Custom album cover design process for the band FACE - Faith At Christ's Expense
There are some album cover projects that hit a little bit different, and this is one of them! I didn't know what to expect when I started working with the members of the band FACE, but I loved their band name and the meaning behind it. I also loved that this would be a project where my faith and creativity could collide and work together! Looking back on this project now that it is out, I can definitely say its one of my favorite custom album projects to date.
Consultation
The initial consultation is always important, to make sure that I understand the vision of the artist, and to gain insight on what will make this design project successful. A couple of the key take aways I got from our initial call were-
They wanted the design for the album cover to become a visual branding element for the band.
One of their main purposes with their music is to share their faith, so they wanted the album cover to be a tool/conversation piece.
With these two objectives, the meaning of the name, and the theme of the music in mind, it was time to start working on concepts.
Concept
One of the first things that came to mind when they told me the band name, Faith At Christ's Expense, was a verse from the book of Romans. To paraphrase, it says "Through everything God has made, people can clearly see Him, and we have no excuse for not knowing Him." (That's Romans 1:20 if you want to read it yourself.) In simpler terms, no one has ever seen God's face, but we see Him in creation. The winning concept started from the thought of how do you make a face from elements of nature? I drew inspiration from other elements in the Bible, and a rough sketch started. For example, you have the dove which is imagery for the Holy Spirit, and the olive branch which is an image of peace and forgiveness.
I knew that I couldn't make this imagine come to life the way I wanted, so I reached out to Reagan with Art by Rea (see my concept sketch on the left, Reagans final sketch on the right). I have worked with Reagan on a previous cover, so I knew that she could bring my concept to life. Compared to her other work, this was a rather simple design, so she was able to get a copy back to me very quickly and the band loved it! If you haven't seen Reagan's work, make sure you go check it out here.
This main element of the face, helped check off our first objective, creating a visual identity piece for the band. This piece could become an icon/logo for the band to use on social media, and would look great on merchandise items like t-shirts.
Design
With the main element of the cover complete, I began to finish the layout of the cover. For this album there wasn't a separate name for the album, just the band name. One nerdy little detail I thought was cool, and the reason I placed the name where I did, was so when they have physical copies of the album, they can write in the name of the band. (see photo below). It's one of those tiny details, that help make this a tool, not just a cover design. Also the elements in the face design are intended to have meaning and symbolism that the band can use to talk about their faith.
Like I said from the start, this was a special project because I got to infuse my faith in the design for this album cover. Also this project is special to me because it exceeded the customer needs, and met all their objectives in very creative ways. First and foremost we ended up with a custom album cover design that stands out, and will hopefully draw people into listening and buying their album. The face design is now the main visual identity piece for the band, so they can have a cohesive image online and on their social media accounts. Lastly, they have a tool to go along with their music, to share the meaning and message of their faith. Make sure you show the band some love, and go check out their music and connect with them here.
Every project is a little bit different, but if you need a custom album cover for your project, or need branding for your brand or project connect with me using the form below.