Honor the victims of the East Bay Regional Park District Cat Shootings in California with a listen to Whiskered Away, an album for a cause. Proceeds from this album and merchandise help non-profit organization Alley Cat Allies advocate and provide the public with education on humane care for all feral and stray cats to prevent similar tragedies. Playful typography, soft colors, and a conscious composition place these furry felines in a whimsical urban haven among the clouds.
2021 AIGA Blue Ridge Flux Student Design Competition Winner in Package Design
Published in the second edition of Mastering Type by Denise Bosler (coming early 2025)
Package Design | Hand Lettering | Illustration
East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD) and a subcontractor between 2018 and 2020 have killed a total of 34 cats in shoreline parks in San Francisco, CA according to Alley Cat Allies. Whiskered Away was designed with this heart wrenching information in mind and how it might affect the audience. In order to approach this difficult subject and comfort the audience, a playful and lighter approach to the design was taken.
Part of creating a more frisky and spirited appearance while presenting the textual information was marrying illustration with typography. Placement and positioning of illustrated subject matter and eye-contact from the cats create invisible lines that subtly emphasize the written content of the album. Hand-lettered headlines and titles create a unique look while tying in the lively personality with loops, whirls, and swirls.
Additionally, merchandise was designed utilizing the same whimsical elements from the album in order to promote awareness of the EBRPD Cat Shootings, Alley Cat Allies, and how the audience can help make a difference.
Whiskered Away’s inside text layout was a grueling mission that required legibility, making sure all the content was included, and designing the illustration around the written content. It was the task that took up a majority of the time in the creation of the album design and required a high level of attention to detail. Through trial and error and nudges here and there, a final layout was created that found the purr-fect balance of graphic design and illustration.
The softer, friendlier approach to the design of the Whiskered Away benefit album understands the context behind why the album was created and comforts the audience, uniting them and inspiring them to make a difference.
Whiskered Away Progress Images
