ASIAM is a production music label from Sony Music Japan, presenting recordings by some of Japan’s most respected performers of traditional instruments alongside contemporary musicians and composers. Each release began by looking beyond the instruments themselves, exploring the materials, craft traditions and cultural symbolism that surrounded the music in order to build a visual language rooted in its wider context.

Working closely with series producer Takeshi Furukawa, the project evolved through an ongoing creative dialogue, allowing every release to develop its own identity while maintaining continuity across the series. The design system established for ASIAM was later adopted as the template for Sony Music Japan’s wider production music catalogue, extending across more than 50 subsequent releases.

Founded in 1909, De Wolfe Music is widely recognised as the originator of production music, with a catalogue spanning early cinema, broadcast history, vinyl, CD and digital releases. New albums continue to enter a body of work shaped over 100 years. Production music (also known as library music) is composed for licensing across film, television, advertising, video games and streaming, and is released by specialist publishers.

My work with De Wolfe began with the launch of the WIDESCREEN trailer music label in 2016, where I developed the label identity, branding and launch campaign. Our collaboration has since expanded to more than 100 releases spanning cinematic, electronic, orchestral, rock, jazz, sound effects and contemporary production music.

With more than a century of releases behind it, De Wolfe presents a unique creative challenge: continuing to expand the visual language of a catalogue with significant musical heritage while ensuring every new release contributes something original and remains distinctive to the music it represents.

Working directly with Production Manager Chris Clarke, each new album cover commission begins by searching for an unexpected design response, looking beyond the most literal interpretation of the music or album theme. Many concepts are developed as original 3D imagery, providing complete control over materials, composition, lighting and viewpoint. That flexibility allows artwork to extend naturally beyond the album cover into promotional assets and wider campaign imagery, maintaining a consistent identity throughout each release.

Commissioned following a successful pitch, the original brief suggested a conventional rock apparel approach using band photography and the KISS logo. I proposed an alternative lyric-led direction, shifting the focus away from familiar promotional imagery to the songs that fans had lived with for decades.

Inspired by the band’s original typography and iconography, I translated classic KISS lyrics and song titles into a wearable graphic system, allowing the music itself to become the visual identity of the collection. The band’s extensive back catalogue provided an almost limitless source of future material, leading to the collection being expanded across additional official KISS merchandise and continuing to be adapted for current product lines.

The visual language of an album cover might emerge through photography, illustration, typography, procedural systems, digital sculpture or 3D modelling, but the medium is always chosen because it best expresses the concept. Every project begins by interpreting music, sound and audio into something that can be seen.

Commissions frequently arrive without a client brief or creative direction, requiring original imagery, album titles and art direction for entire labels and catalogues of music to be developed from scratch. Those projects often extend my role beyond album cover design, shaping the project from its earliest demo recordings through to the final artwork and published release.

Selected projects are explored in greater depth on the CASE STUDIES page.

Official film soundtrack commissions grew naturally from long-term creative partnerships with trailer music labels, where my role encompassed visual identity, album cover design and creative direction. As projects became larger and more commercially complex, the role expanded beyond designing album covers to supporting the wider publishing process.

Working across major studios and independent films, I created artwork for physical and digital releases, adapting official film campaign assets where available and creating original key art when required. The work also extended to CD digipaks, booklets, localised editions and complete soundtrack packaging.

No two soundtrack releases followed the same process. Some required artwork to pass through multiple layers of approval involving studios, composers and talent representatives. Others arrived with no campaign imagery at all, requiring original key art to be developed after viewing early cuts of the film.

Film soundtrack projects regularly involved demanding publishing schedules, regional artwork variations and complex production requirements. From same-day deadlines to international artwork variations, my role was to navigate production constraints and deliver artwork clients could publish with confidence.