The Long Game of Concept Work

why its worth it

Jun 22, 2025

Hey y’all,
I hope everyone is doing good.

I’ve been knee-deep this week in some client album artwork for some really exciting bands.

I’m so grateful, honestly, these days to be this busy working on official music projects, because it took a long time to even get recognized or get the opportunities to do stuff like this.

However, I can trace back some of that trajectory to doing concept work.

And that’s a little bit of what I want to talk about today.

It is almost indescribable how important it is to do concept work and create personal projects that reflect the type of stuff you truly want to be doing.

If you don’t show the world what you’re capable of — the things you want to do, just for fun, with real passion — how can we expect people to hire us for those exact things?

Sure, we’d love to be trusted inherently by clients, especially when we know in our hearts we can create cool stuff.

But that’s not really how the world works.

We have to show up, create stuff, and put that proof of concept out into the world.

Last year, I completed my Hardcore Alphabet series — one of my biggest personal projects to date — where I redesigned a hardcore band’s album cover for each letter of the alphabet.

It was a big task and took me a little over 26 weeks to complete.

And yes, it brought me connections.
I got to meet a lot my favorite bands members.

However, after I finished the project… nothing really came of it for a while.

Yeah, my skills improved. I showed the world what kind of work I can create in the music space — art direction, packaging, cover art, and so on.

But for at least six months, no actual new work came from it.

I kind of started to write it off — like, maybe someone would remember it later and reach out.

So I kept going.
Kept designing, kept learning, kept growing my network.

Now fast forward to mid-2025…

I’ve gotten contacted for five to ten album art projects just in the last couple of months.

Granted, I couldn’t take them all at once (it’s a bigger task than I’m ready for), but I’m working on two or three right now at the same time.

And honestly? I’m busier than ever, but I’m also more excited than ever to work on design stuff.

It was always a dream of mine to make stuff I could see in the real world.

It’s just a win-win when that stuff is for cool ass people like hardcore punk bands or anything in that alternative music genre.

I’m really excited for these projects to come out.

The way it works, though, is that I’ll finish the design this month… but I probably won’t see it in record stores or online until late this year — or maybe even early next year.

But the more of this I get to work on, the more chances I have to put cool shit into the world.

Music and design are two of my favorite things in the world.
And it’s surreal that most days I get to work on something related to both.

This newsletter isn’t just me bragging about the kinds of projects I want to work on.

Truthfully, I didn’t start getting projects like this until this past year, and I’ve been doing design for over a decade now (if you let me count high school lol)

I’m sharing this to stress the importance of continuing to make things when no one is asking you to.

I probably sound like a broken record (pun intended) talking about personal work and concept work all the time…

But it’s so valuable.

You get to make cool shit.
You become a better designer.
And you show the world that cool shit.

So they hire you to make more of it.

It’s a self-sustaining creative cycle.

All powered by putting stuff into the world — and attracting the type of people who vibe with it.

And this can be anything, right?

It doesn’t just have to be music-related.

You can make concept logos, posters, full brand identities, photography, illustration — whatever it is.

Show the world what they’re missing out on by not hiring you.

I think as designers, we owe it to the world to do our best and make cool stuff, so that people can enjoy the things they already love in a new, better way.

So yeah — this isn’t me telling you anything you don’t already know.

It’s just a reminder.
For myself, and maybe for you too.

When client work is dry, just make shit for fun anyway.
That fun work might end up leading to the most exciting projects of your career.

That’s all I got for you this week.

But I’d love to know what you’re working on.

I’m always sitting here talking about my own stuff, but I’d love to hear what you awesome readers are up to.

So drop a comment and let me know:
A personal project, a fun client (if you can share), or just whatever hobby’s been filling your time lately.