The Band Silhouette is a post-indie rock n roll band based in Huntsville, Alabama. The band has five singles and an album, with Madwind being their most recent EP. The majority of the EP was written and workshopped at one of the member’s family’s lake house (more on the process over at jamesbmakes.com) at Madwind Creek. The imagery on the cover comes from a canoe excursion the boys took while filming the music video for their single, Higher Power.

I worked with band member and industrial design graduate, Brenner Oakes, on the ideation and conception of the front cover design. Because of the band’s name, the majority of the covers for past releases have included silhouettes of the members’ faces, but with one of the bandmates moving away and their sound evolving, we agreed that a more abstract interpretation of a silhouette would be fitting for this EP.

The flowing vertical lines making up the image contrast with the horizontal movement of the canoe across the water. The linework itself is a reference to soundwaves, turned on their side. The organic color palette comes directly from the reference image— the natural colors of late winter, early spring.

The back cover includes a simplified version of the lines to anchor the design without becoming distracting from the important text. I wanted to maintain a hierarchy between the track list and the credits. I love the way the rag flows together like water and leads your eye to read smaller text.

The artwork is punctuated by a strong paper-texture that makes the album feel like something you pull from your dad’s old record collection or a favorite CD you find in your car after a long time. It feels classic and grounded.