An immersive symbolic world of California mysticism, devotion, and eternal flame.
WEYES BLOOD: HEARTS AGLOW REBORN
Project Overview
This project reimagines the visual identity of Weyes Blood’s 2022 album And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow by creating an intimate, esoteric, and humanist world built entirely from my own photography, symbolism, and design language.
Her music carries a unique tension between past nostalgia and apocalyptic future nostalgia. It sounds like submersion, like sinking into something beautiful and overwhelming. It feels heavy and luminous at the same time, full of romance, longing, and the quiet ache of being alive at what seems like the end of the world.
The Conceptual Framework
I wanted the identity to reflect that emotional density. Natalie Merring's concerts often feel like a spiritual gathering, and I wanted to bring that devotional energy into a visual form.
I deliberately chose not to use any photographs of Weyes Blood within the identity itself. This became a creative challenge and a commitment to building a complete world from my own hands rather than relying on an established idol image.
Every atmosphere, symbol, and object in this project was created from scratch and shaped by my own interpretation of the album’s themes.
Weyes Blood in a promotional image for And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow. Photographed by Neil Krug.
The Visual Language
The system is built around surreal infrared coastlines, fire-lit floral studies, smokey, hazy textures and symbolic motifs. This visual language explores the album’s relationship to loneliness, rebirth, collective grief, ecological fear, and the enduring desire for love and connection.
The visual language is intentionally intimate and devotional. It imagines what it means to hold onto beauty as the world tilts toward collapse and how design can amplify other artistic mediums.
Through vinyl and CD packaging, custom typography, and a collection of altar-like merch objects, the project considers how music becomes mythological and how a visual system can honor a body of work that feels both ancient and futuristic, both fragile and everlasting.
A breakdown of the type and color decisions that structure the project’s atmosphere.
THE DESIGN APPROACH
Display Typography
CoFo Raffiné is the project’s primary display typeface. Its baroque curves, sharp contrast, and ornamental rhythm shape the visual identity of the album. It appears most prominently in the Weyes Blood logo on the vinyl jacket and CD packaging, and in smaller flourishes throughout the system. Its looping ligatures and flourished terminals echo the project’s symbolic vocabulary of mirrored forms, connection, and eternal loops, while giving the typography a romantic and ceremonial tone.
Heading Typography
Arsenica Variable serves as the headline serif. Its sculptural contrast and carved, blade-like details introduce a Gothic, retro-cinematic quality that supports the album’s mystical atmosphere without slipping into horror or pastiche. It is used for song titles inside the lyric booklet and gatefold, giving each track a distinct and elevated presence.
Body Typography
The typeface Neue Haas Grotesk provides the grounding voice of the system. It is used for all lyric text and supporting information, which keeps the compositions readable even in dense layouts. Its clean, humanist geometry balances the ornate serif work and reinforces the emotional clarity at the core of the project.
Color Palette
Crimson Red — #BA1E22
Sampled from the burning rose. A deeper, passionate red.
Blue-Violet — #4F46A4
From the infrared shoreline, pulled from both sand and water. A cool, liminal coastal tone.
The color palette emerges directly from the original photography.
Color Palette
Orange-Red — #E74128
Derived from the flower and fire photography. The palette’s primary heat source.
Cobalt Blue — #2D4FA0
Formed where the flame and oceanic environment merge together.
Rich Black — #110D0C
Taken from the monochrome ocean edits. A grounding, atmospheric black.
Magenta — #D74396
Sourced from fire-lit petals and glowing ocean highlights. The palette’s surreal, psychedelic edge.
Weyes Blood performing on stage with a zodiac guitar strap. Photograph by Hailey Collins.
The identity relies on a symbolic system that reinforces tone, builds cohesion, and carries the narrative across formats.
THE SYMBOLIC SYSTEM
Weyes Blood against the glowing Los Angeles skyline. Photograph by Neil Krug.
An immersive symbolic world of California mysticism, devotion, and eternal flame.
THE LOGO DESIGN
Logo Iterations
Early explorations borrowed from medieval scripts, devotional manuscripts, and soft Gothic counterforms. These references were meant to tap into symbolic and spiritual qualities rather than suggest a gothic or metal aesthetic, which they ended up doing.
The first rounds became too ornate and genre-specific, so I refined the forms to better match Weyes Blood’s tone, which is ethereal, baroque, romantic, and humanist.
The Lover’s Knot originally appeared in the logo itself, but it competed with the typography, so I repositioned it as a recurring symbol within the system rather than as part of the wordmark.
The Final Logo
The final wordmark focuses on balance, clarity, and the quiet symbolism that runs through the project. The “O O” ligature creates a single continuous shape, giving the logo a sense of unity and forward motion without overwhelming the typography composition. The “W” and soft curves of the “Y” introduce subtle historical influence while keeping the overall structure contemporary and readable.
Rather than echoing the highly ornate qualities explored in the early sketches, the final mark is restrained and intentional. The logo provides a clear anchor for the system, functioning less as an illustration and more as a steady typographic presence within the larger visual world.
Photograph by Hailey Collins.
A physical release rooted in Weyes Blood's affection for analog texture and classic formats.
VINYL PACKAGING DESIGN
The Album Cover
The typeless cover for And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow follows the lineage of iconic no-type records like Kimono My House by Sparks and Weyes Blood’s own Titanic Rising. These album covers build mystique by letting the imagery speak first, and this project uses the same strategy.
The full-bleed photograph merges the burning flower with the surreal coastline, creating a single emotional landscape. This image becomes the album’s entire thesis: a heart caught between ignition and immersion, pulled by fire and water.
The absence of typography invites the viewer to encounter the world directly, without framing or explanation. It feels mythic, cinematic, and immediate in the way strong album covers do, offering a visual mystery that unfolds the longer you sit with it.
The Front and Back
Side A and Side B
The custom splatter vinyl echoes the project’s palette and the natural textures found in the ocean, flame, and floral photography. Its hazy surface moves between smoke, water, and sand.
The center labels extend this narrative.
Side A shows the moment the flame first catches on the flower
Side B shows the flower fully enraptured, completing the arc from spark to engulfment
The Lyric Gatefold (Inside)
A physical release rooted in Weyes Blood's affection for analog texture and classic formats.
CD PACKAGING DESIGN
Front & Back Cover
The CD edition comes in a jewel case accompanied by a 12-page lyric booklet. The disc features a vivid blood-moon design, with the reverse showing a regular moon alongside its blood-moon reflection, reinforcing the project’s themes of duality and emotional contrast.
The Lyric Booklet
Practical pieces that extend the project’s atmosphere beyond the record.
MERCHANDISE COLLECTION
Project Details
Project Type
Visual identity system, packaging design, apparel design, exhibition design, and experimental photography.
Role
Art direction, photography, photo editing, branding, design, and production.
Programs Used
Adobe Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop, Lightroom, Adobe Express, and FigJam.
Deliverables
Gatefold vinyl with splatter vinyl and 2 side center labels, CD with lyric booklet, Apple Music motion integration, embroidered hat, 2 candles, brass lighter, thong, string bikini, vinyl slip mat, and tote bag.
Printers & Manufacturers
Freestyle Vinyl, Etsy vendors, Printify, Make Stickers, and FedEx.
Gallery
Ronald H. Silverman Fine Arts Gallery, Cal State LA.