Description:

It had been 11 years since renowned jazz musician Nathan Haines released his last acclaimed album. His new album, ‘NOTES,’ represents years of work and aims to evolve his identity as a musician. The challenge was to position the new work within this modern era of electronic jazz – weaving Nathan’s past success and history with this new interpretation of his evolving sound. The design would need to communicate across album artwork, a video for "Give Thanks," and a content library for promoting the album on digital platforms.

Inspired by the album name ‘Notes’, at the heart of the design solution is the humble musician's blank sheet music paper. The bold lines have been adapted to become a simple yet dynamic graphic language. Silver and bright red gradient lines shimmer and vibrate against each other, and imagery splices back and forth, all uniquely capturing the essence of the music. A range of treatments that feel vintage, blend with a more industrial and futuristic tone to juxtapose the old with the new.

The identity for the entire design communication progressed into art direction for the video, animations, and printed collateral for the album. The bold visual narrative of the lines and colour is present in every outcome and layer of the communication.

The album put out by Loop Recordings has been so well received, that Nathan has been invited to launch the Album officially, at the Jazz cafe in London, along with global campaigns on Spotify, and printed on vinyl and distributed to all leading record stores worldwide. Nathan's objectives for pushing his music and identity forward have re-established his career at the forefront of electronic jazz in 2024.