The commercial vocabulary of mass consumption is familiar to a broad, nearly universal audience. This common language provides fertile ground for spawning new identities aimed at narrower groups. The entertainment industry, dominated by such corporate giants as Time Warner and Disney, includes many independent producers and distributors as well. These companies often work with visual languages that emerge out of the communities of artists and consumers who make and use their products. Art Chantry's poster and package designs for the Seattle music industry merge mass culture with street life. Kristin Thomson and Jenny Toomey, who own the music label Simple Machines in Arlington, Virginia, are also that company's chief graphic designers. Barefoot Press, a printing plant in Raleigh, North Carolina, produces packages for numerous independent labels, often working directly with musical artists who serve as their own designers. [back] © Copyright 1996 Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum

Smells Like Smoked Sausages Album cover, 1992, offset lithograph Designer: Art Chantry (b. 1954) Art director: Tom Hazelmeyer/Amphetamine Reptile Publisher: Sub Pop Records, Seattle Collection Cooper­Hewitt, National Design Museum, Gift of Art Chantry Buzzmuscle: Assembler Album cover (front and back), 1991, offset lithograph Conception, design and copy: Rob Warmowski (b. 1967) Design, photography, production: Greg Dunlap (b. 1968) Logo: Lisa M. Owen Additional production: Mark Evans Publisher: Jake Records Collection Cooper­Hewitt, National Design Museum, Gift of Barefoot Press Tsumami: Be Like That Newspaper Album cover, 1993, offset lithograph Designer: Kristin Thomson (b. 1967) Publisher: Simple Machines, Arlington, Virginia Collection Cooper­Hewitt, National Design Museum, Gift of Simple Machines