Alex Jenkins is predominently known for his work as inhouse designer at XL Recordings. His most recognised sleeve is The Prodigy's Fat of the Land but he has also created work for one-off singles. His portfolio includes UK garage-oriented material for sub-label Locked On and, artist, The Streets while, additionally, he devised the look of the records for the drum & bass-propelled Jonny L and Breakbeat Era plus a featured release by The Freestylers.
What I like about this work is the idea of a colour-coded, perhaps collectible set (as with the Locked On releases) and the feeling of a 'used' product (again, with Locked On and also evident in the Breakbeat Era series). There's a utilitarian aesthetic from both the stencil text and the bold sans serif fonts that I think is also important in terms of continuing a lineage of underground club records as functional items. However, they are - as with some of the other images that I'll be referencing - of a particular age while very much in tune with the scenes that they represented.
Thanks Danny, Alex.
ReplyDeleteThank YOU, Alex. Maybe I should post the sliced meat-based XL sampler you did too?
ReplyDeleteHi Danny, If you message me your email on Twitter I'll send you some decent high res shots of the sleeves and the salami @designdforlife (your blog is the bollocks by the way, great to see everyones work)
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