Design Process: Blurryface Live Vinyl Packaging

Twenty One Pilots’ Art Director, Brandon Rike, details his thought process behind designing Blurryface Live 3-Disc Vinyl Packaging.

After watching my Twenty One Pilots homeboys take home the Grammy for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for their hit song “Stressed Out” while humbly, and without pants, reflecting upon the long and hopeful road that got them there, I cannot help but sit in tremendous gratitude for getting to be their art director along this wild ride.

The workload has been constant and fierce. From designing full tour branding to merch and accessories, I’ve challenged myself to not only crank out the work, but to also put method and thought behind it all — doing my best to not let anything thoughtless go out the door.

I was tasked with designing packaging for a 3-disc vinyl package for their live album. Twenty One Pilots: Blurryface LIVE. The idea of creating packaging that could even hold a candle to the experience these dudes create at their concerts was quite daunting. Their performance is larger than life, and no packaging could compare.

So, I had some criteria for what I wanted to make. First, I wanted to draw more attention to the amazing photography of Brad Heaton and Mark Eshleman. These guys have captured the band so beautifully, that it would be a shame to not let their photos take center stage.

The other rule was to make the experience of opening the packaging be one of build-up and discovery. After several cover concepts, all mostly about using a strong image to show the live experience, I thought that something understated and calm may be the most interesting choice.

Explored Cover Options

Start simple, and let the user’s eyes widen as they opened it. The cover was purposely subtle and deceptive. Just two guys on a simple stage playing simple songs — no big deal. The back cover: just Tyler, dropped dead on stage. So, something must have happened between point A and B.

In stark contrast to the cover, your first open is full of confetti, with the guys performing their legendary epic drum stunt upon the crowd.

One of the ideas that Mark Eshleman and I came up with when discussing the layout was to have a small pump shoot confetti at the opener’s face. Believe it or not, we were not able to make that happen, but it did lead to our idea of using the greeting card style audio while the panel was opened.

I moved from my design software to my audio-editing software. Mark has tons of old footage of the band. One of which was a time when Tyler was driving the van, in the early days, talking about the drummer that had just joined the band (Josh) and the frustration of how small of a band they were.

“We have a new drummer, his name is Josh. We all need to go over the parts with him, and make sure we’re tight. It’s kind of frustrating — we’re really small. We’re so insignificant as a band right now…”

I merged those with newer audio of sold-out arena’s chanting “T-O-P” and ended with Tyler’s signature sign off:

“We’re Twenty One Pilots and so are you.”

From humble and frustrated beginnings, this band has become the biggest band of 2016. Any chance we get, us in the TØP Camp try to bring that around full circle — grateful of where the band is, and remembering where they came from, and the path that brought them there.

So the full 3-panel opens with the handwritten “We’re Twenty One Pilots, and so are you.” over a captivating image of the two guys staring at a sea of passionate fans. Overwhelming. Grateful.

The added discovery comes while pulling out the sleeve and records from the pockets. More captivating photos of the guys, divided into the 3 members of the band — Tyler, Josh, and the fans, affectionately known as the Skeletøn Clique and FPE (Few Proud Emotional).

All 3 discs, front and back. Josh, Fans, Tyler.

I chose to do picture discs for the records themselves — simply because I had hundreds of photos to use, and I wanted to use all I could. In addition to the photo on the picture disc, the inner label graphic was able to be part of the disc, as opposed to an applied sticker, which felt like another way to make it all about the photos.

Disc Label Detail

Full spread of entire layout (with older concept for sticker labels)

If nothing else, I want the layout to be fun to open. I want it to be something that fans can get excited about. These fans are such a huge part of this movement, that if I could make the layout remind them of the show, even in a small way, I believe that they can be transported and instantly uplifted. I believe if design is done with care, it can make people feel something strong. This fanbase deserves it.

-Brandon