Animated Album Cover

Imagine if your favorite artist's album could move? I decided to explore how motion design and AR can serve as alternative promotional tools for musicians in the digital era, where visual identity and shareable content are essential to audience engagement.

Role

Solo Designer/Developer

Organization

Personal Project

Softwares

Adobe After Effects, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Premiere Pro, Snapchat Lens Studio

Why?

Signifigant Example

When focusing on the concepts that would go into bringing the album to life, I listened to the albums from start to finish, pulling key imagery from the lyrics and overall themes derived from the album's thesis.

(Monarch Butterflies) Butterflies represent letting go and accepting a lack of control, the albums central theme
They also serve as a visual callback to SZA’s Love Galore music video.
(Music Video Screens) Confronting different versions of yourself is a subtheme of the album, just like eye screens can be windows to one's soul.
Having her different music videos displayed on the screens not only serves as a subtle teaser for her various songs but also physically represents how she changes.
This simultaneously can draw users to check out her music videos, providing direct views and likes.

Process

Asset Preparation

I import the album artwork into Adobe Photoshop and prepare it for animation by isolating individual visual elements.

Masking and separating characters, objects, and backgrounds
Removing or reconstructing background elements
Cleaning edges and refining layers
Creating individual assets for motion

Animation

Once the assets are prepared, I move into Adobe After Effects to begin animating the composition. Using keyframing techniques, I create motion that reflects the personality of the album.

AR Integration

To expand the experience beyond traditional video, I import the animation into Snapchat Lens Studio and build an interactive augmented reality lens.