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MATTHEWWWARREN
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m us eum // citizens

“m us eum / Living Is Proof”

Client: Citizens

Creative Direction / Album Cover + Packaging // Photography // Graphic Design // Merch Design //  Logo + Branding //  Video & Visual Identity

Overview

m us eum (LP) and Living Is Proof (EP) are projects centered on memory, presence, and lived experience. The creative goal was to build a visual system that felt archival yet alive—something that honored the past while existing firmly in the present.

I led the creative direction across both releases, ensuring a cohesive visual language that could live across physical formats, motion, and merchandise while maintaining conceptual depth.

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The Idea

The core concept treated the music as an exhibition of lived moments—songs as artifacts, emotions as preserved experiences. The visual language borrowed from museum and archival references, but stripped of institutional coldness, favoring humanity, imperfection, and intimacy.

The tension lived in the contrast:

curated, but personal

archived, but breathing

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Creative Direction

I developed the overarching visual and branding system for both projects, guiding how the music translated into imagery, packaging, and motion.

Direction included:

    •    Establishing a unified concept across LP and EP releases

    •    Defining visual rules for typography, layout, and imagery

    •    Creating continuity between physical, digital, and wearable formats

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Execution

Album Cover & Packaging

The album artwork and packaging were designed as tactile objects—meant to feel collected rather than consumed. Layouts referenced archival systems, spacing, and labeling, allowing restraint and negative space to carry meaning.

Photography

Photography focused on stillness and observation. Images were treated less as promotional portraits and more as documentation—capturing moments that felt quietly significant.

Graphic Design

Graphic systems were minimal and modular, allowing the identity to flex across formats while maintaining consistency. Typography and layout functioned as structural elements rather than decoration.

Logo & Branding

Branding elements were subtle and intentional—designed to support the narrative rather than dominate it. The identity acted as a framework that could hold evolving content without losing clarity.

Merch Design

Merchandise was approached as extension pieces—wearable artifacts tied to the album’s themes. Designs favored longevity and meaning over trend-driven graphics.

Video

Motion content expanded the concept through pacing and atmosphere, emphasizing tone and texture over performance. Video functioned as another room in the exhibition rather than a standalone asset.

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Role

Creative Director

    •    Concept development & visual strategy

    •    Album artwork & packaging direction

    •    Photography, video, and motion direction

    •    Graphic systems, logo, and brand identity

    •    Merchandise design & creative oversight

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Outcome

The result was a cohesive creative ecosystem across two releases—where music, design, film, and physical product felt unified by a single conceptual thread. m us eum and Living Is Proof functioned not just as records, but as curated bodies of work meant to be experienced, revisited, and lived with.

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