doublescoop industries: The Back Catalog: Music Design and Layout

In an attempt to catch everyone up, we've decided to publish some highlights from our work over the past couple years here at doublescoop design.

Enjoy and be sure to send us an email if you'd like to see any of these samples in their larger versions.

Part Four: CD Design

Photograph from Karl Blau's Nature's Got Away, K Records, 2008

As artistic directors of knw-yr-own records we have had extensive experience in all aspects of designing and preparing music for sale (we even have a P.R. department!). From taking the photos to laying out the art work, from preparing the inserts to manually stapling each and every last one of them, we know what it takes to make music look good and hand-crafted. Depending on budget and aesthetic, that can mean screen printing or letterpressing it ourselves, setting up the work for an offset printer we trust, or even sending it to the local copy shop. We have decided to exclusively work using the most ecologically friendly means available to us here at knw-yr-own. That means using recycled cardstock "Arigato Packs" from Stumptown Printers in Portland, packaging that requires no glue or wasteful plastic. We use water based inks, instead of those based in plastic and utilize local printers who we know and respect.

As designers, though, we have worked in other, less noble, mediums as well. Most notably for independent music powerhouse, K Records, in the design of Karl Blau's latest album, Nature's Got Away.

Here is a small sampling of our work, in templates and in reality.