Eye-catching logos and album covers for a skate punk band
Passion project, 2024
Suntrace is fast melodic skate punk band from Kannus, Finland.
The band was formed in 2016. They have created 4 albums and toured around Finland as well as Europe.
THE BRIEF
Suntrace needed logos and album cover art for their upcoming album Spew. They already had a picture ready for the cover, which was sent to me along with other inspiration.
They wanted the album cover to include the picture, album name and the band name. The font style they wanted to go with was thrash metal logo style that is super sharp—“so sharp that it pierces your eyes!”
There was also a sketch ready for the album name and they gave me free hands to do the band name in similar style.
We will be also doing physical album covers in the near future for this project, this album cover art is for digital use.
THE PROCESS
I began by lightly sketching out ideas for the band’s name in a similar style, drawing inspiration from various thrash metal logos, especially focusing on how they designed the letter E (see photos below.)
In the early stages, I struggled with finding the right symmetry as I tried to make the letter E uppercase to match the first letter S. After a few failed tries I realized that a lowercase E worked better. Once I was satisfied with the overall layout, I used the sketches as the foundation for the first vector designs.
The next step involved experimenting with the flow and symmetry of the logo in Illustrator. The first letter S felt too heavy in comparison to the rest of the text, so I adjusted the design by following a triangular shape, which helped balance the weight of the letters.
I also found that stretching the E to match the S didn’t create the symmetry I wanted. Instead, I used the bottom curve of the letter C to mirror the tilt of the S, which created a more balanced design. By elongating the E, the first and last letters aligned more symmetrically with the middle letters. In hindsight, I see that I could have explored this symmetry even further.
Stretching the letter E to match the letter S didn’t feel symmetrical enough, so I found that I can use the bottom of the letter C to have a similar tilt to the letter S. By lengthening the letter E, the first and last letters were now symmetrical to the middle as well. In hindsight, this symmetry could have been explored further.
Throughout this process, I shared progress images with the band and asked for feedback on the style they preferred. They were pleased with the symmetry (option number 1), so we moved forward with adding 3D effects to the logo.
When working with the 3D version, I experimented with different color schemes and placements on the album cover. In the end, we chose a bluish-green hue that I had originally envisioned, as it went well with background image and the overall vibe. While the background did make the options for layout a bit limited, it also made it easier for me to visualize how to make the most of the available space. The band selected their favorite version, and the album cover was complete.
I also created a few variations of the main logo style that they can use for different purposes, e.g. posters or social media posts.
In December 2023 I had also designed the cover for their album Fast live. The band was very happy with all the designs.
