Login
Login

Draft:Optigram

{{AFC submission|d|bio|u=ModalNode|ns=118|decliner=BuySomeApples|declinets=20250502224224|reason2=v|ts=20250121165645}}

{{AFC comment|1=Possibly notable but some of the sources don't mention Optigram or are only passing mentions. BuySomeApples (talk) 22:42, 2 May 2025 (UTC)}}

----

{{Short description|Graphic designer}}

{{Draft topics|biography|media}}

{{AfC topic|blp}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Optigram

| image =

| alt = A circular graphic logo evocative of a vinyl record.

| caption = Optigram logo

| birth_name = Manuel Sepulveda

| birth_date =

| birth_place =

| education =

| occupation = Graphic designer

| years_active = 2008–present

| website = {{URL|https://www.optigram.net/}}

}}

Optigram is the work alias of London-based graphic designer, Manuel Sepulveda. Working as Optigram since 2008, he is best known for creating album cover art for electronic music record labels such as Hyperdub, Planet Mu and Warp, as well as designs for music industry-related companies such as Bleep and Unsound Festival.

He was listed by Fact as one of “modern music’s best sleeve designers”.{{Cite web |last=Fact |date=2014-04-17 |title=Cover stars: behind the scenes with 11 of modern music's best sleeve designers - Page 8 of 12 |url=https://www.factmag.com/2014/04/17/cover-stars-behind-the-scenes-with-facts-favourite-sleeve-designers/8/ |access-date=2025-01-21 |website=Fact Magazine |language=en-US}}

History

Prior to assuming the name Optigram, Sepulveda’s work for record labels had consisted of working on covers for R&S Records, Rephlex Records and Warp Records.{{Cite news |last=Obkircher |first=Florian |date=2012-05-12 |title=Optigram |url=https://groove.de/2012/05/13/groove-136-mai-juni-2012/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://files.persona.co/73652/GROOVE_136_May2012.pdf |archive-date=2012-05-12 |access-date=2025-01-21 |work=Groove |pages=36–39}} These designs included: Ken Ishii’s early EP, Tangled Notes{{Cite web |title=Under the covers: Optigram · Feature ⟋ RA |url=https://ra.co/features/2618 |access-date=2025-01-21 |website=Resident Advisor |language=en}}; Grime and Grime 2, two instrumental dubstep compilation albums{{Citation |title=Various - Grime 2 |date=2004 |url=https://www.discogs.com/release/342908-Various-Grime-2 |access-date=2025-05-03 |language=en}}; and Aphex Twin’s album, Drukqs.

However, finding it difficult to gain steady design work with other labels led him to launch his own record label, Citinite, in 2006, for which he provided most of the artwork.{{Cite news |last=Escobedo Shepherd |first=Julianne |date=2009-09-16 |title=Digital Dubplates |url=https://files.persona.co/73652/THEFADER_063_Sep2009.pdf |access-date=2025-01-21 |work=The Fader |pages=112}} He dissolved the label in 2016 on its 10th anniversary.{{Cite web |title=Citinite label closes |url=https://www.juno.co.uk/junodaily/2016/07/25/citinite-label-closes/ |access-date=2025-01-21 |website=Juno Daily |language=en}}

In 2008, whilst discussing cover art for Mark Pritchard’s forthcoming releases on Warp, he began creating imagery under the name Optigram, a portmanteau of “optical grammar”, to reflect the op art approach that they had been discussing.

In the same year he was approached by Hyperdub Records to design Hyperdub’s 5th birthday compilation album.{{Cite web |date=2019-08-20 |title=Hyperdub: Another future is possible |url=https://djmag.com/longreads/hyperdub-another-future-possible |access-date=2025-01-21 |website=DJ Mag |language=en}} He has maintained a working relationship with Hyperdub ever since,{{Cite web |title=The Art of Hyperdub |url=https://www.redbull.com/gb-en/under-the-covers-hyperdub |access-date=2025-01-21 |website=www.redbull.com}} designing sleeves for artists such as Kode9 & The Spaceape, Ikonika, Scratcha DVA and DJ Rashad. In 2020 a selection of his work for the label was exhibited at London’s Design Museum as part of Electronic, an exhibition celebrating the history of dance music culture.{{Cite book |title=Electronic: from Kraftwerk to the Chemical Brothers |date=2020 |publisher=Design Museum Publishing |isbn=978-1-872005-49-2 |editor-last=Leloup |editor-first=Jean-Yves |location=London, United Kingdom |pages=142-143 |editor-last2=Curtin |editor-first2=Gemma |editor-last3=McLintock |editor-first3=Maria}}{{Cite web |last=Embley |first=Jochan |date=2020-08-15 |title=Electronic review: Dizzy dance music trip is something to rave about |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/electronic-from-kraftwerk-to-the-chemical-brothers-exhibition-review-dizzying-dance-music-trip-is-something-to-rave-about-a4510146.html |access-date=2025-01-21 |website=The Standard |language=en}}

He has since worked with several other record companies including Big Dada, Don’t Be Afraid, Ghostly International, Lex Records, Ninja Tune, The Vinyl Factory and XL Recordings. Designs for these labels include releases from Burial, DJ Bone, King Midas Sound & Fennesz, Moses Boyd and Wiley.{{Cite web |title=Optigram |url=https://www.discogs.com/artist/1588504-Optigram |access-date=2025-01-21 |website=Discogs |language=en}}

Examples of his design work were chosen to be part of the opening exhibition for the Museum of Modern Electronic Music in Frankfurt,{{Cite web |last1=Magazine |first1=Smithsonian |last2=Kiniry |first2=Laura |title=The Most Anticipated Museum Openings of 2022 |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/the-most-anticipated-museum-openings-of-2022-180979453/ |access-date=2025-01-21 |website=Smithsonian Magazine |language=en}} and other exhibitions have been held at Echo Bücher in Berlin{{Cite web |title=Optigram |url=https://echobuecher.com/past-events/optigram/ |access-date=2025-01-21 |website=Echo Bücher |language=en-GB}} and Pauza in Kraków.{{Cite web |title=UNSOUND |url=https://www.unsound.pl/en/archive/2008-2012/en/festival/program/systems/2011.html |access-date=2025-01-21 |website=www.unsound.pl}}

Optigram has also been commissioned to create work for companies outside of the record industry. Projects include an installation for the launch of Unsound Festival’s Ephemera fragrance at Audio Visual Arts in New York{{Cite web |last=Wray |first=Daniel Dylan |date=2014-04-29 |title=This is What Electronic Music Smells Like |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/unsound-ephemera-scent-installation-kode9-ben-frost-interview/ |access-date=2025-01-21 |website=VICE |language=en-US}} and a kinetic op art piece titled Interferometry for the opening of Sonos Studio in London.{{Cite web |last=Stathaki |first=Ellie last updated in |date=2015-09-23 |title=Sound bites: Sonos Studio launches in London's Shoreditch |url=https://www.wallpaper.com/architecture/sound-bites-sonos-studio-launches-in-londons-shoreditch |access-date=2025-01-23 |website=wallpaper.com |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Interferometry |url=https://www.rolandellis.uk/interferometry/ |access-date=2025-01-23 |website=Roland Ellis |language=en-GB}}

In 2015 Optigram launched the short-lived futurist print magazine, After Us, being its editor and art director. Stating its intention to explore the nexus between art, science and politics, the magazine featured writings by Laurel Halo, Nora Khan, Lawrence Lek, Patrik Schumacher, Nick Srnicek, and Liam Young, amongst others.{{Cite web |date=2016-04-07 |title=Accelerationist Art |url=https://www.furtherfield.org/accelerationist-art/ |access-date=2025-01-21 |website=Furtherfield}}{{Cite web |title=Volume two of After Us magazine coming out in September - The Wire |url=https://www.thewire.co.uk/news/43248/volume-two-of-after-us-magazine-due-out-in-september |access-date=2025-01-21 |website=The Wire Magazine - Adventures In Modern Music |language=en}}

Style

Optigram’s designs have been characterised as “retro-futuristic”{{Cite web |date=2017-05-10 |title=Interview: Optigram - Electronic Beats |url=https://www.electronicbeats.net/interview-optigram/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170510210217/https://www.electronicbeats.net/interview-optigram/ |archive-date=2017-05-10 |access-date=2025-05-03 |website=Electronic Beats}} and “sometimes… nostalgic, sometimes pointedly avant-garde, but mostly they’re some combination of the two”.

His “dense geometric patterns” that are “informed by… camouflage and digital noise” are “subtly unsettling”{{Cite web |date=2019-04-27 |title=Hardformat » Optigram |url=http://www.hardformat.org/7588/optigram-2/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190427220438/http://www.hardformat.org/7588/optigram-2/ |archive-date=2019-04-27 |access-date=2025-01-21 |work=Hardformat}} and contain “imperfections and lingering remnants of alternate ideas”.

Other work has been dubbed “cyberpunk glow” or utilising an “abstract, liquid-like aesthetic”.{{Cite web |last=Ghosh |first=Ravi |date=2021-06-07 |title=Throwing Shapes With Optigram's Abstract Record Label Art |url=https://elephant.art/throwing-shapes-with-optigrams-abstract-record-label-art-07062021/ |access-date=2025-01-21 |website=ELEPHANT |language=en-US}}

Works

By his own count, Sepulveda has provided artwork for over 300 releases.{{Cite web |title=Optigram |url=https://www.optigram.net/discography |access-date=2025-02-09 |website=www.optigram.net |language=en}} However, many of these feature label-only art or are digital-only releases and are uncredited. The list below is a list of releases that feature Optigram-credited full sleeve designs.

{{div col|colwidth=20em|content=

}}

References

{{reflist}}

External links

  • [https://www.optigram.net/ Optigram site]
  • [https://manuelsepulveda.com/ Manuel Sepulveda site]
  • [https://www.aft3r.us/ After Us site]