design for boxed sets

Lambchop - Mr. M box set [front cover]Lambchop - Mr. M box set [detail]Lambchop - Mr. M box set [detail]Lambchop - Mr. M box set [detail]
Lambchop – Mr. M Super Deluxe Box Set [City Slang, 2012]. Design: New Formalists [Jerry Joyner, Kurt Wagner, Craig Allen]

featured work:
The Complete Hank Williams box set

art direction: Virginia Team and Jim Kemp
design: Craig Allen @ Team Design
concept
As a nearly complete set of everything Hank Sr. recorded [about ten hours of music], the packaging concept was to present the project as a museum-worthy portfolio of his "art." Given the importance of Hank William's music, there is no reason country music should not be presented with the seriousness given to classical music or jazz.
 
“The Complete Hank Williams” box set won three awards: 1999 Grammy for Best Boxed Recording Package, 1999 Nashville Advertising Federation Best of Show Award and the 1999 Nashville Music Award for Album Artwork. Jerry Joyner contributed the graphic design of a fold-out timeline.
The Complete Hank Williams box set: cover of box, The Stories and The Music
A portfolio-type case made of book board houses a perfect-bound book, "The Stories," featuring essays and recording session descriptions, and a hard-bound "The Music" book, containing the music and song information.
The Complete Hank Williams box set: front cover of box
The front cover features a tipped-on lithograph with embossed title, along with gold foil numbering that featured on the lower numbers of the original edition of 10,000.
The Complete Hank Williams box set: inside of box showing covers for The Stories and The Music
An elegant book ribbon allows easier access to the two books.
The Complete Hank Williams box set: detail from The Stories
Essays by esteemed music critics are complemented by artifacts: early childhood photos of Hank and family, along with personal objects housed in the collections of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Marty Stuart. Where photos had interesting edges, we kept them.
The Complete Hank Williams box set: detail from The Stories
Some signatures in the booklet were printed in full-color, others were printed in two-color. Different combinations of red and black create the right hand page.
The Complete Hank Williams box set: detail from The Stories
Quotes from musicians [such as George Jones] appear alongside the essays [here, the ending of Daniel Cooper's]. We integrated quotes into the photos and surrounding text to create a cohesive whole, where the individual elements are inseparable.
The Complete Hank Williams box set: detail from The Stories
The ten volumes of the music are identified across the two books by a system of numbers reversed out of a circle that features a detail of Hank's handwritten lyrics. The circles gradate from warm red to gray as the numbers increase, this is also the case for the compact disc labels.
The Complete Hank Williams box set: detail from The Stories
Areas of the solid second color [Pantone Warm Red] are used sparingly to create interest. Photographs are placed to enhance the writing, here, a book cover featuring Hank's advice on writing "Folk and Western Music" appears across from information on his "Nashville Demos."
The Complete Hank Williams box set: detail from The Stories
Hank receives an Outstanding Acheivement Award from publicist Bea Terry; his accolades are listed to the right.
The Complete Hank Williams box set: detail from The Stories
The layout for 14 Days on the Road is meant to resemble a personal calendar.
The Complete Hank Williams box set: detail from The Music
An example from the hard-bound book containing the music. The use of additional plastic is avoided.
My certificate from the National Recording Arts & Sciences as Package Designer on a Grammy® Award winning recording [Best Boxed Recording Package].
My certificate from the National Recording Arts & Sciences as Package Designer on a Grammy® Award winning recording [Best Boxed Recording Package].
Lambchop Tour CD box set [cover]Lambchop Tour CD box set [detail]Lambchop Tour CD box set [detail]
Lambchop – Tour Box [City Slang, 2010]. Design: New Formalists [Jerry Joyner, Kurt Wagner, Craig Allen]
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