T-shirt designs for Markia Sierra, to celebrate the launch of her new album Alma de Colores

T-shirt designs for Markia Sierra, to celebrate the launch of her new album Alma de Colores

THE PROJECT

Markia Sierra is a Cuban singer-songwriter, trained in classical guitar and with a long career in Cuban music, having played in different formats and orchestras in her country and having dedicated herself to composition since she was seventeen years old.

THE BRIEF

To celebrate her new album, Alma de Colores, Markia asked me to create two t-shirt designs, based on songs from the album — Canto a la Habana, and Hoy Hablamos de Futuro. One shirt would be dark blue and the other light pink, so my designs needed to work with those colours. 

THE PROCESS

I spent time researching symbolism related to Cuba and brainstorming possible directions for design style that would match with Markia’s album.

I settled on a vintage illustration style, pulling together various elements that connected with Cuba, Cuban music, and the themes of the songs themselves — these included the White Mariposa, Cuba’s national flower, which features on the Canto a la Habana shirt, and the Cuban Trogon, the country’s national bird, which features on the Hoy hablamos de Futuro shirt.

I chose some repeating elements including fonts, small stars, and skewed rectangles, to give a sense of cohesion from one design to the next. This also created a template, in case Markia wants to create additional shirts for the same album in future. 

CLIENT FEEDBACK

“Haz hecho muy bien Jen. Y te lo agradezco muchísimo! No me encantan, lo siguiente! Amo estos diseños! Muchas gracias!”
— Markia Sierra