Sheffield ensemble Das Rad have been garnering strong reviews for their prog improv projects over the last few years, though as my brother contributes guitar it was always bite your lip time when it came to what I felt was their scrappy packaging! For CD 4 I jumped in and offered come up with some visuals which they could discuss and go with or not… They dropped off the finished CD samples this week and I’m really pleased with the end product. Apparently the label’s downloads (they are with Discus) outsell CDs by 10 to 1 these days but that’s not the point for me; that 1 should look the part.
Das Rad is a German phrase and the group like to play with German language references, so I started by looking for some old German typography, which was what triggered the look into vintage typefaces generally. I’d been working with some old decorative font samples for a book cover last year and felt there was scope to develop these ideas here. I also had a lovely sixties German compilation LP cover which would strengthen the link, although nobody else was likely to spot this.
The CD title was Veer, so I did this in an old German font and, as this was all speculative, found images of the decorative letters online and worked up my first visual. The band and label liked the basic idea but felt the images of the old LP front would give the wrong vibe; they use guitar a lot but a guitar band they are not. Still it was a starting point and I began to experiment by pushing this image into the background and filtering it through various layers underneath the black and white lettering. Because I was working with what were not very sharp scans (I did go to license some off image libraries before discovering the versions they were selling were even worse!). I decided to run with the degraded versions, over sharpen them and then restore each letter where needed.
The filters began to allow in the colours but in a minimal way, and it all remained very readable, so this became my master file. By sliding layers below around, the colours changed until I hit on what I felt was the right balance. The word ‘veer’ prompted me to flip the title on the back, and the group wanted a band photo of some sort there too, which is suitably (I hope) mysterious. The image of the women with their guitar can still just be seen drifting through this and generating additional subtle colours. The CD title was then spun through 90 degrees on the inner flap and treated with colour layers in a similar way to the front. Below you can see the back cover as it ended up; I was going to push the lettering to the left to allow us to see all the band’s faces but when the text was centred the image there was only one spot where this was still possible!
The CD digipak has a three sided inner ‘gatefold’ and as the group started recording during the pandemic, I thought appropriate to try montaging and layering some of my own photographs taken during lockdown into a triptych for this, adding a second group photo. The images help anchor the album in time visually, whether anyone knows what they are is unimportant (some were taken in a civic park in Stannington in Sheffield, others were shot on streets in Chesterfield). I have put the original images on my photo library pages. I asked if the manufacturer could avoid a gloss varnish finish and they have gone for a nice smooth card which has a great feel. The group like to pay homage to old pop label designs on the CD itself, I generated a worn paper label image and they did the typography themselves.
To find out more about Das Rad: www.darrad.uk The band are to date strictly a studio based unit.
easyontheeye2.wordpress.com 