Best Coast – ‘The Only Place’

Print • 2012
Client: Mexican Summer

We were honored to be asked by Mexican Summer to collaborate on the design for Best Coast’s second full-length album, The Only Place. A highly anticipated album, there were high expectations for the artwork.

After experimenting with a number of directions, we stumbled across an illustration of a bear hugging the state of California. The illustration graced the cover of a 1913 songbook for “I Love You California,” the state song of California. It was immediately clear that the bear needed to be on the album someplace, eventually making it all the way to the cover. We redrew the illustration, adding a few details, to bring it in to a new era. It’s a near perfect match for the album, capturing not only the band’s love of California, but, in some way, the sweet vulnerability of the songs as well.

We designed everything from the lp and cd to posters, booklets, singles, stickers and even a giant scrim for the tour.