Cover painting by Mandy Stobo
Photography by Mark Maryanovich
The final direction for this album package was a steep departure from the initial creative brief supplied by Jann’s management, but I believe it made for a very unique package. The “Bad Portrait” cover image created by Mandy Stobo was originally commissioned by Jann’s manager, Bruce Allen, as a funny gift, but as soon as Jann saw it she declared that it would be great to use this as her album cover, and I couldn’t agree more. This departure from the traditional was a perfect way to set it apart from not only the other records on the shelf, but also the rest of Jann’s extensive catalogue. With such a strong hero image we felt the rest of the concept should follow the messy artistic route. All backgrounds were kept stark white to mimicking canvas with splashes of water colour paint.
The tall display serif typeface was selected to stand strong with a hint of femininity. The subtle water colour texture was added to give it more depth and interest. The scrawled album title was an obvious choice to tie the title treatment into the illustration. This pairing of strong, off-centre and messy was carried throughout the package by alternating the track titles between a tall display sans-serif and the scrawl from the cover.
The twelve page booklet was glued to the inside of the boardpak to give the package more of a coffee table art book look. To further encourage a tactile experience the entire package was given a soft-touch varnish to enhance the rich colours with a matte finish. The watercolour effect carried across the single artworks as well as merchandise.
*NOTE: Last minute revisions were submitted by management after completion of the project, and changes were completed by Susan Michalek in-house at Universal Music Canada. As such the final booklet differs slightly from the design shown here.
