KMFDM

KMFDM just made history by remastering and re-releasing their entire catalog, and with my exciting new re-design, it's sure to be a hit.

KMFDM Records

KMFDM – Doin' It Again!

KMFDM had already built one of the most recognizable visual identities in industrial music, with decades of releases featuring BRUTE!’s unmistakable artwork. But as the band began remastering and reissuing its back catalog, all of those albums, singles and EPs needed a more consistent system to tie the collection together.

I came in to create that system without getting in the way of what already made the records feel like KMFDM. I developed a flexible approach to typography, layout, spines, discs, booklets and archival content that gave the reissues a shared visual language while still letting each release keep its own personality.

CLIENT
KMFDM Records

STUDIO
Weirdo Works

YEAR
2006

ROLE
Design system and art direction
Justin Gammon

ILLUSTRATION
BRUTE!

PHOTOGRAPHY
Various

RESULTS
Unified design standard across a 40+ release back catalog
22 covers redesigned, plus CD faces, liner notes, and credits
Still the standard on every KMFDM release, 20 years on

KMFDM | Remastered Album Cover Design

KMFDM had decades of albums, singles, EPs, live records, remixes and compilations behind them — all created at different times for different releases. The challenge was finding a way to bring that sprawling catalog together without losing the character of the original artwork.

KMFDM | Remastered CD Design

KMFDM | Remastered CD Collection

From Chaos Comes Order

A System Built Around the Artwork

The artwork was never the problem. That was the part people already knew.

I built the identity around it — consistent typography, hierarchy, placement, color and information design that could flex from one release to the next. BRUTE!’s artwork could stay loud, strange and completely different every time, while the packaging around it quietly did the work of holding everything together.

I particularly like that last thought because it describes what you actually accomplished visually. Looking at the page, the covers clearly aren’t being forced into one rigid template. The framework is consistent; the imagery still gets to behave differently.