Album artwork, brand identity, and creative direction with a brutalist edge and a luxury finish. I build worlds around culture.
Blood, Sweat & Tears: how two album covers for Harlem's DELUXE went from a rejected concept to a dual release, told in five parts.
Two records shaped this project. The original concept pulled its silver and black palette straight from Jay-Z's In My Lifetime Vol. 3. The alternate cover is Harlem tipping his hat to Playboi Carti and Whole Lotta Red, down to the red bandana. Two eras of hip hop, one project.
The DELUXE cover started with Harlem's first Miami show of 2025. I pulled the most powerful shots from that night and built the whole layout around them. I was looking at Jay-Z's In My Lifetime Vol. 3, that silver and black palette, and I ran with it. Then I put my Luxury Brutalist grunge finish on the photos and added a single blood splatter to two of the images. That was the blood, sweat, and tears Harlem put into the project.
I showed it to him thinking he would fall in love on the spot. He did not. The deadline was that Friday and UnitedMasters needed the work. Harlem wanted a whole new shoot. I told him we did not have time, but if he could get Tatsuya to shoot a few frames and get them to me fast, I would make it work. He kept putting it off.
Finally my wife Verlene shot a few frames of him holding a red bandana against the outside wall of our home. That was Harlem tipping his hat to Playboi Carti and Whole Lotta Red. The photos were medium resolution at best. I took them into Photoshop and built a masterpiece out of them in full Luxury Brutalist style. I even made the DELUXE wordmark out of roses from a tee I had designed for Harlem and Denim.
I had already turned in the first concept to hit the deadline. Then I submitted the new one, the one Harlem approved, as the alternate cover. It got approved for the April 25th, 2026 release. Both covers went live on every platform. Fans got to pick the cover that matched their mood, based on the color and the texture.
Single and album artwork built around your sound. Cover, back cover, and streaming assets.
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I'm Don Pitts II, a designer and creative director based in Miami. I study Visual Arts at Full Sail University with a minor in Graphic Design. My practice is luxury brutalism — raw energy cut with a refined finish. I build worlds around culture: I art direct and design for the artist Harlem, building his covers, campaigns, and world from the ground up.
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