D. Norsen Design, Waltham, MA (2025)

07/29/2025

At this point we go further into Hüsker Dü circa 1985 – some may call this a ‘Celebrated Summer’ others may say ‘I Don’t Know What You’re Talking About’. This time it is a blistering set of live recordings from Salt Lake City not their home base. And a shirt paying homage to the Minneapolis Oar Folkjokeopus record store which sold a similar pinky tie dye with sigil design by Grant Hart (more in the comments about Grant’s design history) until it’s untimely demise also in 1985. I am still in the clouds of ‘Whats Going On’ but ‘I’ll Keep Hanging On’ until I find out. Like last time the shirt is up for pre-order for one week and one week only on the website!

07/22/2025

New work for and - “Broadsides”. 2025 has been the year for collaborations and it all started here. and Weston had an idea where I would do the guts of the design based off old bluegrass records then Weston would go in and deconstruct and add to the design including physical earth and pen ink. I think it looks absolutely gorgeous - it really exceeded what I saw in my brain and complements the music so perfectly as this isn’t your traditional banjo record. Not my any means. Now available for preorder!

07/21/2025

New work for - Tacoma Radar “No One Waved Goodbye” 2lp. Birthed from the same Scottish music scene and time period as Camera Obscura, Arab Strap and Belle and Sebastian were the quiet achievers. This 2lp collects their sole album of hushed melancholy along with two 7”s and unreleased live set. Using previously released artwork the entire package has gotten a slight face life while respecting the design choices of the original designer. As I have said before and will continue to say - my favorite thing about working with Numero besides the people there are the bands they bring to me that I know nothing about but fall for heavily during the project. They are continually finding ‘lost’ but unique albums that deserve a second life. Frankly I almost moved to Glasgow for a semester in the early 00s but I panicked when I didn’t get a min internship that prior summer and decided not to go (broke and concerned about prolonging my time in school) so I could of possibly seen them but alas I didn’t. This set is now available for preorder and will be released this fall!

07/02/2025

New work for and their ‘Please Come to Boston’ festival this fall. I met when was in town last month and we toured Keroauc’s Lowell all together. We hit it off and he asked if I could put a new spin on their early ‘Infant of Prague’ design. I spent some time looking at and hacking together various Infant of Prague iconography while adorning it with the drawings from the first Buffalo Tom album. Very 90s in all the best ways possible. Thank you Bill and crew for having me!

07/01/2025

And some Vernal Equinoxes you get to work with your heroes. More on this project in the short future but here is a taste of Husker Du in 1985 where they in the span of 12 months they followed up Zen Arcade with New Day Rising and Flip Your Wig (while also writing and recording Candy Apple Grey) while touring their asses off too. It is/was/still an utter mind wrecker that I got to work on this. You can hear this EP on your fav streaming sites and the shirt is available from #1985

06/30/2025

New work for / – Various Artists “Dylan’s Circle”. In celebration of the 75th anniversary of Elektra Records founder Jac Holzman put together a collection that highlights the collaboration and competition between many of Greenwich Village’s finest including and not limited to Bob Dylan, Fred Neil, Tom Paxton, Judy Collins, Phil Ochs, Judy Henske ...etc. While this is the first time I got to type Bob Dylan’s name into an album cover I surely hope it is not the last (Bob’s camp - if you are lurking my bags are packed). This package design is my homage to many of the iconic albums of that time from the dense liner notes to the splash of Elektra red – I am immensely proud of how this entire package came out. It’s a privilege to be trusted with such a personal project from a legend like Jac. This album comes out on July 11th in high cancer sign season and just a couple days before my birthday. Many thanks to Patrick, Rory, Amelia, Sheryl and Sam for having me along for the ride!

06/27/2025

New work for Abracadabra ‘Hologram’ issue with many thanks to and - this one is called ‘Hippie Flipping’ which is what I jokingly call mixing together a couple natural vitamins to fall asleep. Izzy and Maddy have put together an insane group of artists for this fourth issue including a flexi with a track from Don Slepian. It’s hard to describe this zine exactly other than it’s all your favorite artists getting to act a bit more free and without limitations. From the art to the printing it’s quite a unique collection and I am stoked to be a small part of it. They can be purchased via the links in their profiles. Don’t sleep (unless you are hippie flipping’).

06/24/2025

New layout work for – “Crooked Songs” lp. It was an utmost pleasure to work on this album with and as it is one of the most stark and uniquely beautiful records I have heard in a long time. They contacted me on a day after I had spent 7 hours in the ER with my youngest when he split his lip after slipping on a sheet of ice. My mind was obviously frazzled and maybe not in the best spot to listen to new music but the description they left me with was intriguing. Solo voice and electric piano? Well that’s not normal ... and the first track wrecked me, followed by the second, the third and so forth. It felt like I lost time but somewhere in there I wrote back — “when do we start?” At times this album reminds me of early Amen Dunes and ANOHNI/Antony and the Johnsons. There is a bit of the really sad, emotional spareness of Arthur Russell in these too. That said the album comes from a long emotional roller coaster of being a musician that has had the door shut on them when it should have been opened more often than not. In a very serendipitous way he was the local opener at a show Hayden was playing in Boise, Idaho – where Hayden was absolutely bowled over by watching his set unfold that he was insistent Jens record an album ASAP. So here it is for you today. I hope that you listen to this record and find a bit of peace and serenity in it like I did upon my first listen (and many times afterwards). As for the design we used Mark Oliver’s candid photography of Jens we put together a package that nods heavily to simple yet iconic album artwork of the 1970s as we wanted it to compliment the music and not take away from it. It is now available for preorder via Woodsist!

06/18/2025

New layout work for - ‘Music For Writers’ lp/cd. I think Steve might have the record for the most amount of releases I have worked on for an artist and their various outfits/projects/etc. I’ve lost count but I’d guess at least nine to a dozen now with many of them being on Threelobed. This album in particular came out of a residency Steve attended in Latvia but the recordings were made there, Berlin and Brooklyn using guitar, synths, field recordings and even the intricacies of the rooms themselves. It’s quite a beautiful album that is complimented by a series of candid photos Steve took during his travels. It’s always a pleasure to work with him and I hope you enjoy this album as much as I do. Preorders are available now!

06/13/2025

New diptych poster for / at in Grand Rapids, MI last night and tonight. I will admit I have been trying to make this poster for a while now but every time it’s evolved into something less touristy, more of a singular moment with a vintage bend. But with double the canvas and a 1600 mile road trip of my own in April I got to really thinking about how I could represent all these little unique pieces of Michigan in the summer. We have the obvious station wagon filled to the brim coasting into the coasts of MI with water sports (and Neptune overseeing it all). While on the other side you have the inland fun of baseball, cherries (I f’n love cherry salsa - please send me a case and I will trade you) and my fav regional cryptozoological monster - The Dog Man. You also have the big splashy type saying ‘Come Visit Us’. I really love how this one came out and as always I am appreciative of Chris’ team and the folks at not balking at my ideas. It’s always a pleasure.

06/12/2025

New work for ‘Echo In The Dust’ forthcoming this fall on ! Julianna and approached me earlier this year about doing the layout for her new album and honestly I don’t think a minute passed before I replied YES! Her last album ‘All Blue’ was a big fav of mine and many friends the last handful of years. Hell I watched her steal a show from a headliner in the summer of 2023 and I knew at some point I would love to work with her - little knowing it would be the follow up album. What else can I say? .medley took the amazing photos here and I wanted the type to be real playful yet bold and striking. When we started the design for the record we discussed a lot about the influence of Janus on it and tried to bring some of those visual cues including the role of new beginnings, endings and transitions which were symbolized in his two faces in Roman mythology. So here you have the four faces (2 sets of Janus) of Julianna across both sides of the album. We just completed the artwork on this in the last handful of days so I am still basking in the glow of it all. And you might recognize the ripping guitar of on the first single. As always there is a line from project to project. Preorder is available now on her Bandcamp!

06/09/2025

New ‘Save The Date’ work for and - this one was a lot of fun. Steph approached me last year about creating their wedding the save the date card while also making some iconography they could use on their website and such. She told me about the history of including their famed ‘Girl In the Fishbowl’ which obviously we had to reference with Andrew and Steph chilling in a champagne glass surrounded by jazz musicians and Italian food. Honestly kind of a perfect wedding ambiance if you ask me. That said it’s an honor to be asked to pull together so personal and their night looked incredible!

D. Norsen Design

07/29/2025

07/22/2025

07/21/2025

07/02/2025

07/01/2025

06/30/2025

06/27/2025

06/24/2025

06/18/2025

06/13/2025

06/12/2025

06/09/2025

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