Aladdin Sane 50

2023
Duffy Archive / Wellbeck Publishing
London

The portrait on the cover of David Bowie’s Aladdin Sane album is one of the world’s most recognisable photos: we worked with the Duffy Archive and Wellbeck publishing on Aladdin Sane 50, a book created to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the iconic image and explore the context of its creation, with unseen photography and essays about each of the tracks on the album.

Design throughout interprets and modernises design tropes from the album package: the cover takes 50 never-before-seen images from the photo shoot, setting them in the shape of the ‘flash’; an array of contemporary inline typefaces reference Duffy’s use of an inline serif to spell out the album’s title.

Simple interiors present content elegantly: this is contrasted against high-energy section openers, where the famous red and blue is used in tightly cropped duotoned portraiture and large typography. The colours run throughout the production, with red metallic foils and page-edging. A subtly spiky serif typeface, used for text throughout, references the contrasting aims of this project: to celebrate the energy and impact of the album, whilst treating it with the reverence it deserves.