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‘THE DOWNWARD SPIRAL’ - NINE INCH NAILS 

SINGLE ARTWORK : IDEAS DEVELOPMENT

TRACK 10: A WARM PLACE

I had a very hard time figuring out what worked best for this cover. I had taken many arguably “better” photos, or at least ones that would make more sense as a cover. But this one had the most significance to me in light of the subject matter. 

I had taken this photo lying on the floor within the walls of what remained of the Maamtrasna home of John Joyce and his family. I wanted to lie down on the ground and get a sense of what they must have felt in their final moments. Everything suddenly became very real to me and I was very overwhelmed with emotion. 

Even now I feel a sense of loss looking at this image, but visiting just as spring was setting in gave me a sense of hope as I look at all of the life sprouting from the ground. Sometimes it can be easy to forget about hope, but it’s always there. 

My issue was not regarding the picture itself. I knew as soon as I took the photo that this would be the one. My fear was obscuring it with the logo and text. I am studying graphic design at the end of the day, and not photography, so I had to find a way around this problem. I knew I wanted to align it on the left hand side if not the middle ( I had already used the right hand side for “I Do Not Want This” and didn’t feel like repeating myself ) 

After moving the logo and text around for WAY too long, it finally occurred to me to lower the opacity of the logo and text so as to make it slightly transparent. I was then able to find a good middle ground between making the logo and title legible, but also keeping the integrity of the image. 

I’m happy with my decision to use this image, and it probably stands as the thing I am most proud of and emotionally connected to throughout this project. 

‘THE DOWNWARD SPIRAL’ - NINE INCH NAILS

‘GOD CRIED’: IDEAS DEVELOPMENT

TRACK 9: BIG MAN WITH A GUN

I wanted to look at the other side of abuse of power, from the victims point of view. I have this photo book in my possession for many years called ‘God Cried’ about the 1982 siege of Beirut by the Israeli Army which describes the pain and suffering caused by the fighting. 

The photo’s are heart breaking, and a sobering look at the cost of war. 

‘THE DOWNWARD SPIRAL’ - NINE INCH NAILS

COLLAGE: IDEAS DEVELOPMENT

TRACK 8: I DO NOT WANT THIS

I had settled on this image as I felt like it accurately depicted a split between the mechanical and human sides, expressing a sense of conflict. 

I was having trouble deciding where the logo and title should be placed, so these are the options I left myself to choose from. I feel drawn to the options with the logo placed centre, however the option with the logo obscured on the very right-hand centre of the page was very appealing as well.

‘THE DOWNWARD SPIRAL’ - NINE INCH NAILS

COLLAGE: IDEAS DEVELOPMENT

TRACK 8: I DO NOT WANT THIS

By the time ‘I Do Not Want This’ begins, our protagonist has succumbed to the mechanical voice inside him, and there is an exchange between the two through-out the song. The mechanical voice mocks him as he tries to bargain for his humanity. 

I wanted to merge the human and mechanical through collage for this song, creating a sense of conflict between the two, as if one side is trying to out do the other. 

‘THE DOWNWARD SPIRAL’ - NINE INCH NAILS

FOUND OBJECTS: FINAL DRAFT

TRACK 7: THE BECOMING

These are my two final drafts for ‘The Becoming’. 

I wanted to do a “clean” and “dirty” version, as it brought me back to buying CD’s as a kid. The Parental Advisory sticker was something of a badge of honour back in the 90′s.

At this point in the album our protagonist has successfully overthrown God and regained his control and identity, only to find all meaning lost as there is now nothing to believe in: 

“all pain disappears it’s the nature of my circuitry, 

drowns out all i hear there’s no escape from this my new consciousness, 

the me that you know used to have feelings, 

but the blood has stopped pumping and he’s left to decay, 

the me that you know is made up of wires, 

and even when i’m right with you i’m so far away.”

‘THE DOWNWARD SPIRAL’ - NINE INCH NAILS

FOUND OBJECTS: IDEAS DEVELOPMENT

TRACK 7: THE BECOMING

Once I had hung the piece on the wall to take pictures, I knew it was missing something. Thankfully I had a bunch of dried up flowers lying around since my first semester biophilia project, so I decided to decorate it a bit and was happy with the way it had turned out. 

‘THE DOWNWARD SPIRAL’ - NINE INCH NAILS

FOUND OBJECTS: IDEAS DEVELOPMENT

TRACK 7: THE BECOMING

Once I had brought the computer screen home, I decided that instead of cleaning it up, I would leave the dried up mud, as I loved the textures and the contrast with the wires and circuits. 

I used the stencil to paint the NIN logo on the back of it to see how it would look. I liked the way that part of the logo was obscured, however the stencil was sloppy enough around the edges, so I decided to carve off the faded edges with a nail. 

This ended up giving the logo way more depths as a white outline appeared, which made the whole thing pop. 

‘THE DOWNWARD SPIRAL’ - NINE INCH NAILS

PAINTING WITH FIRE: IDEAS DEVELOPMENT

TRACK 6: RUINER

Following the self-hatred and obsession of ‘Closer’, our protagonist finds themselves doubling down on God and he is now determined to destroy him. They have reached a boiling point and now that everything that gave them a sense of security and control has been taken, they turn to God, not to ask why, but to point the finger of blame and tear him from his throne.

I want the image for Ruiner to express the cacophony and rising anger of this track. The chords that ring out over the chorus always gave me the sense that the world was on fire, not unlike this scene from one of my favourite Cohen Bothers films.

I decided to use fire on a painting that I have had a few ugly run-ins with over the course of the last month. Using white spirits and a bit of spray paint over the stencil of the logo, I achieved some incredibly beautiful textures and colours as well as got some incredible pictures of the NIN logo on fire, not unlike Russell Mills own treatment of the logo for The Downward Spiral.

GRAPHIC DESIGN: STORY PROJECT

‘THE DOWNWARD SPIRAL’ - NINE INCH NAILS

TRACK 3: HERESY

I ended up resorting to some photoshop trickery by means of the clone stamp tool, to borrow from selected areas of the image and use them to blend out others. This afforded me the space to place the NIN logo, which I manipulated to look uniform with the other protruding pieces of the manhole cover. 

My selection of this manhole cover for the song ‘Heresy’ made sense as there was what looked identical to the Christian cross at the bottom of it. 

Heresy is one of the more intense tracks on the album, both sonically and lyrically. Following the fall out of ‘Piggy’ and the declaration of “nothing can stop me now…”, our protagonist has decided that it is up to them to overthrow God. 

“God is dead
And no one cares
If there is a hell
I’ll see you there”

A clear reference to Nietzsche, the protagonist believes God, or more specifically the manifestation of the Christian god as a means of control, to be the cause of their suffering and indeed that of the world. They are willing to accept the consequences of their actions, which are outright blasphemy and would condemn them to hell. 

I think the manhole is well suited in this case, not just for the cross, but for its symbolism as a gateway to the underworld, or in our protagonists case, hell.