Melissa Cullens

Challenge

Create a collector’s vinyl box set that captures the essence of David Bowie.

Approach

Since I’m already a major David Bowie fan, it wasn’t hard to dive into as much information as I could find about him, and since he’s pretty prolific—there was a lot. I decided to focus on the most symbolic and impactful phase of his career: his time as Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. I read countless interviews, stories from his perspective and that of his fans and watched movies, performance videos to learn as much as I could about the time period for him, and the other artists he influenced and was influenced by.

Solution

Everything I read about him from the Ziggy Stardust era indicated that he was a man who thrived on his fame. He sought to set himself apart as a mysterious, austere and untouchable alien capable of the unthinkable.

The box itself is silver and angular, and opens from the top to reveal a screaming orange interior that holds 3 LPs and a small book containing stories from fans and music writers about Bowie. The angular page grid references stage lighting and the cryptic, aggressive reveals alude to the voyeurism practiced by his obsessed fans.