Integrating Digital Album Booklets into Spotify

Dear Spotify,

From designers, creatives and consumers everywhere, here’s a change I think you should make.

As a fan of music first and foremost, but also a designer in the music industry, I’ve wondered who would be first to embrace a simple change to allow users a digital version of the long-held tradition of browsing an album booklet while listening to an album.

I think it’s time to bring the album booklet into the streaming age, with this simple, innovative change!

What if, while playing a song, a simple rotation of the phone activated an optional “album booklet view/mode” whereby without interrupting the song playing, users were able to view the album booklet/artwork.

Integrating native “pinch zoom” and swipe to “turn page” functionality, it would be a seamless and beautiful booklet integration.

It’s time for artwork and an album’s visual narrative to be back in front of the music consumer.  It was always an essential part of music’s consumption and discovery.

A simple solution for an iconic and nostalgic, consumer experience, enjoyed by generations

...for this generation.”

Example of how this feature could look on Spotify (once phone has been tilted sideways)

Example of an “open booklet” double page spread within Spotify.

Behind the Artwork: Faultlines - kalley

I’m so pumped to be writing this blog and to once again, bring you into our creative process here at Bethel Music. This is my favorite project that we’ve done to date — something that I feel like I say often — because every time it’s true.

The Lord is always leading and guiding us and our creative expression; growing us as both creatives and children of God. Every time I sit to write these creative stories, I can’t help but marvel at His faithfulness and kindness. With every new creative risk and step of faith, He meets us and shows us nothing but goodness and joy — even (or especially) when we’re exhausted!

So, here we are. kalley’s Faultlines double EP project and lead single “Oasis” are released and this is the story of how it all came together creatively.

I want to begin by giving a standing ovation to Kalley Heiligenthal. Truly, I can’t say enough good things about her — this whole creative (and larger album) process has proven that to me in such vivid terms. The process wasn’t what we expected, many ups and downs, many times we wondered just what it would all look like in the end…but again, God’s faithfulness prevailed as Kalley chose to “go low” and always take a stance of humility and steward everything (easy and tough) with grace and unwavering commitment to Jesus’ call on her life.

Me and Kalley are really good friends, so this project was far easier than most because we trusted each other, leaned into feedback, and always stood firm in our resolution to create art that would inspire, move the heart, and eloquently communicate the soul of these projects.

As with most album/single projects, we start with a kick-off meeting to officially begin the creative phase of the project. However, this project was different. Kalley’s EPs got fast tracked (bumped up from January 2020 to October 2019) so, because of the newly expedited timeline, me and Kalley met up and just started to dream and brainstorm. Again, I can’t stress this enough…the genius of this artwork and greater creative process lies within Kalley’s trust of me and our creative team…something that (with our short timeline and larger scope of work) I’m so grateful for.

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A selection of art, style, and photography aesthetic from our “Faultlines” moodboard.

Me and Kalley got to work creating a shared moodboard on Pinterest to start collecting and curating our ideas for album artwork, photography, styling and music video location/aesthetic. We always start with these moodboards and have a “nothing is off limits” mantra with them. Go crazy, pin everything that you love, and we’ll sift through it all and narrow it down together.

As you can see — the things me and Kalley were vibing aesthetically could be summed up with the visual statement “Summer in the 1970s” with key visual elements being old film, yellow 70s type, bold color blocking, power suits, shadows, hippie-esque collage print treatments.

We both agreed that this project could become very cheesy with a title “Faultlines”. So we made sure to steer clear of any “grand canyon on the cover” images and chose to take a deeper, more philosophical approach to the visual articulation.

With this project being two EPs and so much of Kalley’s life feeling like two distinct aspects (motherhood and pastoring, soaking and pop, bold and understated, dance and reflection etc), I knew these two album covers had to be different, speaking to these different musical expressions of Kalley, but still beautifully nod to each other and tie together as a pair.

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Three pairs of artwork for the “Faultlines” EP covers.

Originally, I was loving a more literal visual representation of the different sonic landscapes of each EP — black and white for the soaking, intimate EP — bold and colorful for the pop, loud, angsty EP.

As me and Kalley journey these covers together, we both felt like the idea was there — but the photography no longer suited the theme. We’d originally done a photoshoot in Kalley’s backyard swimming pool (which had been drained to be cleaned and repaired due to damage from the Carr Fire). While these are still some of my favorite photos, we both came to the conclusion that there was something more, something more stylized and fresh for the EP covers.

From this discussion, we solidified the things we wanted in the two covers. We wanted them both to acknowledge each other and play to the “yin and yang” of the two sonic soundscapes (the pop EP would be Kalley standing, the soaking EP would be Kalley seated).

It was then a fairly simple process of nailing down the new photo/video shoot time and location. We chose Alabama Hills in South East California for its rugged, desert-like qualities, but also for it’s close proximity to a township so that we could still have a full film-set on location for a week — getting a good nights sleep on location is one of the most important things!

Some photos on-location in Alabama Hills, California

To say we had fun on location in Alabama Hills would be a serious understatement. Our team was always driven with a “can-do” attitude and Kalley was the definition of a trooper — always willing to make the impossible, possible.

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Different final cover concepts for the 2 Faultlines EPs.

On the 4hr drive back to Los Angeles after we’d wrapped production in Alabama Hills, me and Kalley decided to look through all the photos from the shoot. I had my laptop open in the car and I started to create some EP covers on the spot with Kalley — which was truly a dream scenario. Again, because of our friendship and my respect for Kalley’s style, it was ideal to sit and design the artwork together on the spot.

We laid everything out together and created all the artwork pieces that you see today — together, in the back of a Hyundai in the desert — one of my favorite memories!

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The final artwork for Faultlines Vol. 1 and 2 and the lead single Oasis.

There are so many lessons that I’ve learned through this particular project, but if I could pick a couple to impart to you and your creative journey it would be these:

1. Friendship and trust in the “client-designer” relationship is a vital part of creativity flowing freely. I know that’s not always possible to the degree that our team enjoyed with Kalley — but I truly believe that it’s our responsibility as creatives to create an atmosphere of trust, positivity and freedom. Maybe you’re designing for your church/pastor, have you taken them out for lunch, or gone for coffee? It’s simple, but building relationship with the people that you’re serving is a Kingdom key for unleashing new levels of creativity — plus it shows the “client” that you care about them, their ideas and the shared success of the project when you are intentional and make time for them outside the “project hours”.

2. Trust your instinct. In all of this, with tight deadlines and fast turn-arounds, me and Kalley always trusted our instincts and what we heard/saw the Holy Spirit highlighting at different moments. We solidified the overall vision and then rested in that — trusting that the Lord would guide us, lead us and watch over us in every detail (finding the right clothing, perfect locations, weather, etc). It takes all the stress and worry out of the equation when you lean into the Lord and trust in His goodness and His promise to always provide — even at the 11th hour!

3. Use projects to stretch yourself and get out of your comfort zone! This entire project was a massive undertaking — 2 EPs, 2 covers, 2 music videos — it was more than we’d ever embarked on as a team, but because of the previous two points, we leaned into the Lord and followed His leading at every turn. As a team we decided to go after ambitious things, we put ourselves on the line and fought for creativity and fresh ideas. Sure, it can be intimidating to put yourself out there — but how else will you see what you’re capable of — what He’s capable of doing in and through you!?

I pray great favor and blessing over you and whatever projects you’re working on right now. May this blog bring you inspiration and the faith to keep going if you’re feeling weary — He’s with you at every step and won’t leave you wanting! Trust Him and follow His voice — it’s the key to Kingdom creativity!

Creative Director: Suzanne Ecker
Art Director & Designer: Stephen James Hart
Creative Producer: Caleb Marmolejo
Film Director and Videographer: Jordan Bogart
Makeup: Michelle Clark
Audio/On-Location: JM Fridenmaker

Watch the music video “Oasis” by kalley!
Watch the music video for “Blessed” by kalley!

Sexuality: Faith, Grace & Works

A journey to righteousness, purity and wholeness with sexuality is tough — it’s even harder when the struggle is homosexual.

Don’t switch off or freak out — I’m not losing my faith or resolution — I’m just realizing that even I’ve become very “victorious” in my preaching on this (which is true), but I don’t want to negate nor ignore the very real reality of conquering something and it showing up again in a very real way years later.

Over the last few months I’ve found myself battling things that I have seen complete victory and authority over in years past. It’s been both a troubling and humbling experience. I’ve been re-reading notes from when I’ve preached on freedom — and feeling like a failure when it didn’t appear to fix everything.

I’ve stood on stages and I’ve sat with individuals and said the same thing — a journey to freedom from a sexual orientation struggle is just that; a journey. I guarantee you there will be ups and downs (epic wins and times of failure), you’ll feel like freedom is a way of life and then times of wondering if anything has changed at all. I say that not as a declarative statement but a reality check for those daring to embark on the glorious road to change and freedom.

Freedom and purity are the most simple and complex things. Simple because it’s an empowered life and not a list of do’s and dont’s, which by default makes it equally complex/difficult.

So, where’s the hope? Where’s the comfort to a struggling soul; the hiding place of refuge on the uphill battle? It’s simply found within His unfailing love and grace — that nothing you’ve done, are doing, or could do, can EVER separate you from Him. His arms reach further than you could fall and His feet are more planted and secure than any stumble or falter you encounter.

I’m writing today (because just like singing songs) sometimes I’ve gotta write it and declare it until I believe it.

Over these last few months I’ve had a rough go of this — learning first hand how hard the road can be. However the truth remains that darkness and loneliness can only make it easier to see His light shine — which begs to question, where am I looking? If I can’t see Him, His light, could it be less about His eternal ability to light my path, and more to do with the fact that I’m facing the wrong way and am focusing too much on the darkness?

Freedom is both freedom with a capital and lowercase F. Capital F freedom is the finished work of Christ on the cross — He’s done it all and paid it all. We are a people birthed into freedom and life — it’s our new nature to follow Him at every turn. Lowercase f freedom is the daily reality that we can’t do it on our own and it’s a journey of daily surrender and submission to Him and His leading.

Capital F is the one we sing on Sunday, lowercase f is the one we forget on Monday. It’s not sexy, it’s not cool, it’s signing up for a lifetime of trust and surrender (following even when we don’t understand — or when the earthly/human pull to sin is so enticing) but it’s worth it and it’s the way of LIFE and JOY.

The journey to freedom isn’t for the faint hearted, but thank God it’s His heart and strength I lean on and collapse into when it’s hard — because in a beautifully complex paradox, it’s faith, grace and works that are credited to us as righteousness. He signed up first by committing to the cross, we sign up as we carry ours, knowing it’s for our good and His glory — and we discover that He’s faithful to shoulder that wooden weight alongside us on our path to freedom.

It’s a daily surrender and the pen’s in MY hand. So today I’m re-signing my allegiance to Jesus and this journey. Whether you want to start over or just need the grace for today — it’s your decision. He gave everything for you, will I do the same?

Yes, Lord Jesus. Yes.