Visual identity and album art for the stripped-down, analog concept album.

Any designer will tell you, the margin for error on print projects is zero. But while some projects can often be ephemeral, an album cover is designed to last forever. An LP is made to be held in your hands and pored over again and again.

"Starved" by Mad Denizen is a concept album recorded entirely on reel-to-reel tape, just voice and guitar, haunting and stripped down. I created the concept and artwork for the vinyl LP, then expanded that into full art direction for the release.

The cover needed the same analog, hand-touched feel as the recording itself. The result is a composite of two 18th-century woodcut etchings seamlessly woven together. The scene is cold and gray, one crow scrambling in the dust, another looking ominously over its shoulder toward a towering, impenetrable castle in the distance.

The cover itself was a meticulous Photoshop composite, layering and reworking the imagery and textures into one evocative scene. From there, the concept expanded into directing and shooting music videos and social content that carried the same raw analog world across every touchpoint.

The album was well received, with strong press and praise for the production itself, and a visual identity that held together across the cover, the videos, and the social rollout.