A collaborative effort by SharpTone Records, Key Production, Patrick Galvin and Alpha Wolf that produced a unique bespoke item that encompasses interactivity, design, technology and creativity in one product.
The main inspiration for the artwork was the cover of Limp Bizkit’s 1999 album, ‘Significant Other’ released when the members of Alpha Wolf were young kids with an interest in the graffiti culture. The impact that this artwork had on them was undeniable and they wanted to demonstrate that with the cover of ‘Half Living Things’. The way the artwork of ‘Significant Other’ instantly related to the music on the album, was also something that they wanted to transmit through the cover art. The idea was to create something that was eye catching and that would lean into the nu-metal aesthetic, which was already reflected within the music. Having grown up with iPods and iTunes, where the album cover was always front and centre, the band wanted this album art to be a statement piece.
The band commissioned Australian graffiti artist Dash88, who they’ve known for over 15 years, briefed him on the way they wanted the artwork to be and provided the lyrics of the album for him to take a deep dive in. Dash88 first drafted a pencil version of the artwork, where he used imagery taken from the lyrics, such as the “mad” clock attached to sticks of dynamite (a reference to the lyrics “Tick tock, boom” from the track ‘Double-Edge Demise’), the cemetery gates on the back (‘Mangekyō’ & ‘Garden of Eyes’), as well as various other elements noticeable within the vast imagery. For example, the band’s logo is hidden among the plants and flowers, the gravestones are all for fallen friends of Dash88 and the band’s, and there is even the band’s unique butterfly which has been a constant element on the covers of their past few releases. The model holding the boombox is a friend of Dash88, and punk rock musician from Melbourne, who was photographed and then drawn. Once the pencil draft was finalised, it was hand painted and photographed. The photo was then edited digitally to create the final image used for all products manufactured for the album campaign.
During the initial discussions, we only had one of the coloured drafts of the front cover to work with and the most obvious element that pops out is the boombox. We decided to focus on that and try to figure out a way to implement it within the design of the boxset.
The big challenge we faced was how to take the traditional square form of a vinyl boxset that would sit in standard retail racking or vinyl shelf and transform it into the distinctive form of a boombox.
Some of the details came quickly. It soon became obvious that we could use CDs as the speakers and even add an actual cassette to give the package an authentic boombox feel and look. Another element to be included was an NFC tag to provide additional content to fans and a small round feature from the art on the boombox could be used for that purpose.
That still left us brainstorming ideas for the box itself and we developed a few distinct concepts, with varying shapes, sizes and methods to open the boxset and access the elements within it. Key Production's in house Modo Design team were able to create 3D models of three ideas to help visualise the concepts. In the end, we decided to go with “Idea 2”, while utilising the cassette door of “Idea 3” shown below.
A double sided rigid board with wrap around magnetic lid. Built up rigid board lid with recess to hold a watch. Once the lid is opened one side has the CDs, cassette and NFC tag whilst the other side has the LP and 12" booklet.
Cardboard outer slipcase with recess to hold a watch. Rigid board box with left and right slipcase each with a panel holding a CD.
A rectangular rigid box contains a pull out tray in the shape of boombox with CD speakers and flip open tray for cassette whils the LP and booklet are held in recessed space in the base.
To test the concept we produced a series of gradually evolving white samples that allowed testing of the box. Following testing it was decided that the side panels, which would hold the CDs, should not be fully removable as initially conceived so a stopper was added. It was important that the panels were not too tight or too loose, and that they would open with ease so tolerances were very important and would need to be checked regularly during manufacture. CD spiders were used to hold the CDs, rather than foam studs and a ribbon was added to help the opening of the cassette door. Multiple sizes and styles of NFC tags were looked at to see what would work best and we experimented with different ways to attach the tag to the box.
A white sample.
The printed prototype.
With all the parts designed and agreed on it was time to put the whole thing together as a single package. The breakdown.
The boombox artwork was created by Patrick Galvin from scratch, with the boombox that Dash88 had created for the artwork as the guide. We made sure to add details to the art, so that the boombox looks as realistic as possible, such as the AC plug in the back and the AUX inputs.
The box itself is made up of three separate parts made of rigid 2mm board, wrapped with 150gsm art paper, printed CMYK with anti-scratch matt lamination. The two speaker slipcases have panels behind the CD’s of 1.5mm black lined board with black CD spiders to hold the discs in place. The central case is filled with a high density black foam to protect the vinyl and support the presentation structure of the NFC tag and cassette. The cassette door includes a satin black ribbon pull.
The boxset includes a 12 pages booklet designed by Patrick Galvin, printed CMYK throughout onto 150gsm Gloss Art paper. It features drafts of various elements from the album cover by Dash88, as well as the album lyrics and credits. The booklet is housed within the vinyl’s sleeve.
The 12” vinyl is pressed on a clear vinyl with a red ink-spot and black heavy splatter. It is pressed at 33rpm and features 19:36 minutes of music on side A, and 20:13 minutes on side B. It is packed in a 12” Inner sleeve, printed CMYK with matt machine varnish onto 200gsm Art paper, which features a draft of the boombox by Dash88 on one side, and is packed along with the booklet into a 12” 3mm Spined LP outer sleeve, printed CMYK with matt machine varnish onto 270gsm Solida white board. The vinyl also features 12” labels printed CMYK.
The CDs are both mounted on the CD spiders on the side panels and feature art created by Patrick Galvin as the CD labels, printed CMYK on a white base with matt finish. The first CD contains the album in full, while the second one contains the instrumental version of it.
The cassette added to the boombox is in a clear shell with red, green and silver glitter. A CMYK stick-on label is featured on both sides with the album title, band logo and Side A/B printed on it. The music is split between Side A and B in the same way as it is on the vinyl.
The NFC tags used are NTAG213 35mm hang tags with a CMYK print on both sides. A little black cordon is looped via a small hole on the top of the tag. When scanned with an NFC-enabled mobile device, the tag opens the internet browser on the device and directs to a special page on the band’s website, with exclusive content.
The whole package comes wrapped by an O-card slipcase. The cover art was developed from the original line art from the LP cover over a red background with the track list of the album on the back. The O-card slipcase is made of double walled 370gsm GC1 board, printed CMYK with anti- scratch matt laminate.
Not wanting all that hard work to go to waste we also manufactured a custom mailer to make sure that every single boxset arrived at its final destination in perfect condition. This box set was nominated for Grammy in the Best Boxed or Limited Edition Package category.
Thanks to Nick at SharpTone Records, Alpha Wolf, Dash88 and Patrick Galvin.