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A vinyl record and its cover set against a bright red background. The cover art features a high-contrast blue and white image of two figures flanking a central circular logo that reads “Night Sun”.

Psychedelic album artwork by French designer Lucas Donaud

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Date
27 October 2014

When it comes to psychedelic album artwork, it sometimes feels like the very best might already be behind us – Wes Wilson, Mouse & Kelly and Rick Griffin already having worked through the golden era. There’s something reassuring about the knowledge that graphic designers are still looking for ways to incorporate psychedelic elements into their designs though, and French graphic artist Lucas Donaud is foremost amongst them.

The London-based designer has created artwork of records labels and bands including Curtis Harding, Night Sun, Novella and the Growlers, incorporating dribs and drabs of bold collage alongside optical illusion elements and hand-drawn type, resulting in an aesthetic that’s happy to pay homage to those masters of the 1960s and 1970s. Lucas describes his work as “aiming to relate a sense of kaleidoscopic aliveness and emotion” which seem suitably trippy too.

A collage for an album cover shows two hands framing a white owl perched on a branch. The background features ornate floral patterns and a peacock eye motif. Beside it is a multicoloured splatter vinyl record on a bright pink backdrop.
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Lucas Donaud: Strange Hands, Dead Flowers

A multi-coloured splatter vinyl record sits beside its black sleeve on a bright pink background. The sleeve features a symmetrical illustration of white branches and blue leaves, with the title “Dead Flowers” and a tracklist in white text.
Above

Lucas Donaud: Strange Hands, Dead Flowers

A blue and green poster featuring a pattern of thin, concentric curved lines. A vertical white strip contains a black and white photo of a person and the text “Blessa Debut Single Launch” for an event on 12 November 2013.
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Lucas Donaud: Yebo Presents

A red and white poster featuring a pattern of wavy vertical lines. Text on a red panel reads “18.11.2013 Yebo presents Ulla Nova debut London show” and “Willam Carl Jr.” at the “Servant Jazz Quarters”.
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Lucas Donaud: Yebo Presents

A red and white poster reads “Bad Vibrations presents” above a list of performers: “Christian Bland & The Revelators”, “Holy Wave” and “Hellshovel”. Two classical stone busts are positioned at the top and bottom corners.
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Lucas Donaud: Christian Bland & the Revelators

A red vinyl record and its cover art against a turquoise background. The cover features a person reclining in a white hammock before a cluster of red geometric shapes, with the text “RANCH GHOST” across the top.
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Lucas Donaud: Ranch Ghost

A blue and white poster reads “Outta Mind” in a stylised font. The centre features a graphic of a large circle containing a smaller dot, set against a background of wavy lines. A list of bands, including “Night Beats” and “The Telescopes”, is printed at the bottom above the event date and location.
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Lucas Donaud: Outta MInd

A gold-coloured vinyl record sits beside its cover art. The sleeve features a mirrored image of a person in a bikini against a cosmic, orange and blue background with the name “Curtis Harding” in script.
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Lucas Donaud: Curtis Harding

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About the Author

Maisie Skidmore

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Maisie joined It’s Nice That fresh out of university in the summer of 2013 as an intern before joining full time as an Assistant Editor. Maisie left It’s Nice That in July 2015.

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