After a long day my creative director Matt Gibbins and I were invited to see some band called Hard-Fi at the Barfly. We went, the gig was chocked full of energy and we were introduced to their manager. From there we started working with them.

We immediately approached Hard-Fi as a brand with its own visual language, that could go into any medium, born from what they were singing about and where the came from. It had to be iconic.

There is nothing like seeing a record cover you’ve created inside HMV from the other side of the street.

“It’s funny how the most basic of designs won it then… it’s a good thing though cos you see those CCTV camera in operation stickers everywhere, and now everytime I see one I think of HARD-Fi”
Originally posted by Flossy on the HARD-Fi forum

“For the first few seconds i think it is another advert for the album, and then it clicks that i’m looking at the door of some building…”
Originally posted by Voila, 30 Dec 2005

For the singles Matt Gibbins and I wanted to capture a gritty CCTV inspired, but graphic look. Each format had a subtle change to the sleeve to make it more collectible. I also did all the photography.

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As well as striking images we wanted to tell the story of the songs. But we also added a sub plot across all the singles about a girl called Tina. The band got so many questions about her from fans and press, it was great seeing them try to decipher who she was. She even featured as a thank you in the sleeve notes of the Album.

The CCTV camera also featured on all sleeves to subtely build the band icon.