Album Cover Archives – Herm the Younger

16th April 2024

Voice of the Wild

I'm pleased to reveal the cover I designed for Voice of the Wild by Million Moons, the first single from their second full-length album.

The album is heavily inspired by Antarctic voyages of days gone by and tells the story of a doomed polar expedition. After digging deep into public archives, I found the remarkable photography of Frank Hurley (1885–1962), an adventurer and photographer present on those same missions.

The covers mix historic photos from Antarctic missions with icy palettes and beautiful typography

From the official press release:

“Herm the Younger created the album artwork, collaging archival photographs from Antarctic expeditions to create a haunting landscape that conveys the beauty and isolation these explorers encountered.”

The main album artwork and covers for all seven tracks will be released with the album on May 29th.

Above is a cutting from the album's tracklist (unreleased). The letters were arranged individually, just like they would have been using letterpress printing in the early 1900s.

Credits

Patron
Million Moons

Art Direction
Herm the Younger

Photography
Frank Hurley

Published by Herm the Younger in Album Cover, Graphic Design

2nd February 2024

Album Cover Options

When working on an album cover, I always present two or three design options. Not only does this allow the musician to choose the best artwork, but it pushes us to explore several directions which interpret the music and brief in different ways.

Seen below are a selection of these from past projects:

From here, the favourite design is chosen and either finalised or refined further into the finished artwork. Work carries on patiently until something truly special is arrived at. That's what makes the difference.

⬩ ⬩ ⬩

If you have a design project you'd like to work on, please reach out:
h@hermtheyounger.com

I would love to hear from you.

Published by Herm the Younger in Album Cover, Graphic Design, Process

15th July 2023

Impermanence

I was honoured to design the cover for Casey Well's debut album Impermanence, complete with CD packaging and a wealth of original artwork. This project is the culmination of several years of creative collaboration between myself and Wells.

Five singles* that I designed artwork for appear on the album. Never before printed, they are woven through the booklet where they accompany the lyrics of each song.

A full case study for this project will follow when the album is released.

*These singles are: Keep It Coming ⬩ Moving On ⬩ Brand New Age ⬩ TMB ⬩ Archives

Credits

Patron
Casey Wells

Design
Herm the Younger

Published by Herm the Younger in Album Cover, Graphic Design

3rd November 2022

Downwards

I'm pleased to reveal the cover I designed for Downwards, the 2021 single by Pallasades.

The cover was developed in tandem with World II and III. After a thousand changes and refinements, it became what you see here: layers and layers of chaos and disorder.

Credits

Patron
Pallasades

Design
Herm the Younger

Published by Herm the Younger in Album Cover, Graphic Design

15th October 2021

Tipping Time

I was pleased to be asked to remaster Flower for the single cover of Tipping Time by Casey Wells. The new version looks beautiful on digital displays and prints true at 12 inches – the size of a vinyl record.

This cover completed the trio of artworks we developed together, the other two being TMB and Archives, seen below.

Published by Herm the Younger in Album Cover, Graphic Design

25th February 2021

Nostalgia Forever

Visual branding for Gowe's EP Nostalgia Forever including album artwork, CD packaging, merch, and animation.

CD Packaging

Digipak design for a limited run of physical CDs.

For the disc, the typography was printed “on silver”, revealing the reflective material beneath.

Half Moon Album Cover

I worked with Johan Qin, an emerging violinist from Northern California, on the album cover for his debut song D (Half Moon).

Johan initially contacted me to license Instinct, feeling that the atmosphere of the artwork suited his song perfectly.

In response, I developed two album covers – one featuring Instinct, and another featuring a new artwork created especially for the song.

The first design, based on the 2018 artwork *Instinct*.

The second design, based on a new artwork made for the release.

The new artwork – titled Half Moon – was chosen, and custom typography was added to finish the album cover.

Credits

Patron
Johan Qin

Art Direction
Herm the Younger

Published by Herm the Younger in Album Cover, Graphic Design

16th October 2019

Breaking Habits Album Cover

Album cover for Breaking Habits by Michael Barnum. We also created physical packaging for the CDs and worked with Felix von Líska on an animated version.

Details

Brave New World

Credits

Patron
The Spiritual Machines

Art Direction
Herm the Younger

Published by Herm the Younger in Album Cover, Illustration