The Challenge
How do you visually unite a century of American music—spanning 1939 to 2021—without falling into patriotic clichés? We needed a system that felt profoundly American yet universally human, capable of holding space for both traditional myths and abstract modernism.
The Concept
We leaned into 'painterly surrealism,' inspired by the dream logic of Salvador Dalí and the vastness of Georgia O’Keeffe. The core of the design is a continuous river that flows while the land remains constant. It’s a world where cowboy boots, serpents, and desert chapels coexist—partially real, partially dream-like.
The Challenge
How do you visually unite a century of American music—spanning 1939 to 2021—without falling into patriotic clichés? We needed a system that felt profoundly American yet universally human, capable of holding space for both traditional myths and abstract modernism.
The Concept
We leaned into 'painterly surrealism,' inspired by the dream logic of Salvador Dalí and the vastness of Georgia O’Keeffe. The core of the design is a continuous river that flows while the land remains constant. It’s a world where cowboy boots, serpents, and desert chapels coexist—partially real, partially dream-like.
The Execution
To meet a tight one-month turnaround, we used AI to generate high-density detail, which we then refined by hand to ensure an analog, folkloric texture. The final 24-page booklet acts as a physical scroll; there are no harsh breaks between eras. We balanced this with handwritten titles and contemporary classical typography to bridge the gap between the old and the new.
American Folklore: A Century of Orchestral Landscapes
Commissioned by Nimbus Records and the Yale Symphony Orchestra, we designed the identity for an album spanning a century of music—from Copland’s prairies to contemporary compositions. Rather than using clichéd folk imagery, we created a single, continuous painterly scroll. This 'river flowing through time' allows the listener to travel through a surrealist American landscape as they flip through the booklet, bridging the gap between historical folklore and modern sound.
Year
2025
Year
2025
Client
Nimbus Records and Yale Symphony Orchestra
Client
Nimbus Records and Yale Symphony Orchestra
Timeline
8 weeks
Timeline
8 weeks
American Folklore: A Century of Orchestral Landscapes
Commissioned by Nimbus Records and the Yale Symphony Orchestra, we designed the identity for an album spanning a century of music—from Copland’s prairies to contemporary compositions. Rather than using clichéd folk imagery, we created a single, continuous painterly scroll. This 'river flowing through time' allows the listener to travel through a surrealist American landscape as they flip through the booklet, bridging the gap between historical folklore and modern sound.
Year
2025
Client
Nimbus Records and Yale Symphony Orchestra
Timeline
8 weeks