Image via Complex Original
The official release of Kanye West's newest album Yeezus yesterday was highly anticipated, not just because the fans have wanted new music from him, but because he and his creative company, DONDA, named after his late mother, executed a brilliant marketing plan leading up to it. DONDA was announced on January 5, 2012 over Twitter, when Kanye said that his vision for the 22-division+ company was "to dream of, create, advertise and produce products driven equally by emotional want and utilitarian need.. To marry our wants and needs."
Since then, Kanye's been less active on Twitter but no less active in creating. While he's had many projects in the past presumably done by the designers and thinkers within DONDA, the ones we've compiled are the ones explicitly stated as DONDA projects from the outset. Did you forget that DONDA designed Lil Wayne's and 2 Chainz's latest album covers? Did you forget that they took GIF album and single covers to the next NEXT level?
Kanye said, “We can collectively [affect] the world through design. We need to pick up where Steve Jobs left off.” DONDA started with the seven-screen Cruel Summer film from last year's Cannes Film Festival and has continued to champion minimalism, authenticity, and simplicity with the rollout of Yeezus, which included a "Please Add Graffiti" street art campaign (that spread virally online) and projections of "New Slaves" on buildings all over the world. As you'll notice from the progression of DONDA's work, Kanye and his team of experts are just getting started, and that's what the rollout of Yeezus showed us.
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The Complete History of DONDA's Work So Far
"Cruel Summer" Film
Cruel Summer Film
Date released: May 23, 2012
The Cruel Summer film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival to positive reviews, but it still hasn't been shown to the public. Kid Cudi was the protagonist of the film, and the album featured music from G.O.O.D Music's newest signee, D'banj. It was presented on seven monumental screens that added more room for depth techniques and drama. Even though the film was announced to be released online after Cannes, there still hasn't been an official release or even a recorded leak from the festival. Ah, the days before Vine.
Complex Magazine's G.O.O.D. Music Cover
Complex Magazine's G.O.O.D. Music August/September 2012 Cover
Date released: July 23, 2012
DONDA decided to arrange the faces of G.O.O.D. Music's artists to form a cross for our "New Religion" cover featuring John Legend, Common, Kid Cudi, Pusha T, Big Sean, Q-Tip, and 2 Chainz. They employed the color scheme they use often—red, black, and white—with the faces in black and white on a pitch black background and the Complex logo above the cross in bright red.
2 Chainz "Based on a T.R.U. Story" Album Cover
2 Chainz Based on a T.R.U. Story Album Cover
Date released: August 4, 2012
DONDA decided to go literal with the direction of 2 Chainz's album cover for Based on a T.R.U. Story with, you guessed it, two chains. The deluxe version of the album art has two gold link chains, but it also features a partially open Chanel jacket on the edges of the cover. Anyone who's heard 2 Chainz lyrics or read his interviews knows about his love of Chanel apparel and jewelry, so while it came as no surprise, the result was still perfectly executed. DONDA showed that you don't always have to be super conceptual with executing art—sometimes you can win by going literal and getting the lighting just right.
G.O.O.D. Music "Cruel Summer" Album Cover
G.O.O.D. Music Cruel Summer Album Cover
Date released: September 14, 2012
The G.O.O.D. Music compilation album offered an opportunity for DONDA to focus less on the literal portrayal of a cover and more on creating something of memorable, conceptual beauty. Featuring a topless sculpture of a woman surrounded by a floral motif, the cover is more of a work of art than the majority of album covers out today. A 3D rotating model of this cover was made for promotional purposes featuring dramatic camera angles to show its minute details. Over 400 hours were poured into the creative process of Cruel Summer's cover, but the hours spent helped create an iconic visual.
Big Sean "GUAP" Single Cover
Big Sean "GUAP" Single Cover
Date released: October 25, 2012
The musical production of GUAP features tom-toms and steel drums that most people associate with the music of the Virgin Islands or Jamaica. DONDA captured the tropical vibes with pixelated, neon palm trees on the cover. They also added texture to the background and text by adding a scanned overlay of a cotton T-shirt.
Kanye's Revel Concerts in Atlantic City
Kanye's Revel Concerts in Atlantic City
Date released: December 28, 29, and 30, 2012
Kanye's Revel performance featured a screen presentation similar to the Cruel Summer film at Cannes. Dubbed by fans as "Cruel Winter," the arctic atmosphere created by DONDA features visuals of icebergs, snow-covered valleys, and blizzard-engulfed skies. Artificial snow storms were created to take the show to the fourth dimension by making the audience feel as if they were transported to a winter wonderland.
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A$AP Rocky "Long.Live.A$AP" Album Cover
A$AP Rocky Long.Live.A$AP Album Cover
Date released: January 1, 2013
On Long.Live.A$AP, DONDA decided to show A$AP Rocky draped in an American flag in black and white. The design stays true to A$AP's slick, fashion-forward image, especially since he's rocked the American flag before. DONDA took the design a step further by including an animated GIF for online promotion that features rippling effects reminiscent of a broken television set.
Lil Wayne "I Am Not a Human Being II" Album Cover
Lil Wayne I Am Not a Human Being II Album Cover
Date released: March 26, 2013
DONDA took over the creative direction and execution of Lil Wayne's newest album, I Am Not a Human Being II. The cover featured a moth that looks eerily similar to the one on the theater poster for The Silence of the Lambs yet perhaps intentionally so. Following the same online promotional ideas of the the LIVE.LONG.A$AP cover, DONDA created animated GIFs for the album cover and single artwork. The animation of the single art featured butterfies flying and landing near a bright red neon sign that spelled the title of the song, "Love Me." The GIF techinique has been done before, but DONDA rejuvenated the trend and took these animations to the next level.
Pusha T "Numbers on the Board" Single Cover
Pusha T "Numbers on the Board" Single Cover
Date released: April 11, 2013
After captivating the Internet with a tweet showing support for Jay-Z's latest track, "Open Letter," Kanye said that he and Pusha wanted "to keep that real hip-hop feeling going today." Expecting a grandiose sound, most people were shocked and even put off by the minimal production of "Numbers on the Board." What many people didn't realize was that this was the start of DONDA's simplistic and minimal approach to designing covers. The "artwork" featured a white background with a parental advisory warning and small black text in the middle ironically stating, "No Artwork." This approach foreshadowed DONDA's future concepts with album covers from here on out.
"Yeezus" Coverless Album Packaging
Yeezus Coverless Album Packaging
Date released: June 18, 2013
"Minimalism, Authenticity, Simplicity." Kanye tweeted and DONDA executed. The album that's all about the music finds itself presented in a simple jewel case with a red strip of tape covering the opening side of the package. Variations of album art were leaked prior to the official release, one of which featured a melted golden sculpture of Kanye's head created by George Condo and his daughter. The sculpture had mixed reactions, which probably led to the decision of scrapping visuals and just showing the bare disk. Yeezus currently has the simplest design in DONDA's résumé, but with other G.O.O.D. music artists releasing solo albums this summer, who knows what they'll crank out next.
Yeezus "New Slaves" Projections
Yeezus "New Slaves" Projections
Date released: May 17, 2013
Coming as a surprise to everyone, including law enforcement, Kanye and DONDA took the new music to the streets by projecting the "New Slaves" video on 66 buildings worldwide. With only a 2-hour warning for most cities, Kanye tweeted a link to his website that detailed the times and locations of the projections. The marketing idea was a huge hit and resulted in a recording of the projection that got over 2 million views on YouTube in just one day. DONDA added more viewing locations each weekend, but nothing will compare to the surprise of the first projections.
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Yeezus "Please Add Graffiti" Project
Yeezus "Please Add Graffiti" Project
Date released: May 31, 2013
Along with the grassroots marketing of the "New Slaves" projections, DONDA wanted the fans to get involved creatively. To do so, they placed posters on the streets of major cities and asked everyone to "Please Add Graffiti" to the Yeezus cover art. Since DONDA decided to go against traditional art and promotion for Yeezus, they thought the fans would be one of the best tools to help promote Yeezus by making their own interpretations of the cover art. The "Please Add Graffiti" movement has increasingly gained traction, causing fans to create tons of alternative covers for those who weren't satisfied with a blank jewel case. You can view a massive collection of alternate covers and photos of the defaced Yeezus posters on the website YeezyGraffiti.com.
Yeezus "American Psycho"-Inspired Short Film
Yeezus American Psycho-Inspired Short Film
Date released: June 14, 2013
On Monday, Brett Easton Ellis (the author of American Psycho) tweeted, "Scott Disick's Dream Comes True in the promo that I originally wrote for Kanye's new record but not a lot was used," referencing the short for Yeezusthat premiered via projections last Friday. A parody of the iconic American Psycho film has Scott Disick portraying serial killer Patrick Bateman as he murders his business partner, played by Jonathan Cheban, with the music of Yeezus playing the background. The filming style stayed true to the original version while also keeping the props used near perfectly identical. The American Psycho promo marks another success for DONDA's ambitions in film and animated visuals, and we can't wait for more.
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