In Between Here and Now is an EP released in 2022 by The Ruralists. The songs In Between and Here and Now, carry an introspective theme as they discuss the balance between the constant search for meaning in life and the desire to be in the present and appreciate the beauty of life.

The process for creating this album cover involved listening to the song over and over until I was able to nail down a central theme and message uniting the two songs. Once I had determined the core theme, I sought to communicate it visually and translate it into an image that was simple and legible enough to be viewed from both the small screen of an iPhone to a larger physical CD.

I chose the style to be a rough and sketched out in nature in order to communicate the rawness of the song as well as to convey the unfinished and constantly evolving nature of being human. The two merging figures act as essentially a merging of the themes of both songs; being both fully present in the now, as well as the internal yearning to find meaning in the mundane.

The design ended up being received so well, that it was eventually translated into a t-shirt format to be sold as merchandise along with the song.