SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION

DES 224: Storytelling and Narrative
Album art, poster design, music video

I created a design system that spread across album art, music videos, and social media content for hip hop artist Gepetto.

The Concept

This album campaign for rapper Gepetto’s energetic, braggadocious single “Spontaneous Combustion” riffs on the metaphor of competitive fire. At the same time, the visual language explores the energetic connection between rap, gothic black and white imagery often associated with metal, and the collage aesthetic often associated with punk. The resulting visual world symbolizes explosive creative energy by using the chaotic imagery of fire and symbolizes DIY ethics with a collage/xerox motif.

Album Art

Inner Sleeve Collage

Inspired by a visit from Rob Lewis in our class, this physical collage is made up of images from a book about forest fires and a book about Nascar. I blended the explosive combustion of Nascar racing with raging forest fires and typography related to fire, smoke, and competitive energy to create a chaotic piece that echoes the energetic, rapid-fire delivery of the bars on the song.

Poster

I created a double sided 11x17 poster to be included in the record sleeve, again utilizing imagery from the same sources. I thought it would be interesting if these images stood on their own as posters rathere than being advertisements for the album or artist (the juxtaposition of a burning forest with the all-American-obliviousness of Nascar was too sweet to pass up).

Social Campaign

Music Video(s)

The release campaign for the single included an official music video as well as an additional studio performance video. I conceptualized the official music video and helped edit it, and shot and edited the performance video myself. I used consistent title cards, graphic elements, transitions, and pacing/phrasing in both videos to create aconsistent look and feel across the video campaign.