Slipknot .5 The Gray Chapter Redesign

After the death of founding member and bassist Paul Gray and the departure of Joey Jordison, many people assumed Slipknot was done for good. Their long-awaited album .5 The Gray Chapter marked their return – seething with the tension of classic Slipknot while packing a more resounding emotional punch than anything previously recorded. For this redesign, my goal was to tell that story and replicate the feel of the music through a flexible, eye-catching system and interactive packaging experience. It features an interactive and annotated lyric book.

2019 –––

Original Album Art

While the original album art is visually interesting, I felt it didn't reflect what the album was actually about. The skeleton figure feels unrelated to the album's concept, and upon further research, I learned the cover image was a leftover from a prior shoot. I knew I could do more to visually pack the punch of Slipknot's music and better reflect the emotion and mourning that formed the concept of the album.

DESIGN CHALLENGE

Create a dynamic system that visually communicates the story of Slipknot's bold and emotional return.

NONAGRAM SLEEVE

Interactive and unique, this sleeve unfolds to replicate their iconic Nonagram. It opens up its dark exterior to reveal a deeper story. This concept came from Corey's mask for this era of the band, which peeled back to reveal another mask underneath.

Each of the nine panels represents a band member with their assigned numbers. #1 and #2 represent the members who have left, with #2 burning bright to honor Paul, the album's namesake. This sleeve is one of my favorite parts of this project because I could translate the album's concept into the experience of interacting with the physical work.