Faculty of Design

Graphic Design

Ian Keeler

LORN: THE MAZE TO NOWHERE - Album Artwork

As soon as I saw this project, I became very excited. Music is something I'm very passionate about, and this was my chance to design an album cover for any band or musician I loved. I settled on Lorn's album "The Maze to Nowhere". Something about those dark, electric, haunting songs had captured me while I waited at home during the pandemic. And it was exactly those aspects I wanted to play with in the design. Civilizations grinding to a halt while the memories of times before fade into sadness. I tried to get that dark, distorted, digital vibe to match the music. The main image is a city and a mountain image both pixel sorted and blended together. These are also used on the inside spread so when the album is opened, the listener can see the elements from the cover more clearly. I used a bunch of map textures to add to the idea of trying to find one's way. The maze to echo the title. I also added some light bokeh for a bit of color and a sort of nostalgic beat. In the end, I was satisfied that I'd captured visually some that beauty melded with darkness.

“Daylight/In bad dreams/In a cool world/Full of cruel things/Hang tight/All you/Nothing like a big bad bridge/To go burnin’ through (from the track "Acid Rain")”