WorkPassion project

Painting “Yellow” Anew

Coldplay “Yellow” — 25th Anniversary Vinyl (concept)

A passion-project anniversary vinyl that tries to show what the song is really about.

A personal concept project. Not commissioned by or affiliated with Coldplay, Parlophone or Warner Music.

Black-and-white portrait of a man in a hat and sunglasses; the lenses glow with a golden starfield above an etched sea of waves.
Mission
To imagine a 25th-anniversary vinyl edition of Coldplay’s “Yellow” that does more than shimmer: one that shows what the song is about, the wonder hiding in ordinary things.
Outcome
A collector’s edition with custom art: a portrait whose “magic glasses” see the stars, yellow vinyl in a translucent star-printed sleeve, and a launch campaign of billboards and social.
Impact
A package fans could hold that makes the song’s meaning visible, and a full system that runs from record sleeve to subway platform.

Services

  • Art Direction
  • Concept
  • Package Design
  • Campaign

Strategy

Coldplay’s Magic Glasses

I set myself a brief: design a 25th-anniversary vinyl for “Yellow” that wouldn’t just be another collector’s item. It should make the heart of the song visible.

To me the song is about seeing the extraordinary in the ordinary: looking up and noticing the stars were there all along. That became the guiding idea. Everything in the package had to feel like the moment the everyday turns golden.

Stylescape in black and gold: etched suns, starbursts, geometric patterns, a yellow butterfly wing and the words "they shine".

Stylescape: etched gold on black, stars, waves, light.

The Idea

Glasses That See the Stars

The cover is a portrait in fine black-and-white linework. The only color lives in the lenses of his glasses, where a golden starfield is reflected. It’s the song’s point of view in one image. The back cover steps through the lenses: a single blazing sun of fine gold strokes, rising over an etched sea.

Front cover: Coldplay script logo over the portrait, golden stars in the glasses, YELLOW in bold yellow type.
Back cover: a radiant gold sunburst over etched waves on black.

Front and back.

The Outcome

Seeing the Magic

The record itself is yellow vinyl, as bright as the song. It sits in a custom translucent sleeve printed with stars from the cover art, so the disc glows through the illustration when you pull it out.

The same system carried a launch campaign: subway billboards and social posts to celebrate the anniversary, not just announce it. The message running through every piece is that every small detail of an ordinary day can be full of wonder.

The album jacket with the yellow vinyl record sliding out.
Yellow vinyl LP with a black-and-gold sunburst center label.
Back of the jacket with the record half out.
Two translucent inner sleeves printed with gold stars, records visible through them.
Jacket, translucent star sleeve and yellow record laid out together.
Gatefold inside jacket: a wide golden sunburst over etched waves.
Subway platform billboard against yellow tile: portrait, "12.5.24", YELLOW, Coldplay, 25th anniversary.
Close view of the anniversary billboard.
Mock Facebook ad: 25th Anniversary Edition Vinyl Album.
Mock X post announcing the 25th commemorative album.

Launch: subway billboards and social (mockups).

Let’s talk.

Have an album, a book or a box that deserves this kind of care?

Start a project
See more covers