Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys is the fourth album by the American alt-rock band My Chemical Romance. For this project, I was tasked with refreshing the visual system of the concept album its original 2010 release.
INITIAL RESEARCH
Listening closely to the album, I created a mind-map for each track. I then went in and color-coded recurring themes, motifs, and phrases that molded the storyline.
After identifying the key themes, I then compiled each time a song's lyrics referenced one of these core ideas. This helped me narrow down and define what the heart of the album was, and that would need to be translated through the visual language to create an instant familiarity and connection with fans of the original 2010 release.
After identifying the key themes, I then compiled each time a song's lyrics referenced one of these core ideas. This helped me narrow down and define what the heart of the album was, and that would need to be translated through the visual language to create an instant familiarity and connection with fans of the original 2010 release.
VISUAL IDEATION
Beginning to visualize and connect ideas with shapes, colors, textures, etc.; I created a semiotic matrix that began to express the key themes: fighting for the future, music as an act of rebellion, the scorching sun and dangers, and the post-apocalyptic desert.
Lyrical references to 70s icon, David Bowie and the comic book influence on the story led me to look through historical online archives of comics, posters, and radio advertisements for my mood board. Focusing on radios, radiation, typography, and desert landscapes.
SKETCHES
Having narrowed down the visual language, I created a guide with colors, typefaces, image treatment style, patterns, and textures to use for the visual system refresh. Along with sketches of the vinyl album's front cover, center gatefold, and back cover.
REFRESH
By leveraging the packaging of the vinyl record as an opportunity for visual storytelling, this refresh will entice fans and present a journey through the conceptual landscape of the album; four outlaws, the Fabulous Killjoys, fight for freedom in Battery City, a post-apocalyptic California.
The front cover introduces the radio, the vessel through which the Killjoys communicate their message of rebellion to the listener. The center gatefold is the stage, a wasteland with scorching heat and radiation. The back cover, the Killjoys' motorcycle overlooking the landscape; radiation and sound waves overlap as music becomes an act of rebellion.
The front cover introduces the radio, the vessel through which the Killjoys communicate their message of rebellion to the listener. The center gatefold is the stage, a wasteland with scorching heat and radiation. The back cover, the Killjoys' motorcycle overlooking the landscape; radiation and sound waves overlap as music becomes an act of rebellion.
