Plane Hopper: Sad Spells for Lonely Wizards

Fantasy themes are less about a refusal to grow up, but the bonds and interests that we build during childhood when the world is big and exciting to explore. The members of Plane Hopper were friends first, two of which knowing each other since they were kids when they shared a love of a fantasy role playing games. Using themes from a specific video game form the early 1990s, they wrote their first album using spells from the game as a theme for each song. Part of the challenge illustrating and designing their album art and merch was working with the spirit of the game without being about the game itself.

Part of my solution was doing a larger than usual concepting phase, generating more interpretations of the band’s ideas than usual to ensure we dialed in the visual content of this highly narrative album from the beginning. Ultimately we blended two ideas centering around the idea of a spellbook, making the album packaging itself the “book of spells.”

Album illustration and design

The cover illustration resulting from the concept phase is as rich and elaborate as the music on the album itself. Each '“vignette” represents a song, or spell, from the album guiding the listener on a visual and audial journey. The digital “covers” for the two singles off the album are taken from the appropriate vignettes from the larger illustration.

CD packaging and merch

The CD packaging is meant to mimic the look of an actual leather bound book, with the spine of the book corresponding to the spine of the CD case. The CD itself reveals an “easter egg” of the castle surrounded by a magical miasma with the CD is removed from the case. Like the single covers, the band was provided with isolated vignettes from the album illustration, generating maximum value and flexibility from the work.