Anatomy of Design

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ANATOMY OF DESIGN

Pat Metheny released Song X as an LP in 1985, a collaboration with free

jazz/harmolodics innovator Ornette Coleman. From the first track, a thirteen-minute

sonic assault called “Endangered Species,” fans either immediately loved or hated

it. One thing was certain, it signaled a shift in Metheny’s otherwise melodic

musical repertoire while evidencing his need to continually test the bounds and

mix the genres of music. In short, it was a watershed album. In 2005, Metheny

decided to remaster and remix the record, taking it from LP to CD. Because vinyl

imposed restrictions, he had had to cut a lot from the first release; this he

restored for the new

Song X, resulting in a blend of old and new.

This rerelease of such a critical event demanded an equally robust

package design, so when Nonesuch Records commissioned New York designer

Stephen Doyle and Doyle Partners to design the CD of

Song X for this twentieth

anniversary, “We couldn’t keep ourselves away from the XX thing. Who could?”

he explains. “We wanted it to be elegant yet grubby—always a fun

combination—and figure out a way to wrap the original package to distinguish

it. Kinda like a giftwrap, but transparent. Masking tape, trompe l’oeil style,

delivered the grubby, while the type weaving through it as transparent

delivered the finesse. I did the tape idea, and August Heffner, my most

amazing designer, added the violins.”

Here the virtuosity is not found in Metheny’s music only. A lot is needed

to make the small (compared to the luxuriously expansive image area of an LP)

CD jewel case into something that transcends the commonplace, and Doyle, who

also makes sculptural pieces from common materials, created a package with

subtle sculptural conceits. The strips of masking tape that form XX looks as

though they were stuck on the jewel case by hand while, in fact, the tape is

carefully printed over the plastic, resulting in texture that feels like the real

thing. Okay, that’s not all that difficult if you know what you’re doing. But

designing the type underneath the tape to look as though it is covered by tape

was no small feat. If not precisely composed, effectively distorted, and carefully

printed, the illusion would fail. Suffice to say, it is totally convincing.

Doyle’s design for

Song X plays off various contemporary printing and

packaging techniques. Using tape of all kinds—duct, masking, electrical—as a

design element is fairly common in the age of DIY (do it yourself). In the

1970s, punk-style tape was one of the inelegant everyday materials used to

make ad hoc–looking design, which rebelled against prevailing professionalism.

But it quickly caught on as a means of adding grittiness, and soon designers

were using tape to make typefaces and construct images. As a postmodern

graphic design trope, tape was used self-referentially to show the inner

workings of the design process.

The introduction of the jewel case in the early 1990s (originally, CDs

were packaged in long cardboard boxes) gave designers a new opportunity to

work with transparency and translucency in a small image space. It also

demanded that printers find an endless array of new techniques so designers

could play with color, texture, and light. Compared to some extravaganzas seen

here,

Song X is minimal, but sometimes spare is eloquent.

And this eloquence is accomplished through one more trait that often

appears in contemporary design: revealed layers achieved through the use of

opaque papers. Increasingly, vellums and similar stocks are used as book

jackets and CD covers, whenever it is necessary to gradually expose multiple

components of a single message. With

Song X, the fusion of paper, plastic, and

printing achieves a demonstrative subtlety.

Song X

Designer: Stephen Doyle and August Heffner

2005 Song X—Pat Metheny, CD cover

ad: Doyle Partners ad: Stephen Doyle d: August Heffner c: Nonesuch Records

CD design for the rerelease of Pat Metheny’s Song X.

Taping down art

Images and opacity

Type and opacity