In this culture it’s difficult to separate the aural from the visual. The TV is always on. Facebook’s algorithm loves video (moving pictures + audio) more than anything else.

Everyone is a fan of some genre of movies.

On Spotify, we see a picture that inspires a click, then we listen. (My son won’t even add a song to the monthly playlist he creates for his friends if he doesn’t like the album art.)

I’m a designer and a musician. Once I thought I had to choose between the two, but in today’s world that’s not the case.

I design album covers and booklets and I make occasional websites.

I did design work for a classical record label for several years, but am now on my own.

I’m a GRAMMY-voting member of the Recording Academy. (It’s the perfect place to merge my loves.) Here are my design credits on AllMusic.

“My aim is to omit everything superfluous so that the essential is shown to the best possible advantage.”

— Dieter Rams

“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science.”

— Albert Einstein

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When I’m designing for an album release I love to have a conversation with the composer and artist involved — especially if it’s instrumental music. What are the big ideas behind the creation? The visual art should share in the thought processes that gave birth the the sonic art.

Those ideas get me started, but it’s almost never a 1:1 representation of the ideas. Just as music is an indirect expression of those ideas, I think great design should be as well.

 
 

A few designs I’ve worked on…

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