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This album cover was designed for Virginia Tech’s All Male A Capella group Naturally Sharp.
The design had to mostly appeal to the group but also be suitable for their diverse audience of family members and college students. The main design problem was creating eye catching imagery that spoke to the title ‘Relapse’ while still being on brand with the group. The group is known for their maroon blazers and their orange ties so including those colors allowed the piece to stay on brand.
Their previous albums were called “A Decade Under the Influence” and “Acaholics Anonymous.” I knew that I wanted to create an image that subtly hinted at the idea of relapsing without including any inappropriate imagery. The group did not want the term to be thought of as relapsing into a dangerous addiction of drugs and/or alcohol but instead to the addiction of music and singing.
Using Adobe Illustrator and InDesign, I created the figure by taking a posed photograph of one of the group members and then used the pen tool in Illustrator.
The design was well received and is being used in the physical album case and on multiple music streaming platforms.