Project Type

Album Cover Packaging Design

Information

Medium: Digital, Physical, & Animation
Software Used: Photoshop, InDesign, Lightroom, Illustrator, & After Effects
Keywords: Nostalgic, Rustic, Reflective

Overview

Live in Studio is a conceptual album design for The Black Keys, exploring the relationship between music, memory, and place. Inspired by a family trip to Yosemite in 2018, where I first discovered the band, the project captures how music can preserve personal memories and connect us to a specific time and place.

Combining personal photographs from California with imagery of band members Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney, I developed a layered visual language through black-and-white printing, glass lenses, and rephotography. The resulting imagery creates a distorted, nostalgic aesthetic that reflects both the hazy quality of memory and the raw energy of the band's music.

This visual approach carries throughout the album cover, gatefold, insert booklet, and animated Spotify loops. Distorted typography, layered imagery, and fragmented lyric layouts create a consistent visual identity across print and digital formats. A gradual shift from warm tones to darker imagery establishes a visual narrative, symbolizing how memories can become distant and obscured over time. Through the album's imagery and motion, the project explores how music allows us to revisit and preserve meaningful memories.