“Rockford” – Reviewed by some as Cheap Trick’s greatest album since 1979 was designed and created by our very own Creative Director Richie “Britley” Hughes aka Richard Hughes. Cheap Trick as a band did not at the time like much of the photography that was available to them and also did not have the time to do another photo shoot. In steps illustrator John Johnson who as a massive fan of the band had done a series of illustrations of the 4 members – Robin Zander, Bun E. Carlos, Rick Neilsen and Tom Peterson.

John submitted the art and together with Richie they created this incredibly lively album design that was fun bright and stood off the shelf. “We even created the heads of each of the artists and had them printed on sticks so that people in the crowed could hold them up and mimic their favorite member!” The design provided the band some superb ideas for different merchandise sold on tour.

The name of the album was a tribute named after their home town in Illinois, Rockford where the band was formed back in 1974. Richie “Britley” Hughes went on to do more than five albums and is currently working on a project with band front man Robin Zander.

“Classics” (“Clasicos” in Spanish) was recorded at Big3 Records. The album is an amazing collection of Jon Secada’s favorite classic songs by legendary artists such as Frank Sinatra, Ritchie Valens, Doris Day and Ben E. King.

Clear pH wanted, to create a “classic” look and feel through the photography and styling, as well as utilize color to capture a slight hint of his Latin flair.

Jon’s amazing wardrobe looked incredible, placed in some stunning architectural locations. The timeless photography came out fantastically, and so we set to work in post production…

Creating a very subtle grey/blue color and vibrant orange combination the outcome just looked striking. We created his name in a very modern Miami style font and worked it into our favorite shot by Gio Alma; a close up of the old school microphone with Jon singing, eyes shut. We cropped the cover and illustrated a die so that the microphone could be embossed on the digi-pack. This was a subtle effect that came out perfectly and gave a great illusion of depth on the cover. The overall design is very simple; we just let the photography do all the talking.

This man has an incredible voice. I have been a fan since my days in Dubai listening to “Just Another Day Without You…” but once I heard and saw Jon perform live I was astounded… great performer… great family man… if you get the chance, listen to his work or see just how many great hits he’s written for other people!

OR buy his albums and check out our great design work…

Planet Beach Corporate hired Clear pH to assist them in transitioning their nation wide stores from being purely indoor tanning  to introducing more of a cosmetic and “Spa” like atmosphere.

Our objective was to work closely with the marketing department to create a Cosmetic line that they would private label and distribute throughout the United States. As you scroll down here we wanted to show the process we went through from early concepts to the final look at the bottom of the page here.

Some of the best cosmetic products on the market today are very simple. Look at Estee Lauder or Clinique for example. In Planet Beach’s case this actually helped them as budget was an issue when it came to printing so we stuck with two colors on the packaging and created a simple earthy design. If you have ever seen Indoor tanning products you will know they are loud and colorful! The FACE line being white and simple had excellent shelf presence in their stores and was a very successful launch.

Cheap Trick the quintessential American Rock band set out to do a DVD rockumentary that celebrated a return to Japan. 25 years after “Live At Budokan.” Upon the record label notifying us of the opportunity we set to work rummaging through all the live footage and stills to piece together a fun booklet and digi pack design that was to stand out in a store.

We created a funky sexy illustration of a Geisha girl for the cover which the band loved and went to work with the classic checker board design and montaged a series of black and white concert photos together, put a UV varnish and emboss on the packaging to finish it off.

You have to check out the DVD given the opportunity it’s a great job by director Jim Yukich.