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.
-
design legends you should know #4 David Carson
Rulebreaker, Father of Grunge Typography, prolific surfer. All things that aptly describe David Carson. Carson started out as a high school teacher in Oregon, where…
-
manipulating type in Illustrator
The college homework saga continues! We are currently designing the nameplate, or title, of our magazine. After scrolling through adobe fonts, I finally found my…
-
design legends you should know #3 Henri Privat-Livemont
Let me take you way back to the 1890s, when minimalism is out and fanciful Art Nouveau is in. My first exposure to this style…
-
SD AAF student day reflections
I was able to go to the SD AAF (American Advertising Federation) student day! It was such a great opportunity and I thought I’d share…