CASE STUDY

ALICE IN CHAINS
JAR OF FLIES 30-YEAR ANNIVERSARY BOX SET

ART DIRECTION & DESIGN BY RYAN CLARK
PHOTOGRAPHY BY ROCKY SCHENCK, PETE CRONIN AND KAREN MOSKOWITZ
ORIGINAL 1994 RELEASE ART DIRECTION BY MARY MAURER
ALICE IN CHAINS LOGO BY DAVID COLEMAN
MUSIC VIDEO STILLS DIRECTED BY MATT MAHURIN AND NICK DONKIN

After meeting with Sean Kinney to brainstorm ideas for the Jar of Flies 30-year anniversary box set, we decided the central showpiece would be a 3-dimensional recreation of the original cover.

To keep the actual jar at a manageable size, we decided to recreate the cover at roughly seven inches and create a shadowbox effect within the larger package. This would allow us to utilize a standard-sized mason jar, and would ensure that the box wasn’t too massive in the end. We opted for plastic—instead of glass—mainly to alleviate potential breakage in shipping. We customized the jar with an embossed Alice In Chains logo (just like the original cover), a red LED light under the lid which illuminates when the lid is touched, and around 80 or so fake flies. Perhaps the most time-consuming part was recreating the other half of the kid’s face from the original cover to place behind the jar as a lenticular (3D) print. We combed photographer Rocky Schenck’s archive from the shoot and there were no photos of the other side of the boy's face, so alas we built it from scratch digitally.

The box also includes an 80-page hardcover book, a foldout poster, and the album on vinyl. The box itself features spot varnish flies on the black sections, and 2 color silkscreened flies on the clear lid.