For The Birds: The Birdsong Project is a collection of 172 pieces of new music inspired by the beauty of birdsong, performed by artists from across the musical spectrum. Comprised of 20 LPs, each with original cover art, this deluxe box set also features 73 works of bird-inspired poetry, read by familiar and famous voices. The collection comes beautifully framed by the original artwork of painter and naturalist John James Audubon, from his seminal work: Birds of America.
Accompanying the 20 LPs is a 60-page book, which includes a foreword by The Birdsong Project Producer, Randall Poster, essays by Jonathan Meiburg, Kathleen Moore, and David Rothenberg, and a list of must-read books for bird lovers from novelist and ornithophile, Jonathan Franzen.
Proceeds from For The Birds: The Birdsong Project benefit The National Audubon Society.
Art Direction, packaging design, website design, animations, event and social media graphics.
GRAMMY® Winner
Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package
GRAPHIS Silver Award Winner
Art direction and design for guitarist and composer Yasmin Williams's Acadia, CD and LP packages.
Cover painting by M. Falconer
Client: Nonesuch Records
In celebration of Nonesuch Records' 60th anniversary, the label partnered with photographer Michael Wilson—who has exquisitely captured dozens of Nonesuch artists over the past quarter-century—to produce Michael Wilson / 25 Years: A Nonesuch Collection, a limited-edition box set containing newly created prints from his Nonesuch archive. Artists featured are Allen Toussaint, Ambrose Akinmusire, Audra McDonald, Bill Frisell, The Black Keys, Brad Mehldau, David Byrne, Dr. John, Emmylou Harris, Frederic Rzewski, Jeremy Denk, Kronos Quartet, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Manuel Galbán and Ry Cooder, Philip Glass, Randy Newman, Rhiannon Giddens, Stephin Merritt and Lemony Snicket, Steve Reich, and Timo Andres, who wrote note for the box.
Art direction and design for You’re the One, CD and LP packages.
Client: Nonesuch Records
Art Direction and packaging design for classical soprano Julia Bullock’s debut album, Walking In The Dark.
Anchoring the album are two large orchestral works – Samuel Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 and the aria “Memorial de Tlatelolco” from John Adams’s El Niño – both featuring London’s Philharmonia Orchestra and conductor Christian Reif. With Reif as pianist, Bullock also performs the traditional spiritual “City Called Heaven” and songs by Oscar Brown, Jr., Billy Taylor, Sandy Denny, and Connie Converse. The album, as well as a single of the Converse song “One by One,” whose lyrics are the source of the album’s title.
Named one of NPR’s “10 Best Classical Albums of 2022,” the outlet has praised its single, “One by One,” as an “intimate interpretation” with “exquisitely sculpted phrases.”
Client: Nonesuch Records
Art Direction and design for CHER's latest classics compilation – Forever.
Art Direction and design for Girls of the Golden West, John Adams’ eighth music theater work to be released by Nonesuch Records. Adams’ stage works are among the most performed contemporary operas of our time and include Nixon in China, The Death of Klinghoffer, El Niño, and Doctor Atomic.
Girls of the Golden West is a California opera, telling the story of the Gold Rush not through familiar time-worn myth, but in the words and deeds of real people: in the words of Mark Twain, “the strangest population, the finest population … who ever trooped down the startled solitudes of an unpeopled land.”
Longtime Adams collaborator Peter Sellars drew from original sources from the Gold Rush era: letters, journals, newspaper articles, and familiar song lyrics to create the libretto.
Client: Nonesuch
Art Direction and design for TRUSTFALL. LP, CD and box set packaging, zine, singles, tour key art and merchandise.
Client: RCA Records
Art Direction and packaging design for John Adams Collected Works – a 40-disc box set of recordings spanning more than four decades of the composer’s career with Nonesuch.
The box set includes two extensive booklets with new essays and notes by Timo Andres, Julia Bullock, Nico Muhly, Jake Wilder-Smith and Nonesuch Chairman Emeritus Robert Hurwitz.
Client: Nonesuch Records
Art Direction and design for the 2020 deluxe and expanded editions of Tom Petty’s acclaimed Wildflowers album. Including 2CD, 4CD, 5CD, 3LP, 7LP and 9LP configurations.
Illustrations by Blaze Ben Brooks
Client: Warner Records
Graphis Design 2022 - Silver Award
Art Direction and packaging design for Punch Brothers Hell On Church Street – the band’s reimagining of, and homage to, the late bluegrass great Tony Rice’s landmark solo album.
Illustration: Phillip Singer
Client: Nonesuch Records
Art Direction and design of film titles, and CD & LP packaging for P!NK- All I Know So Far.
Clients: RCA Records, Amazon Studios
Admissions materials, annual reports, annual fund appeals, magazine, logos and mascot illustrations for Los Angeles independent school serving toddlers through 6th grade.
Art Direction and packaging design for The Everly Brothers Hey Doll Baby – a 17-track compilation album curated with an eye towards celebrating the band’s deeper rockabilly tracks and great covers. Limited edition baby blue vinyl for Record Store Day.
Client: Warner Records
Cookbook design. Inspired by the best restaurants, fondas, loncherías, and taco stands in Mexico City and adapted for the home cook, Made in Mexico is a blend of classic regional and contemporary Mexican cuisine from celebrated chef Danny Mena's hometown.
Client: Rizzoli
Live From The Forum • MMXVIII Deluxe 4LP and 2CD+DVD/BluRay packaging design, illustration, video animation and marketing materials. To be released October, 2020
Client: Rhino Records
Art direction, packaging design, singles and POS for P!NK's Hurts 2B Human album.
Painting: Hueman
Client: RCA Records
2018 tour program design.
Client: Blackout Merch / MPL Productions
I’ll Be Your Girl, deluxe limited edition 7” vinyl book. Featuring eight 7” vinyl records, each a different color, in a pinwheeling book, with slide-out record jacket pockets and pop-up elements.
Illustration and Lettering by Carson Ellis
2019 Grammy® Nominee - Best Boxed or Limited Edition Package
The Alex Steinweiss Award (Best In Show) - Making Vinyl Awards 2018
Paperboard Packaging Council’s Package of the Year 2018
The Mamba Mentality: How I Play book design. Featuring 20 years of images captured by Andrew D. Bernstein, the official photographer for the Los Angeles Lakers and senior photographer for the NBA.
Client: Melcher Media, MCD Books
International Photography Awards, Third Place - Professional Book/People
Gold in the 2019 Le Prix de la Photographie de Paris (Px3) - Book/People
Art Direction and design for Beautiful Trauma. CD and LP packaging, singles, tour key art and tour program.
Client: RCA Records
Annual Reports, annual fund appeals, magazine, merchandise and special event graphics for Los Angeles area K-12.
Design and illustration for Electric On The Eel CD and LP reissues. Including limited edition glow-in-the-dark silk screened poster.
A re-imagining of the original artwork for k.d. lang's seminal album, ingénue, for the 25th anniversary deluxe edition.
Client: Nonesuch Records
Art Direction, illustration, photography, package design, teaser spots and lyric video for Jeff Lynne's ELO releases: From Out Of Nowhere and Alone In The Universe.
Tour program design for Jeff Lynne's ELO Tours.
Client: Columbia Records
Photo art direction, viewbook design, admissions materials, annual reports, magazine, annual fund appeal, Affinity Club logos and summer camp/summer school branding for Los Angeles area K-12.
Client: The Buckley School
Art Direction and packaging design for the critically acclaimed acoustic roots album - They’re Calling Me Home, by Rhiannon Giddens with Francesco Turrisi.
Client: Nonesuch
Featuring recipes from Alma, Bestia, Farmshop, Heirloom LA, Joan's on Third, Jon & Vinny's, Little Flower Bakery, Love & Salt, Matsuhisa, Otium, Park's BBQ, Valerie Confections, Wexler’s Deli and many more.
Client: Rizzoli
Art Direction and packaging design for The Queen of Hearts. A collaboration between The Decemberists and Olivia Chaney.
Client: Nonesuch Records
Book design for husband and wife photography team, Ken Browar and Deborah Ory, creators of the NYC Dance Project. The 300 page hard-cover book features more than 70 dancers from American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet, Martha Graham Dance Company, Alvin Ailey, Royal Danish Ballet, the Royal Ballet and more.
Client: Black Dog & Leventhal / Hachette Books
International Photography Awards, First Place Book, 2016
NEW YORK BOOK SHOW, 1st place, Special Trade Photography, 2017
Celine Dion Courage World Tour identity and tour program design.
Client: AEG Presents / CDA
Garbage This Is The Noise That Keeps Me Awake. Book design chronicling the band's 22 year career. Deluxe package design, including limited edition vinyl.
Client: Stun Volume / Akashic Books
The Complete Baker’s Dozen Box Set design. Including all 13 shows on 36 discs, an 86-page book with full color photographs and an extensive essay, Baker’s Dozen setlist journals, tickets, a patch, a complete set of 8 mini-prints and a Jim Pollock Baker's Dozen 7”x10” print (signed by JP) to accompany the box and more.
Illustration and lettering by Brosmind
Art direction and packaging design for What A Terrible World, What A Beautiful World. Illustrations by Carson Ellis. Deluxe, limited edition LP box includes satin banner, embroidered patches, 3 lithos, and etched vinyl.
GRAMMY® nomination for packaging design 2015.
Communication Arts Award of Excellence 2016.
Client: Capitol Records.
The Art Of books for Disney and Pixar's animated films feature concept art from the making of the films—including character studies and sculpts, color scripts, storyboards, and more—alongside interviews with the films' artists about their process. SMOG has designed 15 titles in this series over the last 12 years.
Client: Chronicle Books
Art direction, illustration and packaging design for the band's 6th studio album, Strange Little Birds. Deluxe LP features side four vinyl etching.
Client: Stun Volume Records
A modern classic card game created by Keith Baker and The Decemberists. Illustration by Carson Ellis.
Client: Twogether Studios
Art direction and design of 304 page photography book featuring 30 years of celebrity portraiture.
Client: DAAB Media
Book design for Autumn de Wilde's Beck monograph, illustrating 15 years of friendship and creative collaboration between photographer and artist. Custom typography, circular fold-out dust jacket. Foreword by Michel Gondry.
Client: Chronicle Books
Art Direction and design of the Eagles Hotel California 40th anniversary deluxe reissue. Box set includes 44 page hard-cover book with rare photos and ephemera, 1977 tour poster and program reproductions, an "alternate take" on the famous hotel room photo by Norman Seeff, and The Eagles Family Tree by Pete Frame.
Art direction, illustration and packaging design for the band's second album, 2.
Client: Reprise Records
Identity, signage, stationery, website and menu design for Manhattan Beach restaurant Love & Salt.
Restaurant Design: MASS Architecture
Photography: Andrea Bricco
Client: Love & Salt
Art direction, illustration and book design for photographer Lisa S. Johnson's 108 Rock Star Guitars. This lush, highly tactile book features a debossed and foil-stamped leatherette cover, vellum overleafs, 6 color printing, matte and gloss UV, gilded edges, "zine" and custom holographic guitar pick.
Graphis Silver Award Winner 2015
Communications Arts Exhibit 2015
Communication Arts Award of Excellence 2015
Client: Guitarfile
Art direction, packaging design, advertising and tour merchandise for P!NK's The Truth About Love album and tour.
Client: RCA Records
Art Direction and design for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' Hypnotic Eye CD and LP packaging, singles, advertising and merchandising. The deluxe LP features side four etched vinyl.
Client: Reprise Records
Identity, signage, website and stationery design for Silverlake Conservatory of Music.
Client: SCM
Architecture: Bestor Architecture
Book design for veteran Los Angeles-based landscape designer Judy Kameon of Elysian Landscapes.
Client: Rizzoli
Art direction and design for Barbra Streisand's 2018 album Walls.
Clients: Columbia Records
Art direction and design for composer John Adams' recorded works, spanning the last 20 years.
Client: Nonesuch Records
Book design for husband and wife photography team, Ken Browar and Deborah Ory, creators of the NYC Dance Project. A follow-up to their book The Art Of Movement, this 300 page hard-cover book features more than 80 dancers—from ballet to modern—in clothing by celebrated designers, celebrating the relationship between style, fashion, and dance as its subject.
Client: Rizzoli Books
The World of Vikings book design, type design and illustration.
Client: Chronicle Books / Showtime
Art Direction and design for Rose Ave., the debut album by You+Me (aka, Alecia Moore and Dallas Green). CD and LP packaging, and lyric videos.
Client: RCA Records
Cookbook design for Grammy® award winner, author, philanthropist, and reggae icon Ziggy Marley.
Client: Tuff Gong Worldwide
Art direction and design for CD and LP packaging, singles, lyric videos and tour merchandise.
Client: Dine Alone Records
2016 tour program design. 72 page book included interactive coloring pages and sticker sheets.
Client: Bravado International / MPL Productions
Rebranding of Ramón C. Cortines School of Visual and Performing Arts, in DTLA. Logo design, stationery, signage, window installations, lamp pole banners, event posters and website design.
Client: LAUSD
Art Direction and design of 2-volume, limited edition, vinyl box set packaging, celebrating the band's 40th anniversary.
Clients: Universal Music Group, Reprise Records
Brand identity, packaging, advertising, menus and website design for top Los Angeles catering company, and makers of Lasagna Cupcakes™.
Client: Heirloom LA
Art direction and design for Barbra Streisand's 2016 album, and 11th #1 — Encore: Movie Partners Sing Broadway. Program and merchandise design for her 2016 The Music...The Mem'Ries...The Magic! tour.
Clients: Columbia Records / Epic Rights
Art direction and design for Katy Perry's Prismatic World Tour identity, print and digital advertising, and tour program.
Client: Bravado / Live Nation
Art direction and design of Hunter S. Thompson's visual biography featuring personal photography, ephemera and selected writings. 240 pages, hardcover.
Client: Ammo Books
Art direction, design and photo-illustration for the History of the Eagles documentary film key art, advertising and DVD packaging. Deluxe package includes limited edition lithographs and hardcover book.
Client: Monhegan Films/ Capitol Records
Brand ID, signage, stationery and packaging for Everson Royce, a California wine and spirits retailer.
Art direction and packaging design for Don Henley's first new studio album in 15 years, Cass County. Deluxe book includes 50 pages of photos, handwritten lyrics, postcard set, 2 LP's and CD.
Client: Capitol Records
Brand identity, illustration, packaging design and signage for independent maker of gourmet granola.
Revolutions In Sound—The First 50 Years. Research, photo editing, book design, deluxe edition design, and 10-CD set packaging design.
Client: Warner Bros. Records
Photo art direction, logo design, viewbook, admissions materials, campus signage, maps and recruitment pieces for historic women's college in Virginia.
Client: Sweet Briar College
CASE National Circle of Excellence Silver Award Winner; CASE III Grand Award (Viewbook)
CASE National Circle of Excellence Gold Award Winner; CASE III Grand Award (Teaser)
Activity book inspired by the behind-the-scenes work of Pixar's animators. Projects invite discoveries about color, shape, character design, and scene setting—and how all of these interact to tell a visual story.
Client: Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum / Chronicle Books
Book design for Saving The World One Record at a Time, a visual and literary compendium drawn from Greg Shaw's two indie magazines, BOMP! (Who Put The Bomp) and it's predecessor Mojo Navigator — a wild treasure trove of writing and graphics — that gave birth to the modern rock press.
Client: AMMO Books
Branding, bumpers and video graphics for online creative forum School of Doodle, which offers teen girls tools and inspiration to explore, create and connect.
Client: Doodle Studios
Photo art direction, logo design, viewbook, annual fund materials, campus signage, and magazine for K-12 in Virginia.
Client: Flint Hill School
CASE National Circle of Excellence Silver Award Winner (Viewbook)
CASE III Award of Excellence (Magazine)
Art direction, packaging design, custom typography and photo illustration for Selena Gomez's first five studio albums.
Client: Hollywood Records
Photographs by Andrew Macpherson, spanning album and publicity shoots, live concert photos and behind-the-scenes candids. Book design documenting a 10 year creative relationship between artist and photographer.
Client: Bravado
CD and LP packaging design for Timothy B. Schmit's latest solo album, Leap of Faith.
Client: Benowen Records
CD packaging art direction, design, and illustration for a series of archival live recordings by the Jerry Garcia Band, and special guests.
Client: Garcia Family Trust / Round Records
Art direction and CD and LP packaging design for Suzanne Vega's 2016 album, Lover: Beloved.
Client: Amanuensis Productions
