Lately I’ve been listening to Ethel Cain’s album Preacher’s Daughter. The music takes you on a journey from the perspective of Ethel as she journeys west in search of love and a life of her own. It’s a haunting concept album that keeps on drawing me in.
I’ve been thinking about drawing inspiration from the songs and themes of the overall project into my design work. A few possible design ideas I’ve had are tattoo designs or a poster design. One potential poster design idea is a missing person poster. (Later on during the album, the character Ethel Cain goes missing) I like to lean towards poster design because it keeps me in the software outside of class while also bridging my passion for music.
When it comes to tattoo designs, initially I wanted to design something from the lyric:
And you said, “Hey, do you wanna see the West with me? ‘Cause love’s out there and I can’t leave it be
Thoroughfare by Ethel Cain

To me this piece of the song makes me think of young love and roadtrips, the kind that are highlighted in a indie coming of age movie. My initial thought is to make a tattoo in the shape of a exit sign but instead of a road/city name it reads: LOVE’S OUT THERE with a arrow that says West. Upon sketching it, the design seemed blocky and maybe more suited to a sticker design.
From the blog
Stay up to date with the latest from our blog.
-
delving into magazines and zines
Today I started my morning with a video from one of my favorite Youtubers, Mina Le. She made a video essay detailing the rise and…
-
trying sticker design
In an effort to stay in Illustrator, I messed around with the idea of making stickers. Usually if I wanted to buy stickers, I’d scour…
-
preacher’s daughter inspired design
Lately I’ve been listening to Ethel Cain’s album Preacher’s Daughter. The music takes you on a journey from the perspective of Ethel as she journeys…
-
staying in design software over the summer
Summer for me goes by super fast! Whether I’m passing the days working full time, visiting family, or going on trips it can be hard…