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:

Options for Jazznight
Options for TMB
Options for Lockhearted

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.

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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.

7th October 2023

Coming Soon: VSO

Four months in the making...

I had the special opportunity to design both the inside and outside of Mike Futcher's first novel. The book, called Void Station One, will be released on November 1st with a case study showing the artwork we created in detail.

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 ComingMoving OnBrand New AgeTMBArchives

Credits

Patron
Casey Wells

Design
Herm the Younger

10th May 2022

eBook Cover

I designed the cover for Johan Qin's recently published eBook, How To Think Like A Talented Creator. Johan was seeking a design that would provide a strong visual presence for his text. Something original, captivating, and formal.

eBook Cover for "How To Think Like A Talented Creator" by Johan Qin.
Custom logotype for the author's personal branding.

Design Notes

The final cover is comprised of three components:

typography

The book's title is set in Caslon, an old English typeface which has been used in books for centuries. The serifs of this font and the classical layout add formality to the design, a key part of the brief.

background

The background comes from a much larger artwork of mine, A Sudden Vision. This ethereal backdrop was changed in every graphic to avoid its use becoming repetitive.

border

The border adds subtle decoration and frames the cover. As Johan noted, it also "makes it look like a reflective mirror, so the reader is getting an accurate reflection of themselves as a creator".

Quotes

Several key quotes were selected from the text and made into graphics. These feature throughout the book and were also used for promotion.

Every one of the 40+ quotes has a uniquely textured background. This ensures that each one is interesting in its own right, worth reading, and avoids the visual pollution caused by using the same assets over and over again.

Conclusion

By working closely with the author I was able to design a cover that sets the tone for the content and quality of the book, and the graphics which helped him to promote it.

Credits

Patron
Johan Qin

Art Direction
Herm the Younger

25th February 2021

Nostalgia Forever

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

Album cover for Nostalgia Forever.
Single cover for Arrival.

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.
Read more

29th December 2020

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

18th December 2018

Brave New World

Commissioned by The Spiritual Machines for the cover of their 2018 single, Brave New World.

Credits

Patron
The Spiritual Machines

Art Direction
Herm the Younger

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Herm the Younger is an artist and designer from the UK.
For inquiries and commissions please contact:
h@hermtheyounger.com