NINE INCH NAILS

Poster Design

May 2022

Nine Inch Nails, commonly abbreviated as NIN and stylized as NIИ, is an American industrial rock band formed in Cleveland in 1988. Singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Trent Reznor was the only permanent member of the band until 2016. The band’s eleventh studio album - Ghosts VI: Locusts, was released as a free download on March 26, 2020, a show of solidarity for the band’s fans during the pandemic.

Poster on a billboard

The initial goal was to translate this tone altering between hope and dread in sprawling ambient meditations that was released in response to the pandemic. This album seemed as the reflection of the one’s state during the period of being “imprisoned” within the four walls at home.

Segment of the poster
Closed vinyl record
Open vinyl record
Open vinyl record, back view

The process began by listening to the whole album again and again, noticing every foreign or familiar sound. While listening I was coming up with quick sketches and keywords inspired by their music. The most reflecting ones were emission and extinction. The word emission was meant in a sense of the spreading of Covid-19 disease by the sound compered to toxicity of the radiation, I kept imagining this acidic yellow and black radiation sign. The second word extinction was a reflection on the procedure of taking human blood test, to be more precise, this moment of sliding it on the glass.

Close up of the back

The process took a long road of figuring out the ways effectively translate music into a poster. But the final result came to be highly successful in my opinion. The poster was defiantly reflecting the albums contents and main message. All of the elements were arranged in a way to harmoniously work together.

Phone with nine inch nails post on instagram
An arrow that bring to the top of the page