IndieHQ / Article Detail

June 28th, 2007

The Death Of Album Art: An Interview with Invisible Creature

There are many things in my life that led me to choose a creative career, but music in specific was the reason I decided to become a graphic designer. It was a ritual; I’d buy a new album, hit play, and read through every last liner note while listening to the music. Hundreds of designers, bands, and album packages have influenced me over the years and the idea that the death of album art is just over the horizon makes me pretty sad.

I thought it would be a great idea to talk to some of the designers working in the industry, what they thought about the digital music revolution and it’s effect on album art and design. The first interview is with Invisible Creature. They’re responsible for creating some of the most visually powerful and recognizable album packages from the past few years including work for Bleeding Through, Atreyu, Brand New, and many more! Be sure to check out the great work at www.invisiblecreature.com.

Interview conducted by Aaron Ray. Thanks for the great interview Ray Ray.

INDIEHQ: How did you first get involved with design, and specifically music and album design?
INVISIBLE CREATURE: My grandfather was an illustrator for NASA and had a huge impact on what I wanted to do with my life. For as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to be an artist of some kind - always staying involved in my school’s art department and not really taking my other classes too seriously. In my teenage years and early 20’s, I got heavily into music and started a band with my brother. We quickly signed with a label and it all just started from there. Instead of college, we were touring and meeting industry people. I was designing during the day and playing clubs at night - so to speak. 13 years later … we are doing the same thing but on a much larger scale.

INDIEHQ: Was it a conscious decision to be a music based design studio, or has the clientele dictated the direction of your work?
INVISIBLE CREATURE: I would say a little of both. We definitely started out doing 99% music related projects and always hoped to tap a bit into the advertising world, while keeping CD packages our bread and butter. To this day, we get asked to do a few advertising projects throughout the year, but not many. The music world keeps calling us back, so we can’t complain.

INDIEHQ: What are your opinions on downloading music, rather than purchasing an album? How do you feel the lack of a complete package with artwork affects the recording?
INVISIBLE CREATURE: This is obviously a hot topic around our office and in friendly conversation amongst industry friends. I am a print designer by trade, so my opinions are obviously biased towards that. Do I download records? No. Does the rest of the world? Yes. I totally realize and understand that - and I’m not trying to stop that. Our goal is to evolve with the medium and the technology. Is it a scary thing to think about CD packaging totally go away? Absolutely. In 10 years, will we be creating album covers and downloadable PDF booklets? It’s definitely possible. I just read that iTunes is the 3rd largest retailer of music now, behind Wal-Mart and Best Buy. That’s something that we can’t just brush under the table and pretend is not real. We absolutely love and cherish printed packages, and the interaction between the fan, the printed piece and the music. It’s a real and tangible thing that is an important part of the entire experience. Unfortunately, fans want their music quick and easy, and the album package is being looked at as an unimportant “supplement”. With that mindset, we are in trouble. I hold strong to the notion that kids (in large part) still view album packaging as an important partner to the music, at least for now. I’m definitely not in denial, our job will be changing in the next 5-10 years - and it could be drastic.

INDIEHQ: Has the music download age had any effect on your studio, are there less clients seeking album art/design? If not, do you feel that is coming?
INVISIBLE CREATURE: As of right now, definitely not. We are busier than ever (and very thankful). I honestly don’t see business slowing down at all - but I do see the projects and the execution changing over the years.

INDIEHQ: Have any of your clients (especially the big ones - Atlantic, Capitol, Virgin, etc.) approached projects differently? Are there things they are looking to see to help their record covers stand out in the crowd (any more than usual)?
INVISIBLE CREATURE: To be honest, we haven’t really felt that. Occasionally I will hear things like “Remember, this cover will mainly be viewed as a 1″ square on iTunes”. That obviously makes me a bit sick, but it’s few and far between.

INDIEHQ: What is your opinion on the downloadable, print friendly artwork that many digital albums come with? Do feel this is an adequate replacement for an album package?
INVISIBLE CREATURE: I am a fan of a quality. Printing out a downloadable PDF on your printer that you bought at Target would not be defined as quality to me. Like I mentioned before, I am a realist and I understand we could be heading in this direction.

INDIEHQ: Do you have any alternative or innovative ideas for the future to keep album art interesting for both print format and digital format?
INVISIBLE CREATURE: I think the idea of “special editions” are great. My band (Demon Hunter) is getting ready to release our 4th album this fall, and we’ll be releasing 3 different editions at the same time. Some have different artwork, different and unique packaging, tons of cool stuff for fans. Our iTunes release may have a different song, etc. For this record, we are recording more songs than we ever have … in order to give the fans as much cool stuff as possible. As a musician being on the other side of the fence, I think that’s important and alot of other bands are doing the same. Content, content, content. What is something cool that we can do (packaging wise) to keep kids buying the physical product? That is the question we are trying to answer. I think the idea of giving the fans more than your standard 8-page booklet is key.

INDIEHQ: For those who don’t know you’re both founding members of the band Demon hunter. From a band perspective, do you have any ideas on how you’d like to create a package that will help convince the consumer to purchase the album rather than download it?
INVISIBLE CREATURE: Oh man … I think I just answered this one. Ha - sorry, I didn’t read ahead!

INDIEHQ: What is your advice to up and coming designers who want to work in album/music design? When you consider there might not be hard-copy albums in 5-10 years, and the only work in “print” might be campaign elements, in your opinion, is it worth it?
INVISIBLE CREATURE: Absolutely. I remember the phrase in 1998: “Print is dead”. Everyone was worried that newspapers, books, magazines and all other printed media would go away due to the big bad internet. In fact, that wasn’t the case at all. Even if CD packaging goes away in ten years, print design for the music industry is a real and important partner to the music itself. I don’t see that ever going away. The rock poster boom is a perfect example of that.

INDIEHQ: Name a favorite album package from 1990 - 2000? What makes this special?
INVISIBLE CREATURE: Skeleton Key’s “Fantastic Spikes Through Balloon” designed by Stefan Sagmeister. One look at the physical product and there is no need for description. It is an absolutely perfect reason why CD packaging is important. One of my favorites of all time.

Written by Virgil Dickerson