J + J + J They Hump While We Go Nuts CD
- Client
Circle Machine Records & Johanns Face Records - Date
Spring 2005
J + J + J are two people, Joanna and Johnny, playing electro-pop songs (sung in both Polish and English) about Skeeball, The Mall, writing literal poetry, high school, jobs requiring the use of headphones, becoming your job, stealing ultrasound machines and various other oddities that truly could only sprout from the heads of these two strange and beautiful people. When we were approached about working with them on their debut CD we were quite intimidated. Here was a band that we really enjoyed that had a singular vision for their album that was far outside our comfort zone. Inspired by the disco album artwork of early-80’s retro electronica and the absurdity of the title of the album, we started work.
Supplied with pictures of dynamic-duo going nuts while friends of theirs were making out around them and full with desire to fuse the original ideas with the Trapper Keeper artwork that we grew up with we moved forward as fast as possible. Over-exaggerated highlights, softened details, artificial liquid droplets and exploding tile, nothing was too over-the-top. The neon lettering was an absolute must and as a final stroke to tie everything together we shot the barcode like a laser beam and watched it ricochet throughout the layout.
When all was said and done, this was one of the best projects we’ve ever worked on. The two J’s were completely wonderful every step of the way and the project really pushed us into a realm that we would have never explored otherwise. It’s always a good idea for designers to leave what they are comfortable with so they can grow and improve and expand their bag of tricks. This project really taught me that important lesson.