AWNING is a New York-based electronic folk duo comprised of Luke Smith and Jon Sheldrick, two of my long-time friends and collaborators. I love working with them because each of the projects starts with a set of guidelines and constraints, and for me, that really fosters creativity.

The artwork for each of their releases was designed using a process that mirrored the way the music was composed and recorded – AWNING often blends a mix of digital, synthesized sounds, and sounds that are recorded live (vocals or acoustic guitar, for instance) and then chopped up, layered, and effected. So when it comes to the design process, we might we start with a single image (or many source images) and cut it up, reverse it, repeat it, colorize it and put it back together. It's meant to be composed in the same way AWNING records a single vocal line or drum track and cuts it up, reverses it, repeats it, effects it, and puts it back together.

I'll often listen to the album over and over as I'm designing, trying to examine and internalize the subtleties of their work and translating into mine. I'll sit and hone in on the use of sonic color, transparency, repetition, glitching, ambiance, and texture of the tracks.

It's truly inspiring to transpose a creative process from one medium to another.