About the Project
Adobe and Young Thug offered an open global challenge to recreate his Punk album artwork using at least one Adobe product while following branding guidelines. My interest in hip-hop culture and desire to work on a creative branding project pushed me to participate. Among over 500 applications, my album artwork was ranked #30. Although I did not win a grand prize, I liked working on this project and created optional tracklist graphics as well as a hoodie design based on the same theme.
Brand style guide
Struggling with Early Concepts
I used one of the available stock images offered by Adobe as a reference for my artwork. The concept, however, fell flat since it lacked depth and only demonstrated my abilities to draw. I tried to give the concept a story, but it felt forced, and I knew I needed to start again to avoid wasting time.
My first concept
Understanding the Artist
I listened to the album a few times, read magazine reviews to understand the deep meaning behind it, and watched performance videos for inspiration.
"Punk is a movement about sticking out, breaking the rules, and bucking commercial trends; Punk is slick and cozy." – Vulture, 2021
The album discusses dark and light subjects including success in the industry, stress associated with maintaining a luxury lifestyle, relationship issues, and wandering away from reality.
Photo : Photo Credit: Greg Noire for Lollapalooza.
Inspirations and Concept
My album artwork was heavily influenced by Young Thug’s performance at Lollapalooza. The artist has snakes in his recording studio and treats them like family, therefore surreal snake imagery is a significant theme. The setting is chaotic and apocalyptic, reflecting the hardships and distractions addressed in certain songs, yet the artist remains calm and focused on putting his show.
