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Design Autopsy #4: Black Kingdom Red Kingdom
By Destroyx | May 10, 2009
The Black Kingdom Red Kingdom Crest design from the CD artwork
Recently Zoog and I formed our own record label called Black Pill Red Pill so that we could release special art focused projects not normally favoured by other record labels. I developed a visual identity for the label which reflects the direction in which I want to take the label in the future.
Visual identity for the new record label
Black Pill Red Pill aims to be more art factory than music label and will foster collaboration between video, visual arts, fashion and music. For this reason, we decided to put a particular emphasis on excellence in design and visual production for our first release ‘Black Kingdom Red Kingdom- Blood Death Ivory Remix Album’.
Since ‘Black Kingdom Red Kingdom’ is a remix album, I decided to take this remixing concept into the visual concept for the artwork. I didn’t want to rehash the album artwork, but I wanted to create something new yet still related to the visual language I had already developed for Blood Death Ivory.
When coming up with the design vocabulary for this release, I looked through my archive of visual material that I had produced for Blood Death Ivory and used it as the starting point for my ‘visual remix’. One of the main inspirations behind Blood Death Ivory was crest and heraldry imagery so I developed this idea further and created two additional crest designs for this new release.
One of the anatomical crest designs for the CD
I also developed four long panoramic posters (65 cm x 12 cm) long which folded into the CD wallet. These panoramas function as graphic narratives of the themes and concepts behind the music. I decided to limit the colour palette of the release to give it a different feel to the original CD which was in full colour.
The final panoramic poster graphics (65cm x 12cm).
I think these look better when they have folds in them.
Another importance aspect in this design process was researching print and manufacturing processes for the CD. I didn’t want to release a conventional jewel case CD and instead opted for a CD wallet with matte laminate and special spot UV varnish printing. The posters were mono offset prints and I picked my favourite pantone red for the ink.
Photograph of the final CD wallet where you can see the special spot UV varnish.
The texture looks much better in real life!
The CD contains remixes from some of my favourite industrial bands at the moment. Listen to preview tracks here on last.fm. If you are interested in purchasing the CD, it’s available here.
Track Listing:
01. Kill Kitty (KMFDM Remix)
02. Jugular (Alec Empire Remix)
03. Grind (Ayria Remix)
04. Skinny Little Bitch (Implant Remix)
05. Girl Poison (Ego Likeness Remix)
06. Devilicious (Dave Foreman Remix)
07. Kill Kitty (The Mercy Cage Remix)
08. Skinny Little Bitch (v01d Remix)
09. Girl Poison (I:Scintilla Remix)
10. Devilicious (A Is For Arsenic Remix)
11. Red (The Erektor Remix)
12. Shaved Monkey (Left Spine Down Remix)
13. Jugular (BAAL Remix)
Topics: Angelspit, Black Pill Red Pill, Design, Design Autopsy |
May 10th, 2009 at 5:07 pm
Amazing design work, Amelia!
May 10th, 2009 at 6:01 pm
I love the artwork for this, more than BDI actually!
May 10th, 2009 at 6:39 pm
That’s just amazing.
May 10th, 2009 at 9:47 pm
Oh, so lovely!! ^_^
You are viciously creative.
A remix CD? YAY!! I can’t wait!! x]
May 11th, 2009 at 1:51 am
I cannot wait to get this! The pictures look great, but they’ll look even better up close and personal. I’m so in awe of what you do. ^.^
May 11th, 2009 at 3:32 am
Great job on this! I really like the crests, and I also like the logo for your new label. It’s kind of a mind-flip.
May 11th, 2009 at 9:56 am
The previews sound awesome, and you did a kickass job on the artwork! I am particularly in love with the way the disc looks.
May 11th, 2009 at 11:10 am
Awesome! I listened to the previews and they sound amazing. Especially the BAAL remix of Jugular. Your artwork is amazing. I can’t wait for more art to come ^-^
May 11th, 2009 at 2:17 pm
Twisted- Thanks!
Videokid- Yeah I think it’s a progression from the BDI artwork, but I don’t know which one I like more.
Persephone 66 - Thanks sweetie!
Typhoid- Yeah it’s been a long time coming.. but I’m really glad it’s finally out
RogueMystic- Trust me it looks so much better in real life! The textures leap out at you.
Lisa- Thanks Lisa. Yeah I like the crests too.. I pretty much design one for every album. I’m a bit of a crest junky!
Jessica- Thanks sweetie. Yeah I like the disc too. I made sure it got printed exactly the way I wanted it. I’m a bit anal to tell you the truth.
Ashley- I particularly like the Baal remix too! It helps that they are some of my best friends too.. hehe… Yeah I’m totally pumping out the art over the next few months so you’re in for a treat!
May 12th, 2009 at 1:07 pm
Those designs are wonderful. you did an excellent job at staying true to the central theme and idea of BDI yet still giving the remix cd its own design and style. i love it! as soon as i can scrap together enough money i’m def buying it. the preview tracks on last.fm were amazing –my favorite, of the ones i listened to, was Ayria’s remix of grind. great work all around!
May 12th, 2009 at 3:59 pm
You are so talented!
May 14th, 2009 at 7:56 pm
I just got mine today and it looks just amazing. Thank you so much.
The spots where you and Zoog signed work perfectly into the poster graphics. I am working out how to display them at home.
I did have a few questions. How did you come up with the UV varnish printing? Are there other samples of this I could see? The images of what appears to be hair on the inside, were they from a wig, another design picture or someone else?
Anyway, much hugs, rock on and thanks again!
May 14th, 2009 at 11:27 pm
Kali_Lynn- Hey Sweetie! I’m so happy you liked the CD. =)
UV spot printing is sometimes used on print works, I didn’t come up with it exactly. I just researched print processes and asked if I could get it done (it’s a bit more expensive). It’s hard to know where else you can see it… you will see it around in CD stores I think. The hair on the inside of the CD is from a photo I took a while back and thought it made a cool (but also gross) texture.
May 15th, 2009 at 6:32 am
Goodness, I love this artwork
I know on every CD artwork you design i seem to say the same thing
But I honest-to-God Love what you’ve done with the progression!
I think I might even prefer it to BDI somehow…
Well done on a really fantastic job!
xx
June 9th, 2009 at 7:58 am
I already have my BKRK Disc -Merch Pack Mode (XD)- and i simply love it!
Great product, great remixes too, GREAT DESIGN WORK as always.
THANKS for the beautiful signatures too, from Dominican Republic!!!
August 22nd, 2009 at 11:38 am
I just want to ask.. Is cannibalism only a sort of phenomen for you, or did you eat human meat?