A fully customisable vinyl design by Jimmy Turrell and Steve Stacey for Beck's "Colors"

Date
3 October 2017

Jimmy Turrell and Steve Stacey have created the visuals for Beck’s upcoming album, Colors. The record is experimental pop created specifically to be played out loud and the artwork created by the pair very much reflects this spirit. Inspired by things they remember being visually engaging as kids, such as Connect 4 and Plasticine, Jimmy and Steve created a cover that employs bright colours and bold paint-like forms.

As a way to enable fans to be part of the process, the duo created a fully customisable cover for the deluxe vinyl edition of the album. The cover features a central hexagon with various coloured shape transparencies that the viewer can remove and change to create their own bespoke design. This was also a reference to the layered approach they had when designing the artwork, stripping the project back to some of their original ideas. As well as this, the vinyl includes a 24 page lyric art book designed in a similar style using transparencies.

This aesthetic was a result of a process that involved collaboration, playfulness and fun: “there weren’t any strict design frameworks or grids to adhere to. It was very much a case of exploring what we felt worked best,” Jimmy told us. Having shared a studio a couple of years back, the pair already knew each other’s working practices pretty well. Whilst undertaking this project, they tried out each other’s techniques creating an almost “visual remix.” Beck also had a big input in how the artwork turned out says Jimmy, “he’s very knowledgeable about design generally so it was cool getting a third opinion from the actual artist.”

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Jimmy Turrell and Steve Stacey

Above

Jimmy Turrell and Steve Stacey

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Jimmy Turrell and Steve Stacey

Above

Jimmy Turrell and Steve Stacey

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About the Author

Ruby Boddington

Ruby joined the It’s Nice That team as an editorial assistant in September 2017 after graduating from the Graphic Communication Design course at Central Saint Martins. In April 2018, she became a staff writer and in August 2019, she was made associate editor.

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