Day of the Dead

The Day of the Dead is an epic tribute to the music and artistry of The Grateful Dead, curated by Aaron and Bryce Dessner of The National. The landmark project features over 70 artists, 59 tracks, and over 5 hours of music that reinterpret the Dead for a new generation.

We had the distinct honor to create the design system for the project. Just like music, our design is a modern reinterpretation of the band’s iconography, lyrics and imagery. Throughout the design system we use a combination of oil and water textures (referencing Joshua Light Show backing visuals of live Grateful Dead shows) alongside hand-drawn illustrations created by the incredibly talented Gary Panter.

We then expanded this flexible design system across all packaging, web, motion and merch design for the project. You may or may not need to be on LSD to get the full psychedelic effect, but you didn’t hear that from us.

To cap it all off — this is the 20th album of original music Red Hot has produced in the past 25 years to help raise awareness and money to fight HIV/AIDS and related health issues. They’re an f’n rad not-for-profit organization and we’re honored to have worked with them. Thanks again Red Hot.

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The Red Hot Organization

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A Day of the Dead live performance took place at the second annual Eaux Claires Festival on August 12–13, 2016. The performers, who all appear on the record, included Jenny Lewis, Matthew Houck (Phosphorescent), Lucius, Will Oldham, Moses Sumney, Sam Amidon, Richard Reed Parry, Matt Berninger, Justin Vernon, Josh Kaufman, Bruce Hornsby, Ruban Nielson, Aaron and Bryce Dessner and The National.

We designed special edition posters and merch for the festival, all sold out within hours of being available.

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Day of the Dead

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