Music Album Design

For Brady Novotny

A long, long time ago, before the dawning of the modern age, there used to be something called compact discs...

Ok, just kidding. I grew up with cassette tapes. But seriously, in 2020 I helped a friend launch his debut album with some album and CD design. I doubt many songs end up on CD anymore, but it was a fun project, and I was excited for his achievement.

Brady Novotny is an excellent guitarist, and I really mean that. I've been fortunate to know quite a few people who can play, and play pretty well, but Brady is definitely in the next level. His album, Passions Collide, is an outpouring of melodic guitar-driven classic rock sprinkled with flamenco flavors. And there's probably a lot more in there, so don't hold me to that description!

Considering the album title, I thought about how to visually convey several of the important concepts like passion, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, and also create a sense of high energy. Below is a mock-up of the design we ended up with.

The cover combines both of Brady's actual guitars used on the album, as if they're being fused together by light and energy, and the background is a pattern created from a bed of roses. The rose theme continues throughout the inside of the album art, and includes the bright yellow we see in his acoustic guitar.

Unlike many projects I work on, this one came to full fruition with a physical product, and I think it turned out great. Brady was even generous enough to hook me up with a signed copy (he signed the CD, which is inside the sleeve).

Brady is a really great guy, and it was an honor to work on this project for him. You can check out some of Brady's stuff on his website, Youtube, or Spotify. You can listen to a couple of his songs right here, or get his full album on Amazon.