JP de Oliveira
Rio de JaneiroRJ Info
Mayday
Single by Projota
2018
Art Direction, Graphic Design
Project information
The song is literally a distress signal, a critique of our society. In the lyrics, the artist frames his own success as a glitch in a system that, for centuries, has normalized the oppression of people like him: Black and from the periphery. In the chorus, Projota sings: Sou uma falha na turbina da Nação ("I am a fault in the nation's turbine"). Mayday, mayday, mayday, mayday, mayday!
The challenge was to find a visual solution that symbolized this distress signal. "Mayday" is an emergency code word used worldwide by aircraft and ship crews. Since aircraft rely only on radio, it was at sea that I found visual references — such as the distress flag: an orange (Safety Orange) square flag with two black geometric shapes, a square and a circle.
The simplicity of the shapes, the striking color, and the semantic coherence would have been enough. However, given the artist's strong commercial and popular appeal, it wouldn't have been wise to leave his image off the cover. So I used a photo shot during the music video production, filling the black shapes with Projota's face and hands. This enriched the artwork and gave it even more weight — always a good match for hip-hop.
The challenge was to find a visual solution that symbolized this distress signal. "Mayday" is an emergency code word used worldwide by aircraft and ship crews. Since aircraft rely only on radio, it was at sea that I found visual references — such as the distress flag: an orange (Safety Orange) square flag with two black geometric shapes, a square and a circle.
The simplicity of the shapes, the striking color, and the semantic coherence would have been enough. However, given the artist's strong commercial and popular appeal, it wouldn't have been wise to leave his image off the cover. So I used a photo shot during the music video production, filling the black shapes with Projota's face and hands. This enriched the artwork and gave it even more weight — always a good match for hip-hop.
Art Direction, Graphic Design
JP de Oliveira
Photography
Rui Mendes
JP de Oliveira
Photography
Rui Mendes
Universal Music Group Team
Eduardo Felix, Marketing Manager
Bárbara Cotta, Label Manager
Frances Will, Marketing Assistant
Eduardo Felix, Marketing Manager
Bárbara Cotta, Label Manager
Frances Will, Marketing Assistant