Graphic Design: Davy Evans designs beautiful album artwork using DIY methods

There’s never really been a point where I’ve been halfway through doing the washing up at home and wondered what might happen if I mix two potentially dangerous chemical substances together and then photograph the results. Thankfully though, the more creatively-minded Davy Evans has done, and he came up with results so astonishingly beautiful that he was able to create some very beautiful album artwork from them for the likes of The XX and Fryars. Some of them like them so much that they have films of his moving images projected on the stage while they play.

Intrigued and eager to find out more, we spoke to Davy to learn about his alternative techniques, and the awe-inspiring packaging that comes of them.

How do you go about photographing your abstract patterns?

I mainly use macro photography, I find it’s a good way to create abstract imagery and textures, which can then be manipulated in Photoshop. In some cases I prefer to keep the results in-camera.

How did you first discover this effect?

I’ve liked experimenting with macro photography since I got my first camera, but I think I really pushed it during a uni project based on experimenting and purposeful play. So I would mix up chemicals and products I found around the flat, and then photograph and film the reactions.

What’s your favourite project that you’ve worked on and why?

I think it would be The XX Coexist artwork. It was my first big project since graduating from Brighton University and a project which opened up a lot of doors for me. It was really rewarding creating video footage to go alongside all the photography for the album artwork; seeing it used across print, web, gigs and even merchandise was very rewarding, and surreal at the same time.