In 2001, at the cusp of being able to burn CDs on home computers, I decided I would make a CD of my favorite Christmas songs. In 2002 I decided to do it again and decided to call them “Oh Tannenbaum!”. Every year since then I have continued the tradition.

The Challenge

Early on, the only rule I had for the cover was that it needed to include some element of a Christmas tree. After all, the thing was named after one. Over time, the cover would come to represent something or someone of importance in that year. Initially the artwork was created for a CD jewel case, but as CDs were slowly replaced by streaming music services, I switched to paper folders.

The Solution

The covers contain three components:

• cover art (originally the jewel case insert),
• track list (originally the back of the jewel case), and
• a QR card for accessing the playlist (originally a burned CD with a label).

When CDs became less popular, I switched from jewel cases to Paper Source square diagonal folders or folded cards that were about the same size as a jewel case. From that point, each year I make the paper enclosure a different, festive color. For the cover art, QR card and track list art, I use either a photo I’ve taken, an old family photo, stock art or artwork I create myself.

Final Product

Organization

Personal Project