

While working for a band that is comprised of members of Swans, The Stooges and Angels of Light, with a lush and dense sound that has records out on Neurot (Isis, Neurosis, Red Sparowes) and Germany’s Tuition, it is only natural for its home to welcome the visitor to “enter a world.” These were our instructions; to create a world.

Combining lithos and imagery of bugs and flora, a breathtaking land of surreal beauty was ambitiously created while maintaing a glimpse of something organic.

The site also features a CMS tool to easily update and manage news and tour dates.

Touring internationally and touting a 25-piece orchestra on its latest release, Bee and Flower will make you slide off the edge of the earth.