The album itself is fairly simple, but these small yet impactful details make it so memorable. While on the inside, MIITO has a holographic image of DPR IAN's character's many forms-which I also spend too long playing with-and the CD that resembles an iris. When I first got it, I'm pretty sure I spent a good 10 minutes holding my album up in front of the cold air watching it turn a bright red before trying to turn it back to pink with my hands. Since I lived in the Philippines, I received it as pink as it could get. The cover of the album was heat sensitive, meaning that it changed from red to a light pink depending on how hot it got. Beyond the enthralling music that tells the journey of his alter ego and the cinematic videos that have you in a trance, the physical album for MIITO was equally as mesmerising.

It all just feels warm and familiar, taking you back to carefree times.ĭPR IAN always makes sure everything he comes out with is an experience. It’s like living in the world of Mandy Moore’s ‘Candy,’ for example – so unapologetically kitschy – but you know what, I can live with that. The idea is that NewJeans are ordinary teenage girls, and all these things just happened to be the epitome of cool. Here, the design avoids relying on the 2000s’ favorite retrofuturist clichés (think: sci-fi typefaces, glossy chrome skeuomorphism, frosty blues, android-like fashion, etc.). While the ‘Y2K look’ has become ubiquitous as of late, too often, most attempts end up like caricaturish simulations. The CDs themselves look like the burned discs of yore – complete with colored marker art. One of the photobook concepts was made to look like a test booklet. There are the staple photocards (a concept that Min Hee-jin herself had pioneered with Girls’ Generation ) with doodles by the members on the reverse side. Each variant tried to go for a DIY-like charm, resembling risograph prints with stickers all over. Physical copies came in a compact WeVerse version, a big ‘Blue Book’, and a cute, useful round bag.

Visually speaking though, NewJeans’ shtick was not just to reference Y2K pop culture and design trends, but to create an entire time capsule. Each of the 4 smash hit tracks – including the anthemic ‘Hype Boy’ – are somewhat influenced by pop from the early aughties.

In their self-titled EP (stylized as New Jeans, two words), NewJeans doubles down on the nostalgia factor. With their much-celebrated music, ADOR’s girl group NewJeans had to match it with a visually-driven identity and narrative that would be apt for their fresh, “natural” concept. “Physical CDs are no longer something to be heard but seen it’s through the CD covers that the consumer meets new music,” she once said in 2010, as quoted by The Korea Herald. Trust Min Hee-jin ( 민희진 ), K-pop industry innovator and ADOR’s (All Doors One Room) head honcho, to come up with an experience (emphasis on the italics) when it comes to music releases.

Shinee spiral notbook