IDEA Grad 2023 students explore the "grunge" movement which began in Seattle in the mid 80s and encompassed culture and design into the 90s

In First Year Survey and Principles of Design, there is often a project to parallel the design movement studied. As part of an exercise to understand the "grunge" movement, which started with music in Seattle in the mid 1980s, and soon encompassed culture and design right into the 90s, the students created a moodboard or album cover to reflect the spirit and aesthetic of the genre.

I gave the students a final one week project that was to create a Grunge album cover or moodboard to represent the genre. Here are a few by IDEA Grad 2023. “Isolation” by Amanda Wong (shown above) is a reflection of the times.

“My inspiration for ‘Isolation’ (shown above) was the feelings I had at the time during the pandemic. Like others, this pandemic has had me feeling caged and unable to do the things I loved to do on the daily.”

— Amanda Wong

Uninvited by Jason Low

I used a scanned magazine image layered with digital airbrushing to create a distressed grunge look.

Bloodsucker by Dallas McKinnon

Inspired by the toxic people I know.

Franz Ferdinand Album Cover by Kathrin Teh

The Merins by Margaux Worrall

The Merins were chosen in particular because of the grunge crazy attitude which allowed me to approach this piece without being too serious. I just added as many textures and different fonts to create a dishevelled and disorganized look that I felt embodied grunge design.

“Grunge collage” by Michelle Viet

I was inspired by the textures in grunge.. I especially loved the use of ripped or crumpled paper which inspired me to put a little bit of everything into this collage.

An ode to Jamie Reid by Nisa H.

Bald by Raha Namdari

I was bald when I made this, it was a homage to my baldness.