• A photo of a record album standing, half open, with a record peaking out. The cover of the record album has an illustration of a stressed out elephant being forced to listen to music against its will. On the left of the elephant, is the title "Melophobia" and in the bottom left corner is the title of the band, Cage the Elephant.

MELOPHOBIA ALBUM REDESIGN

THE BRIEF

Redesign the 4th studio album by Cage the Elephant, Melophobia. Melophobia is a strong dislike, or fear, of music. Utilizing the name of both the band and the album, I designed different elements with an illustration of an elephant being forced to listen to music against its will. To reflect the band’s mystifying menagerie of colorful psychedelics, dusty blues, dingy garage, and off-kilter alternative sounds, I screen printed both the album and the record.

  • Top image is the full layout of the cover of the album and the bottom image is the layout of the inside of the album.
  • Image of the front of the album laying down on its back and the record sleeve, with the record poking out of it, piled on top.

VISUAL TONE

In order to establish the distinct sound and feel of the album, the goal was to focus on the band’s eclectic sound. The aim was to showcase the raw and self-made image of the band, visualizing the live performances that make fans feel alive and immersed in the music. To guide my process, I collected images that reflected the band’s image.

  • 3 Images; Left - A photo of hands holding a cassette tape. Middle - A hazy green photo of a silhouette of a performer standing on a stage with fog. Right - A polaroid photo of turntables.

INSPIRATION

This album cover was envisioned to be represented by rugged and rowdy visuals. I wanted to create a rough, analog-print feel for the album, with flaky, broken ink. Old-school concert posters were referenced to achieve the desired look. 

SCREEN PRINTING PROCESS

The screen printing process was critical to the creative process given that it guided me towards which colors I wanted to use for the final product, and left significant room for trial and error. Through color exploration, it gave me the opportunity to find out which colors would appear the most vibrant on a dark base. After careful consideration, I decided to stick with an electric green and white. Those colors were the most pigmented and appeared brightest on the background. I also had the opportunity to explore with gradients through screen printing. While the gradient was not used in the final product, it was a blast experimenting with the ink.

  • Photo of a black record with a white screen print of an elephant skull wearing headphones laying under the screen used for the design.
  • Rough screen printed illustration of an elephant tied to a chair being forced to listen to music.
  • Film with illustrative assets of the album to be used for screen printing the album.
  • Various black records with the screen print of the elephant skull wearing headphones. Color experimentation for the album.

FINAL DELIVERABLES

  • Illustration of an elephant that is tied to a chair and being forced to listen to music.
  • An illustration of an elephant tied to a pole being forced to listen to music.
  • An illustration of an elephant stuck in a cage being forced to listen to music.
  • Album open, standing up right with the inside layout of the album showing. The record laying down in front of it.
  • Black and white image of records with light green "Melophobia" in the bottom left corner and the song list of the album in the top right.
  • Black and white background image of concert audience clapping with a repeating gif of the album opening, the record coming out, and closing again.
  • Up-close photo of the inside of a record album.