DESIREE DORION
2023 WCMA Excellence In Visual Design Final Nominee (That’s How I Know album package, Sometimes I Drink hoodie)
That’s How I Know is the crown jewel of Desiree Dorion’s discography, which called for a slick contemporary look. The cover includes a motion blur with a background “projected” onto the seamless to add dimension. The vibrant colour palette gives a bright energy to the package. The inclusion of the wild sage illustration is a nod to Desiree’s indigenous roots.
Each single carried Desiree’s name scrawled and oversized across the artwork to tie them together across the longer than average release cycle.
Sometimes I Drink included a title treatment that exhibits the same powerful “boss bitch” attitude given off in the song. The idea for the title came from thinking about someone sitting at home clipping coupons, but instead decides to clip out the title and take off for the night. Overall we really wanted to differentiate the art for this track from the saccharine sweet covers out there because it definitely has the right attitude to stand out.
In the video for Wouldn’t It Be Fun, there are a bunch of the shots where both Desiree and Dave are reading newspapers and we thought it would be fun to make the single cover look like something you would see in one of the sun-bleached community newspapers that you’d find in a laundromat. The top half is intentionally a little busy because it lends more to that grassroots style of publication.
Last Name, the third single off the album, called for a darker moody approach to the artwork. We decided to do a night shoot around downtown Winnipeg. Capturing some nice dramatic lifestyle shots of Desiree walking down the street and or standing in the urban centre with all the chaos of lights, cars and people around. In fact, when shooting didn’t want to avoid people or traffic in the background, it gave more depth and authenticity to the image. We went with a “sign the dotted line” idea for the title as it felt fitting based on the song narrative.
Desiree released Hillbilly Christmas in 2021. The cover photo and song were giving serious “Redneck Woman” vibes, so we thought it would be a nice homage to create brushed aluminum numbers for the title. Even though this is a Christmas track we decided to tie it into this release cycle using the same treatment for Desiree’s name, and the aluminum sticker letters are in the same vein as the cut-and-paste newsprint title from the “Sometimes I Drink” single. We added some film dust and scratches for some rough around the edges authenticity.