Atmosphere without appropriation
Record sleeves are not decoration detached from the music. They are designed artworks, and the rights in a sleeve can belong to artists, photographers, bands or labels. This project does not have permission to reproduce the covers in the Karmageddon catalog, so it does not place them on the site.
Instead, the visual identity uses original abstract imagery made for this archive: paper grain, photocopy texture and the look of a venue wall after a show. Those cues evoke a period and a working culture without copying a band logo or pretending to be an original label sleeve.
Clear provenance is part of good design
Every image on a historical site carries an implied claim about where it came from. A source line or license note should make that claim checkable. Original site graphics keep the experience cohesive and avoid turning other people’s artwork into an uncredited search thumbnail.
When rights-cleared archival material becomes available, it can be added with permission and attribution. Until then, restraint is an editorial choice, not a lack of visual ambition.
