Altars
River Valley Worship
Art Direction, Graphic Design, Apparel Design
Interpreting a Story with Intentional Visuals
River Valley Worship is a collection of artists, musicians and songwriters who are an extension of the vibrant creative culture within River Valley Church. Beginning in 2011, the group began releasing a mix of uplifting studio and live albums that exemplify the unified worship culture flourishing within their weekend services. The band's music is artful, hope-filled, and seeks to pioneer new sonic landscapes for the Church on both the local and global level. Their 6th album, ‘Altars’ released May 8th, 2020.
‘Altars’ is a collection of songs that bring us to a place of remembrance. A place where we are reminded of God’s amazing grace and faithfulness. It is in this quiet place, at this altar, where the presence of God is real and near. It is where we bring our burdens, our deepest hurts, our quiet dreams, and our most joyful victories. It is where the walls we’ve put up to hide our true selves fall to the ground in the presence of our most gracious God.
Art Direction
It was important to me that the album artwork and the art direction for the campaign felt true to the songs and the team who wrote them. The River Valley Worship team was the starting point of inspiration for the aesthetic of the album. Through working with their team on previous projects, I’ve observed that when it comes to graphic design and photography, they tend to prefer graphics and images that have a tangible/old-school feel and aren’t trying too hard to be cool. They’re fashion style is very unique, and always ahead of fashion trends—a mix of eclectic vintage & grunge streetwear.
We knew the title of the album was going to be ‘Altars’, which made me think of old chapels. I became inspired by linen hymnals/books, yellowed paper and film photography from the 70’s. I created a color palette that included deep mustards, burgundy, rust orange, forest green, royal blue, bright orange and a yellow-peach. Something that was important to the art direction was that every piece had to look rugged, textured and/or worn, and that the album artwork had to tell some sort of story.
Album Artwork
The Worship team wanted the album cover to tell a story. The writing process of this album was so complex and rich. There were many pivotal moments in the process. For the album art, we decided on a direction that included memorabilia, metaphors from their experiences, and ‘easter eggs’ that nod to the songs in the album. Everything was then printed and rescanned to give it that old/rugged/textured feel.
‘ALTARS’ Album Artwork
Graphic Design
Hymnal
From the very beginning of this project, we had dreamed of creating an actual hymnal. Since it was such a visual inspiration of the project, it only felt right to make it happen.
The hymnal consists of actual hymns of each of the thirteen tracks on the album, photographs (behind-the-scenes of their writing process, the night of the live recording, etc), and a story of the inspiration and meaning of each song.
Merchandise
One of my favorite aspects of this project was designing merchandise to sell along with the album. This collection is fresh and original while nodding to the 1970’s with the typography and color choices. I produced a photoshoot to market the products and collaborated with photographer Evan Ihde and videographer Igor Kovalchuk. To see more of the process of producing the photoshoot, head over to my blog. To shop, check out their website.
ALTARS Ad Black Tee
ALTARS Inverted Crewneck
ALTARS Poster Tee, Green
ALTARS Oversized Tote
ALTARS Hotel KeychainALTARS Poster Tee, Black
Additional Photography
To create the imagery needed for the album artwork and campaign, we found an old theatre with beautiful stain glass windows, red theatre seating and gorgeous woodwork that articulated that old-and-musty-chapel-feel. Photographer Gene Pease shot with a combination of film camera & DSLR, Bethany Schrock directed the shoot, and Igor Kovalchuk was in charge of lighting and shooting video. My role was assisting with setting-up and striking sets, as well as kept track of the shots we needed.
Credits
Client Ryan Williams & River Valley Worship
Account Management Emily Vogel & Micheala Johnson
Photography Gene Pease & Evan Ihde
Photo Direction Bethany Schrock
Art Direction, Graphic Design & Apparel Design Kailey Schmitt