Underscore Bells, freelance graphic designer and creative. Based in Naarm (Melbourne).
Projects
2022
Good Dog
Kallos Skincare
Acclaim Magazine
2021
Bells’ Burgers
Dreamscapes
Nectar Vinyl Covers
Sharp Boombox Render
Sun Theatre Travel Poster
Vinyl Covers
Services: Editorial, Logo Design, Packaging Design
Client: Joji (2021 RMIT University project)
Programs: Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign, Procreate
Target Audience
Client: Joji (2021 RMIT University project)
Programs: Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign, Procreate
Target Audience
- A young alternative market who appreciate and are invested in the music scene and history
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An older market who find nostalgia in playing and collecting records
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A person who enjoys tangible objects and likes collecting items for display
- An audience who appreciates album/record cover design
Project
The brief for this project was to redesign one album cover in two different styles whilst maintaining a heavy focus on the typographic elements. The aim was to recreate the existing album in the same style of the original genre and then redesign the same album cover in a completely different genre. The purpose of this was to research the visual prompts and stereotypes that are associated with different music genres and the typical designs that get attached to that.
I chose the artist Joji and his 2020 album Nectar. This album is a mix of genres including alternative, indie, R&B and soul. Joji’s style of music produces a feeling of weightlessness, like flying in a void or floating underwater. Another aspect of the genre is it’s calming effect, providing a sense of warmth and inner glow. I wanted to recreate these feelings in my design and to try and achieve a sense of depth and glow to them. When researching other albums from the same genre, the typography that was used was always distorted and warped to produce a very organic outcome. In order to reach a similar end result, I used scanner distortion to produce warped typography for the album title. I used the same technique for the flower graphic, by moving it across the scanner.
For the second album cover design, I chose to recreate Nectar as a death metal record. I wanted to push myself and try something I hadn’t before with undertaking the death metal logo design. I created the entire logo using the Lasso tool in Adobe Photoshop and then vectorising it in Adobe Illustrator. I took inspiration from other death metal albums, like Nocturnal by The Black Dahlelia Murder, and placed white standout text on a dark background. Skulls being a common theme, I included imagery of a skeleton statue from Unsplash and manipulated it in Photoshop to create a high contrast scanner effect. I also incorporated bee imagery to connect back to the Nectar theme.
The brief for this project was to redesign one album cover in two different styles whilst maintaining a heavy focus on the typographic elements. The aim was to recreate the existing album in the same style of the original genre and then redesign the same album cover in a completely different genre. The purpose of this was to research the visual prompts and stereotypes that are associated with different music genres and the typical designs that get attached to that.
I chose the artist Joji and his 2020 album Nectar. This album is a mix of genres including alternative, indie, R&B and soul. Joji’s style of music produces a feeling of weightlessness, like flying in a void or floating underwater. Another aspect of the genre is it’s calming effect, providing a sense of warmth and inner glow. I wanted to recreate these feelings in my design and to try and achieve a sense of depth and glow to them. When researching other albums from the same genre, the typography that was used was always distorted and warped to produce a very organic outcome. In order to reach a similar end result, I used scanner distortion to produce warped typography for the album title. I used the same technique for the flower graphic, by moving it across the scanner.
For the second album cover design, I chose to recreate Nectar as a death metal record. I wanted to push myself and try something I hadn’t before with undertaking the death metal logo design. I created the entire logo using the Lasso tool in Adobe Photoshop and then vectorising it in Adobe Illustrator. I took inspiration from other death metal albums, like Nocturnal by The Black Dahlelia Murder, and placed white standout text on a dark background. Skulls being a common theme, I included imagery of a skeleton statue from Unsplash and manipulated it in Photoshop to create a high contrast scanner effect. I also incorporated bee imagery to connect back to the Nectar theme.
Genre 01 - ALTERNATIVE / INDIE/ R&B / SOUL
Developmental Work
Liner Notes
Genre 02 - DEATH METAL
Developmental Work