An Ode to Internet Nostalgia
Black is the Colour of My Soul explores the cultural impact of My Chemical Romance on basically internet as we know it.
Art Direction
Project Overview
Timeline: February-March, 2025
My Role: Research, Cover Design, Chapter Layouts, Art Direction
Tools: Illustrator, Indesign, Photoshop, Claude
The brief was to create a coffee table book that comments on early 2000s pop culture. We chose My Chemical Romance as our lens to explore how the online space brought the world together during that era.
Through research across internet archives, YouTube, social media platforms, and pop culture conspiracy theories, we uncovered how MCR's influence rippled through vampire fiction, comic book culture, and online subcultures. The challenge was making every spread feel distinct while keeping 70 pages cohesive across four designers.
Our approach balanced emo, gothic, and punk aesthetics in a clean, sophisticated way that works even if you're not a fan. We built a shared style guide and ran multiple test prints to maintain consistency. The cover jacket became our favourite detail: a stencil effect that disappears when removed. An "if you know, you know" moment.
The design system lets each chapter breathe with its own visual language while typography and color palette tie everything together. No two spreads look the same, but it all feels intentional.
The result is an experimental love letter that proves collaborative work under tight deadlines can push creative boundaries when everyone's genuinely invested in the story.