HYPERSONIC MISSILES VINYL COVER

Vinyl | Redesign | Independent Project

University Project redesign

During my final year at university, I was challenged with redesigning a vinyl cover. I chose Sam Fender’s album, Hypersonic Missiles, as I felt the original cover didn’t delve into the true meaning of the album. My initial design for my university project however, was not successful as the module lead felt it also did not delve deep enough into the themes of Fender’s album. Therefore I decided to take on designing a second design to really capture these themes.

Actual design and initial redesign

  • Actual design

  • Front cover (Initial Redesign)

  • Back cover (Initial Redesign)

SECOND REDESIGN

  • Hypersonic Missiles, Fender’s debut album, combines raw emotion with keen observation to explore pressing personal and social issues.

  • The album delves into issues like toxic masculinity, mental health, violence, social media, and political instability, using “hypersonic missiles” as a metaphor for the chaos and uncertainty of modern life.

  • Inspired by Bruce Springsteen, the album’s socially conscious lyrics are shaped by Fender’s working-class background in northern England.

  • I wanted the front cover to explore the mountain of societal issues faced by working class people and push the message through layered imagery.

  • The front cover features Fender in the background as a silhouette like figure to show the insecurity of the modern man in struggling to be themselves.

  • The cover eludes to social media, the divide between social classes, toxic masculinity and the innocence of a child before they hit the adult world. Also featuring significant lyrics from the songs featured in the album and scribbled circles representing a mind crowded by fears of the modern world.

  • The back cover highlights ‘Leave Fast’ a song expressing the tension between small-town roots and the desire to leave them behind.

  • I used a graphic with the words “If I don’t leave now, I will never get away,” adding a blurred filter to convey the confusion and indecision Fender explores in his song.

FURTHER VISUALS

Amazon

Spotify

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