Behind The Artworks: Hellstedt - For No One In Particular (2024)

The artwork for For No One In Particular was done by myself, the artist who also did the music. I was searching for a way to reflect the album and its themes, but it also needed to be something that I could do by myself with my limited designing skills (you would never have guessed, I know).

The idea of scribbled text came to me pretty early on and became the central visual idea. It slowly started to intertwine with the vision I had for the album, a sort of wild and raw mess of feelings and thoughts. In retrospect, I think that one of the things that appealed was that scribbled text feels so personal in nature and that is what this music was to me. I guess that also explains why I decided against using AI to create the cover, which is a pretty common trend for small, independent artists like myself. It should feel personal, warts and all.

The next big step in the process of creating the artwork was the idea of combining images in the style of double-exposure photography. I don’t really remember how that came about, but it felt right from the first tests. It allowed me to introduce an element of mystery or excitement into the picture, perhaps even opening up to more interpretations. There are a few pictures that are bleeding into each other in the artwork, but I won’t spoil it by explaining everything!