46. ASTERIK STUDIO, INC.
When Spiritualized toured his hometown of Seattle, designer Ryan Clark, one of the founders of Asterik Studio, actively sought out the chance to design their poster. “They’re a very visual band, with a gospel-influenced pop-rock sound,” he notes. He had long admired the band’s CD packaging, citing the looming Styrofoam face on the cover of Let It All Come Down. An earlier album featured multiple CDs that “popped out of silver backing, like Tylenol, from a pillbox design,” enthuses Clark. Clearly, he was eager to step into some big boots.

“The simpler and cleaner our posters are, the more they attract people,” he says. For this poster, he drew on an arresting image from the band’s prerelease material for Let It All Come Down: “a figure in a sheet, all the way to the ground, in a white room, shot seamlessly.” He pared this image down into a Pacman-like ghost on a pale background, the body slashed in half by a maniacally toothy mouth. Ryan shares an enthusiasm for silkscreening with his brother and partner Don, especially as a counterpoint to sleek, machine-like designs like this. “I like the inconsistencies, little holidays in color. It’s more satisfying,” he remarks. Jude Stewart