(click image to enlarge)
I've been doing more production work for EMI over the past month, including turning blank templates (above, center) into full-fledged layouts (above, right & left) for sale at Best Buy. The challenge is to take pre-existing design from the CD package and introduce it, warp it, adjust it and do whatever it takes to make it work in this new format.
In most cases, I have the most fun coming up with spines that both compliment the package and feature graphics not used in the same way within the original designs. Case in point, the Slash package has some killer spines utilizing artwork from the booklet's interior itself. I like the idea that, regardless of what side you're looking at – Slash is checking you out!
These projects are a lot to sort out; new barcodes, ICPN numbers, adjusted legal copy, native files created by someone else (who doesn't always know what they're doing), etc. but in the end I put it all together in a way that acknowledges the original but offers up something unique as well.
