• PORTFOLIO
  • VIDEO
  • CONTACT
  • CLIENTS
  • ABOUT
MATTHEWWWARREN
  • PORTFOLIO
  • VIDEO
  • CONTACT
  • CLIENTS
  • ABOUT

ICFTEOY // CITIZENS

“I Can’t Find the Edges of You”

Client: Citizens

Creative Direction // Album Cover Design + Packaging // Photography // Film Director // Stop Motion // Merch Design & Visual World Building

Overview

I Can’t Find the Edges of You is a studio album rooted in intimacy, surrender, and emotional depth. The creative challenge was to visualize something intentionally undefined—to build a world where form, movement, and texture felt fluid rather than fixed.

I led the creative direction across visual, physical, and motion formats, shaping a cohesive language that mirrored the album’s sense of closeness and emotional immersion.

⸻

The Idea

The concept centered on limitlessness and vulnerability—the feeling of being unable to separate oneself from love, faith, or presence. Visually, this translated into softened boundaries, abstract movement, and imagery that resisted clarity or sharp definition.

The guiding principle was simple:

If it feels contained, it isn’t honest.

⸻

Creative Direction

I developed the overarching creative vision and directed how the album’s themes translated across mediums, ensuring emotional consistency from still imagery to motion and physical artifacts.

Direction included:

    •    Defining a fluid visual system without rigid edges

    •    Establishing tone through motion, texture, and pacing

    •    Translating emotional abstraction into tangible design

⸻

Execution

Album Cover & Packaging

The cover and packaging were designed as tactile expressions of intimacy—favoring softness, subtlety, and atmosphere. Layouts avoided hard structure, allowing imagery and space to feel unresolved and open-ended.

Photography

Photography was directed to feel close and immersive. Focus, framing, and light were used to dissolve distance, creating images that felt more sensed than observed.

Film Direction & Stop Motion

Film content expanded the album’s emotional language through movement and rhythm. Stop-motion techniques introduced fragility and imperfection, reinforcing the human presence within the work. Motion prioritized feeling over narrative clarity.

Merch Design

Merchandise extended the album’s visual identity into wearable form—designed as quiet statements rather than overt graphics. Each piece functioned as an extension of the album’s emotional atmosphere.

⸻

Role

Creative Director / Film Director

    •    Concept & visual strategy

    •    Album cover design & packaging

    •    Photography direction

    •    Film & stop-motion direction

    •    Merchandise design & creative oversight

⸻

Outcome

The project resulted in a cohesive visual and physical ecosystem that reflected the album’s emotional weight and openness. I Can’t Find the Edges of You lived beyond the music—existing as an immersive creative world that invited closeness, reflection, and repeated engagement.

Band Cover ICFTEOY.png
ALL VINYL.png
Asset 3MERCH BOARD.jpg
IN JESUS NAME.png
HIDE NO MORE.png
EVERYTHING AND MORE -- CTZ.jpg
ezgif.com-gif-maker-4.gif
IMAGINATION STILLS SMAL.jpg
IMAGINATION STILLS SMAL-8.jpg
IMAGINATION STILLS SMAL-5.jpg
IMAGINATION STILLS SMAL-10.jpg
IMAGINATION STILLS SMAL-4.jpg
IMAGINATION STILLS SMAL-6.jpg
IMAGINATION STILLS SMAL-7.jpg
IMAGINATION STILLS SMAL-12.jpg
IMAGINATION STILLS SMAL-9.jpg
IMAGINATION STILLS SMAL-11.jpg
A THOUSAND SHORES COVER FINAL.jpg
WHEN WE PRAY COVER FINAL.jpg
GOOD GROUND FINAL.jpg
HERE I AM COVER.jpg
CTZ CUTS WIDE 8.png
CTZ CUTS WIDE 11.png
CTZ CUTS WIDE 5.png
CTZ CUTS WIDE 4.png
CTZ CUTS WIDE 3.png
WWP GIF.gif
OCFTEOY BOOK 23-10.jpg
OCFTEOY BOOK 23-8.jpg
OCFTEOY BOOK 23.jpg
OCFTEOY BOOK 23-4.jpg
TOO FAR PAGE.jpg
CTZ MERCH GIF.gif
100 CITIZENS.ICFTEOY.PRESS.PHOTOS.jpg
CITIZENS.ICFTEOY.PRESS.PHOTOS-24.jpg
CITIZENS.ICFTEOY.PRESS.PHOTOS-52.jpg

COPYRIGHT MATTHEWWWARREN© 2025