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robsheridan · 1 month

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Hard to believe Nine Inch Nails' classic The Downward Spiral is 30 years old today! Here is some detail photography I took of the original album cover painting by Russell Mills for the 10th anniversary deluxe edition release, which I had the unique honor of designing, and somehow that is now 20 year old.

Everyone has that one album that hit at just the right moment of adolescence to change their perspective on music and get them through their teenage angst. The Downward Spiral was that album for me, released as it was in 1994, when I was a freshman in high school (and an absolute banner year for music/films/games all around). I must have stared at the artwork for hours over those years, without even much detail to draw from on its tiny 5” CD slip case. So five years later, when I found myself inexplicably working for Nine Inch Nails, it was surreal to see the actual original painting in the flesh, hanging as it was at the time in Trent Reznor’s office at Nothing Studios, New Orleans.

I was struck by how much dimension and texture there was in the artwork that never translated on that tiny slipcase printing, how much detail was happening in the physical materials of the art: Flies, moths, wires, blood… I had been staring at this “painting” for so long, yet suddenly it was like I had never seen it before. I also noticed that it had aged - the wires had wilted over the years, drooping down from their original position as captured in the original album cover (interestingly, judging by the photo posted today by NIN, the piece has since been restored); a tooth was missing from the other main piece.

That experience stuck with me and it was the first thing I thought about when the task of re-imagining the album package fell upon me in 2004. I wanted to re-photograph the artwork, subtly updating the cover to show that ten years had changed it physically, much like our perceptions of art and music and memories change over time with perspective. I also wanted to dig into the previously unseen details of the work and explore it with my macro lens, so that fans like me, old and new, could have new layers of texture to pore over for hours while listening to a legendary album.

Happy birthday, old friend.

#nine inch nails #the downward spiral #nin #trent reznor #90s nostalgia #90s music #industrial #rob sheridan #Russell mills #photography #album art #album design

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designeverywhere · 9 months

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Subterra Highway

#design #graphic #graphic design #print #layout #typography #album design #album art

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edwardsdesign-blog · 7 months

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...there will be no explanation, there will just be reputation.

reputation [taylor's version] out February 16th, 2024

@taylorswift @taylornation

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unplugstar · 21 days

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Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge by My Chemical Romance (2004) | Album Art by Gerard Way

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meredithsmallwood · 2 years

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the album cover I made for fanclubwallet’s You Have Got To Be Kidding Me!

#pls listen! its very very good #also the most fun project thank you hannah!#album design #graphite

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ccccache · 3 months

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Via It’s Nice That:

#Blur #The Ballad of Darren #It’s Nice That #Undercard Studio #Graphic Design #Art Direction #Album Design #Photography

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wildestdream · 2 years

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Speak Now - Taylor’s Version Album Concept by me

#taylor swift #tswiftedit #speak now #speak now tv #album design #Charmi's edits #userelena #userleanne #userspendsmychange #userjerr #tscreators #taylor swift edit #taylors version #digital art #I really wanted her to keep the og covers vibe in the new covers #and every time she recycles that (1) photoshoot a part of me dies inside so #here's an almost exact but grown up version of the Speak Now cover😌💜

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bizarre-bait · 10 months

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An album design for the final assessment in school for the band mother mother (+it look funny coz its in Hebrew lol)

#design #album design #mother mother #school work

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albumcoversthatmatter · 1 year

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Lucy Pearl

#lucy pearl #dawn robinson #raphael saadiq #ali shaheed muhammad #en vogue #a tribe called quest #early 2000s #artwork #album art #album design #cd artwork #cd design #cd scans

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cartoonscientist · 5 months

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[BRIDE OF RE-ANIMATOR Original Motion Picture Soundtrack by Richard Band]

#reanimator #bride of reanimator #records #music #album design #gore #sciencecore

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stef-brl · 6 months

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follow me on instagram

#vaporwave #vaporwaveedit #vaporwaves #aesthetic #vaporwaveaesthetics #concept design #comcept art #albumcover #album design #retro aesthetic #90saesthetic #graphic design

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robsheridan · 7 months

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Hard to believe it’s been 10 years since Hesitation Marks, the last NIN album I worked on. The great Russell Mills (who did the iconic artwork for The Downward Spiral) returned to create new paintings for this album. I took macro photographs of the paintings in the same way I did for the 10th anniversary deluxe package of The Downward Spiral, finding little moments in all the incredible details and textures of Russell’s massive physical pieces.

I wrote an extensive breakdown of the album's art and design process on my Patreon. It covers a lot of topics: Working with Russell Mills, channeling NIN design decisions of the past, the typography of The Downward Spiral, the concept behind the minimal NIN logo, David Carson and the design philosophies of what isn't shown, photographing Russell's artwork, and spending months living in "a surreal, claustrophobic warehouse of dead things and old blood."

Below are some of my photography from the interior package, alternate cover and single designs, and a couple photos of original printer proofs from the production of the album.