10T Records / Undercover
10T Records asked for assistance to help them realize the art work for their label’s compilation of cover songs aptly entitled Undercover.
The album in their own words:
The concept behind “Undercover” is simple. The label asked each of its artists to select a song by another artist that was influential in the development of their own musical identity; a composition that might not sound exactly like what that 10T Records artist has evolved into, but one that significantly inspired their creativity at some point in their musical past. The mission was then to not simply do a faithful cover of that song, but to reinterpret the tune such that it represented where the artists musically find themselves currently.
I designed the simple yet iconic 10T Records mark in March of 2006 when the label was preparing to open its doors.
The ten dots obviously represent the “10″ of the “10T” but the harmonious concept of the design lies within the arrangement of the ten individual dots.
This arguably unlikely arrangement with its one rogue dot is meant to convey the label’s core concept. This is one that is concerned with fostering artists who are less concerned with current trends but more with making, as the label boasts, “music that matters.”
As I was considering the history and concept of the mark whilst sketching and such over a fine and frosty class of vodka and club soda, I realized the ten dots were reminiscent of Morse Code.
So, I decided to integrate the 10T Records mark within a string of the cryptic communication that reads:
“U- N- D -E- R- C- O- V- E -R”
Although in modern times it is hardly used, communicating with Morse Code, to me, will always be inextricably associated with covert operations. Since the title of this collection was “Undercover,” I felt this approach worked conceptually with the inspiration behind the record and visually with the mark that represents the label itself.
This visual idea made the most sense within the record’s inside panel right above the verbiage that outlines the concept of the collection of recordings. View it and the rest of the compilation’s elements below.