Vision and Sound Archives: Volume I

I've been digging through my old archives of various things I've made over the years. For whatever reason, I've always been interested in product packaging and the various challenges involved. Especially how does vision relate to sound. I'm sure I've been influenced by the work of Hipnosis and Storm Thorgerson, Roger Dean, Vaughan Oliver (4AD) and so on. As a teen audiophile I would spend many an evening pondering record sleeves. 

But to consider how it directly relates to the product within the marketplace. How does it clearly promote and identify the product within, how does it function physically to contain the item, are the reproduction costs sustainable, how is it displayed in it's environment, what are (if any) it's secondary uses, etc. etc. So a hobby of mine was to create elaborate multi-panel packaging for cassette "mix-tapes", (later VHS, DVD and so on). Just as one-offs. Just for fun, just for me. Little works of heart, no larger than a business-card. Most have survived for this long, only because they sit in plastic cases or sleeves. Of course now I make a living doing this sort of thing for my clients, but it's interesting to me to look back at where the passion germinated.

Here's just a few of them (front covers only). Each has it's own brief soundtrack. Click the PLAY button under each image to hear the image's personal soundscape. Vision and sound. The whole can be greater than the sum. 

tiny cracks in a pale blue mind 1988	when the fruits of victory would be ashes in our mouth 1989
careful he might hear you  1988	death and debauchery are such nice girls 1991
emeralds in my mouth  1988	whilst dark in dream 1989