2024

ALBUM COVER

THE GODS WE CAN TOUCH

These album covers for AURORA's The Gods We Can Touch explores graphic design history through the lense of Modernism and Postmodernism. Every song in this collection draws inspiration from a distinct Greek God or Goddess, channeling their well-known traits into tangible human experiences; elevating us, and humanizing them.

Modernism

Postmodernism

Music

OVERVIEW

These album covers pay home to the iconic design motifs of the Modernism and Postmodern art movements, while simultaneously resonating with the thematic undertones of The Gods We Can Touch by AURORA. This project embraced a fusion of extensive historical research and experimentation in the traditional and digital mediums. Unique visual experiences are built upon contemporary digital design and photo manipulation techniques.

The Gods We Can Touch by AURORA explores themes of divinity, desire, shame, and human vulnerability through mythological and spiritual lenses. Each song draws inspiration from Greek mythology and reflects on the tension between purity and temptation, the sacred and the profane. The album delves into the complexity of human emotions, especially love, self-discovery, and guilt, while questioning societal norms around morality and freedom. It celebrates the beauty and chaos of being human in a world shaped by divine ideals.

SOLUTION

The Modernism cover is marked by its embrace of minimalism and functional design principles. Drawing inspiration from Josef Müller-Brockman, a prominent figure in the Modernist movement; this cover focuses primarily on simplicity and orderliness. The layout is organized by a grid system, reflecting the era's emphasis on mathematical compositions, and minimal ornamentation. This cover echoes the principle of 'form follows function', and exemplifies the Modernist approach to design, where every element serves a purpose and contributes to the overall functionality of the piece. This deliberate arrangement fosters clarity and legibility, embodying Modernist ideals through colour, type and layout.

SOLUTION – POST-MODERNISM (BELOW)

The Postmodernism cover embraces eclecticism and the playful integration of diverse cultural references, a departure from the strict functionalism of Modernism. Inspired by Andy Warhol, this cover subverts traditional design conventions and celebrates the fusion of high and low culture. The focal image is a photograph of the Venus de Milo statue that has been transformed to be reminiscent of Warhol's iconic Marilyn Monroe. With this painted half-tone effect, the marble goddess acquires a contemporary personality, blurring the boundaries between humans and Gods not dissimilar to history and modernity.

The composition further exemplifies the movement’s PostModernist spirit of experimentation and freedom through collage-style typography driven primarily by intuition. Specifically, the typography on the back mimics the hands found in “The Creation of Adam”, if Gods’ and Adam’s hands were flipped. This once again calls back to the idea of elevating humans, and humanizing the Gods, and offers a nod to the titular "Gods We Can Touch."

CONCLUSION

Both covers serve as visual representations of their respective eras' design ideologies. The Modernism cover exudes simplicity, functionality, and orderliness, drawing inspiration from Josef Muller-Brockman’s minimalist principles and the Swiss Style movement. The Postmodernism cover celebrates eclecticism, experimentation, and the playful integration of diverse cultural references, inspired by Andy Warhol's work and other historical references. Together, these covers showcase two very distinct periods of graphic design and the unique ways that Postmodernism directly responded to the Modernism movement.