Feature 004 - Single Covers +
Branding for Dansleau
Music, Album Artwork, Branding, Promotion

Designing Debut Singles for new Musical Project

Following the release of his EP ‘Angel Dust’ Sam Brew approached me to begin a new endeavour. Under the new artist name Dansleau, he planned to transition his musical output into a new phase, and with that, employ a brand new approach for the art direction. The focus was to be bold and bright, and at the forefront, feature a new logo for Sam to use universally, as a symbol for his output and handiwork.

Beginning in 2023 with his first single as Dansleau, ‘Growing Pains’ was a loud and boisterous single, that needed strong artwork to match. We had an in-depth research period, gathering inspiring imagery and art that we wanted to use to inform the artwork. From this, we understood the immediate need for photogrpahy, and were able to organise a professional photo and video shoot, that would provide incredibly high quality images to use as the basis for the cover. The glowing red effect was gained from iterative application of blurs and colour adjustments, until the outcome was just right. Following this, the title lockup was created, and both images were printed out to be scanned and arranged phyiscally - the blank space was cut from the portrait to make way for the text which had also been cut to shape. Finally, to complete the cover, the scanned image was displayed on a monitor and photographed, to pick up the LED display’s interpretation of the image, with the artefacts intact, creating a unique style for the cover.

The last element designed would become something of a hallmark - the Dansleau Logo. Born amidst the Y2K revival, the icon was created to emulate this look, whilst still staying true to much of the imagery that initially inspired Sam and myself. The circular device was angled to resemble a ‘D’, and the embelishments of the exclamation and the star rounded out the simple visual, now seen across all three covers.

Next to come, the cover for ‘Best Friend’ received a thorough written design treatment, envisioning a graphic logo projected onto Sam in his room, that could then be slightly altered, but in theory, would be mostly captured in-camera. Unfortunately, this shoot did not go as planned due to technical difficulties with the scale we could achieve with the projector, as well as lighting and camera issues. However, we were still able to achieve much of the desired effect through creative editing, and analogue process once the core image was created. Sam’s photo was edited to show an artificial city in the backdrop, before two versions of the cover were brinted out, and the title letters were arranged atop the main image. This effect turned what was looking to be an unideal cover outcome, into a strong feature image on par with the previous cover we were so proud of. Consistent elements were mainted, through the use of the same font layout, and the logo placement, and upon release ‘Best Friend’ stood visually as an equal sibling release to it’s predecessor, ‘Growing Pains’.

The third single release, ‘I Need’, had it’s cover designed in the early stages of the songs own development. Using photographs form the initial photoshoot for ‘Growing Pains’, the glowing effect was brought back, though in a much newer context this time around. The angelic effect was the intention from the offset, trying to create a sense of light emerging from this portrait we were able to capture, and transporting Sam into an environment entirely his own. With the Dansleau logo subtly incorporated into the background, and hovering next to his head like some kind of halo, the cover coalesces into a single vision, in line with the importance of this single as the most vital release up until that point, in Sam’s own words.

To accompany this singles release, and to emphasise it’s importance, both a teaser trailer and music video were created as promotional material, and a simple animated titlecard was designed by myself. The established title design felt too bold for the video, and so a simpler font was chosen, and animated to mimic some of the glitchier elements of Sam’s music, though still in a reserved capacity. The simple flowing text for ‘I Need’ ushered in the song amidst the incredibly captured visuals, and bookmarked my work on the initial releases for Dansleau.

Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere, Analogue Design

Jack Churchley is a Sydney-based Graphic Designer working in and around Music, with 5 years of experience designing for an array of artists, from International acts like Kevin Abstract and Nate Dae, to local rising talent, all across digital and and physical processes, to create uniqe artwork.

(EM) intermission.designstudio@gmail.com
(IG) @Jack.Churchley / @Intermission.DesignStudio