relient K

CH.2

CH.1

Album Artwork

Tour Expereince

Air for Free
Album & Tour

Packaging

Illustration

Stage Design

Photography

INTRØDUCTION

When Airheads prepared to launch two of their most dynamic new products—Xtremes Sourfuls and Airheads Gum—the challenge was to translate that signature tangy, playful brand DNA into cohesive, thumb-stopping social media content.

THE MISSIøN

The mission was to concept and create the social media campaigns for a flawless launch across Airheads Instagram, Facebook & Twitter, as well as the Airheads website & blog. Brinson McGowan, Creative Director at The Identity Crisis Co. helped develop the visual style, photographing then illustrating the execution of the launch campaigns.

From above view of a black grand piano with open lid, situated on a white and brown cowhide rug in a room with wooden flooring and multiple windows with curtains, and a picture of a horse hanging on the wall.

A colorful, hand-drawn illustration with various objects and animals, including a black cat, an orange elephant, a yellow bird, a tiger, a squirrel, a car, a house, a clock, a construction crane, and foliage. The style is whimsical and sketch-like, and the background is light beige.

Empty House.

One of the initial concepts for the album art was to feature the cabin outside Nashville, Tennessee where the record was first written and recorded. At this point in time, “Empty House” was intended to be the title track of the album.

Cøncept 01

A wooden house with brown siding and white window frames, surrounded by green trees and grass, with a partially cloudy sky visible above.

Empty House
Exterior Alt.

We photographed both the interior and exterior of the cabin and designed a few simple covers complimented with minimal geometric patterns to capture the simplicity of the new record.

COncept 02

Concept 03

Elephant Parade.

We also explored a more fun, hand-drawn illustrative direction in the air of other Relient K album covers that featured visual elements from each of the songs on the record and really captured the care-free playful sound of the album.

A I R F O R F R E E

The Final Album
Cover Design

Eventually, we decided to keep it simple. The album would feature large, colorful photos of Matt & Matt by the incredible Josh Ness, along with Relient K's signature visual element: three circles in the primary colors – red, blue and yellow. Design was kept to a minimum to allow the photos to pop and the vinyl was pressed on a beautiful, white disc bringing the simple, minimal design full circle.

Stream The Record

Two people sitting on a rock overlooking a river and forest during sunset, with a second image of two people sitting on a rock watching the sunset over the landscape.

Two people sitting on a rock overlooking a landscape at sunset, with the sun low on the horizon and a cloudy sky.

Three people standing outdoors, each within a colored circle background: a young man with a red beanie and a jacket on the left, two men walking together with blue backgrounds in the center, and a woman with curly blonde hair and a black jacket on the right.

Buy The Record

The Team

Creative Direction | Design | Illustration | Photography – Brinson McGowan
Creative Direction | Music – Matt Hoopes & Matt Thiessen
Art Direction | Design – Jake Germany
Photography – Josh Ness

Chapter 2 | The TOur

Looking for America

Featuring Switchfoot

Set Design

Photography

Merch Design

Setting the Stage. Literally.

After the release of Air for Free, Relient k joined Switchfoot for a cross-country tour of the US.

We collaborated with the band on the full set design based on the cabin the album was filmed in and also got to join the band for a few shows to take photos on the tour.