THE YARBIRDS BOX-SET PACKAGING (2024)

As an exercise in packaging design, I created a conceptual box set of the complete studio recordings of The Yardbirds, celebrating 60 years since the release of their first album, "Five Live Yardbirds". The contents of this box set combine both the original releases configurations from the UK, and USA, as well as a completely original package of recordings of theirs which did not appear on any of the albums.

The Yardbirds catalogue is one that has been compiled and reissued too many times to count over the years, so a good deal of effort was put into this package to stand out from the packages which had come before. As this is a purely conceptual project, I allowed myself to include recordings from all eras of the band's history, which in reality would be hard to include due to the master recording rights being owned by three different companies. I went over The Yardbirds discography with a fine-toothcomb trying to find every hard-to-find recordings, some of which were only released in certain countries, to create the "odds and ends" disc for this package. 

As stated, The Yardbirds music has been repackaged time and time again, so my goal was making this set attractive enough to entice people who may already own all of The Yardbirds recordings already. The biggest challenge while working on this project was the lack of high-resolution images of the original album artwork on the internet. The high-res photos I did find had too many inaccuracies when compared with the original packaging. The solution was to create high quality scans of the original album art myself using my own collection of original Yardbirds vinyl LPs, which were then digitally touched up to remove any damage or wear to the nearly 60-year-old album sleeves.

Instead of housing the discs in traditional plastic CD jewel-cases, I created folding, 3-4 panel digipaks to keep the CDs in. This then created a new issue, as there is no plastic border in a digipak, the originally square artwork would have to be modified to fit the wider format. For most of the albums, this was no issue, but for some like the album "Little Games" it was. The original cover was painted/illustrated, and seeing as I didn't want to lose much, if any of the original artwork by cropping it, I extended the artwork by hand, drawing in parts of the cover when needed. Another aspect of the original albums that needed re-formatting were the liner notes, and writing/designs featured on the back cover. In most cases, I was able to re-type the liner notes to fit inside the digipack, so I could keep the back-cover track lists at a readable size.

Other details including logos, typefaces, and the label designs were inspired by the original U.K. vinyl releases on EMI-Columbia. For the "Fly-Aways" compilation created for this set, I created brand new, illustrated artwork for the cover, with references to the band's history throughout. The inside of the digipack is lined with rare, hard-to-find Yardbirds vinyl singles from around the world, with the labels mimicking the EMI-Columbia promotional 45 record labels, as opposed to the other discs in this set based on the EMI-Columbia LP record labels. The final design choices made were for the outer packaging, with a logo created for a fictional 60th anniversary promotional campaign for The Yardbirds front and center. When in a retail setting, there is a promotional sheet on the back of the shrink-wrapped outer box explaining the contents of the set, which when opened can be slid inside to keep the set looking as sleek as possible. 

First and foremost, the target audience for this package is Yardbirds fans. This package was designed to contain everything the band did, in one, uniformly packaged, compact set. As the master recording rights of the material itself is spread between several companies, a huge draw of the package is to not have to build a collection piecemeal from different sources.

The kind of people who still buy physical media, really care about the packaging, and enjoy being able to have an attractive, uniform set on their shelves to look at. These people nearly care as much about how the set and albums within look, as they care about how they sound, so special effort has to be put in to make the image quality as good as it could be, and the set as "sexy" as it can be.

Throughout the design process for The Yardbirds' conceptual box set, I gained valuable insights into the intricacies of packaging design and the importance of historical accuracy. One of the key lessons was the significance of thorough research; delving into the band’s discography and understanding their visual identity was crucial for creating a cohesive package that appealed to devoted fans. I learned to navigate the challenges of sourcing high-quality images, reinforcing the idea that hands-on experience—like scanning and digitally restoring my own vinyl collection—can yield superior results when reference materials are lacking.

Additionally, the project taught me the importance of flexibility and creativity in design. Adapting artwork for the digipak format required innovative thinking, especially when it came to extending illustrations without compromising the original aesthetic. I also realized how essential it is to maintain clarity and readability in packaging, as retyping liner notes and adjusting layouts directly impacted the user experience. This process not only enhanced my technical skills in digital design and restoration but also deepened my appreciation for the art of packaging as a vital component of the music experience, reminding me that visual appeal can be just as significant as sound quality for passionate collectors.