Album Rebranding: After Hours
Layout Design
Project Brief
There are many theories behind The Weeknd’s After Hours album, especially since the music videos seem to all connect together in order to tell his story. Although the singer never revealed the true meaning behind his art direction, many speculate that the lyrics and music videos are trying to portray his hatred for Hollywood and how toxic it is. It seems as if he is struggling between abandoning his persona as The Weeknd and going back to the boy who once wandered the streets– or keeping his fame and accepting the fact that he is now the villain in his own story. The goal of this project is to rebrand this album so that it reveals the true, dark meaning that is meant to be portrayed.
Merch
THOUGHT PROCESS
The current lyric book is actually more like a photo book–It has no lyrics! Instead, the spreads focus more on photography, getting different perspectives of Abel’s (The Weeknd’s real name) face along with some very harsh, red lighting. The cover itself is a bit misleading because it is not clear whether or not Abel is the victim or the villain, all that is obvious is that he is covered in blood. By gathering this information, I determined that the mixed expressions represented his confusion between the two worlds that he is living in. Did Hollywood ruin him?
