Live At Ellen's House of Koko by The Strayhorns

The challenge

Live album artwork must capture the tangible energy, atmosphere and raw performance of a physical venue within a static visual format. The objective was to design a comprehensive vinyl packaging suite for the album "Live at Ellen's House of Koko" by The Strayhorns. The primary challenge lay in translating a warm, nostalgic jazz club or theater ambiance into the design while organising a multi-layered text hierarchy including album tracks, side listings and performance credits on the back cover without losing readability against a dark, moody background.

Our approach

We developed an intimate, performance driven design system that utilises cinematic lighting and classic stage aesthetics.

The Front Cover Visuals The front jacket captures a warm, out of focus bokeh effect reminiscent of stage footlights and glowing spotlights reflecting off dark velvet curtains. This immediately establishes an intimate, late night performance venue atmosphere.

The Typography We implemented a vibrant neon style typography system. The band name "The Strayhorns" is styled in a fluid, golden script font that mimics a glowing neon sign. The album title "Live at Ellen's House of Koko" balances beneath it in a bold, red neon outline typeface, giving the jacket a retro, high energy venue feel.

The Back Cover & Layout The back jacket extends the velvet curtain motif, framing a rich photograph of the band performing live on stage under coloured lights. The track list is cleanly split into highly legible "Side A" and "Side B" columns using sharp white typography, with production credits neatly anchored at the bottom.

The outcome

The final asset delivers a premium, highly cohesive vinyl package that functions as both a marketing tool and a desirable collector's piece. The brilliant contrast between the glowing neon script and the deep, atmospheric shadows gives the album an undeniable shelf presence in retail stores and an evocative digital thumbnail identity online. The complete packaging files were delivered with optimised colour profiles for print, ensuring the rich gradients of the stage curtains and the vivid glow of the neon effects replicate perfectly on physical gloss coated gate fold jackets.