Client: Showbread
Role: Design, Art Direction, Concept Development
Media: Digital, Web, Print
Showbread's Cancer
Showbread's Cancer is a concept album dreamed up by Showbread and lead singer Josh Dies. I worked with Josh to flesh out the narrative behind the album which was then used to create digital and real-life "artifacts" from the world of Cancer. The band's was even remixed into something that clearly continued to define the band while also being something that could exist for their fictional counterparts within theworld of Cancer.
The UMOED
Insignia for the United States Ministry of Ethics and Defense. These are the "bad guys" of Cancer, but we didn't want to present them as something overtly evil. Instead we conceptualized something that was clean and governmental, but also vaguely haunting and foreboding.
Art Book
The art book accompanying the album helped to tell the story of Cancer. It contained sketches of band merch, news reports from the world, transcripts, screenshots of forum postings, and other artifacts that made the world come alive.
An infographic from a fictional news app showing overwhelming support for war in the world of "Cancer."
A visualized transcript of a call with a booking agent.
World-building included fictional IRC chats to help give hints at the larger story.
Branding for the fictional brand "Protozoa" following them from garage band to a major touring act.
Album Art
The album art is presented as yet another artifact—a defaced painting in a museum— from the fictional world of Cancer.
Propaganda posters were designed for merchandise and props in the accompanying movie.
The Film
Cancer was not only an album, but also a surreal, experimental, feature-length rock opera as well. Design helped tie the two mediums together, helping to bring artwork from the album onto posters, flags, and other ephemera in the film.
I also helped sew some cockroach puppets…and then I hit my head on a door while puppeteering.