NICE HORSE
2024 CCMA Creative Team or Designer of the Year Award WINNER
2024 WCMA Excellence in Visual Design Award WINNER
2025 WCMA Excellence in Visual Design Award WINNER (Nice Cowboy t-shirt)
Photography by Phil Crozier
Nice Horse’s heart thumping single, Things I Wish I Didn’t Know, demanded dramatic visuals to accompany the music. Listening to the song, I started thinking about how you can drive yourself crazy thinking about your ex’s new partner, and the contrast between what you’re imagining their relationship looks like versus what it actually is. I added a multilayer glitched blur with warm light trails to give a surreal effect, reinforcing the blurred lines of truth and imagined fiction. The focus is still very much on Nice Horse, but the blur gives dynamic motion. I wanted the cover art to leave the audience feeling a little uneasy, much like the protagonist in the song. The digital noise in the background is intentional and a nod to how past partners often resurface on our digital feeds when we least expect it. For the type, I went with a clean ultra contemporary treatment that compliments the wardrobe style of the band.
The Things I Wish I Didn’t Know digital marketing materials dialled up the digital glitch effect. Each member of the band was given their own highlighted glitched image, where it could be posted as part of a series on the main Nice Horse band profile, as well as on their individual artist feeds. The digital content also included several animated video loops of the individual band member’s photos glitching in and out to reveal the next one, as well as standard profile headers.
The clean contemporary approach to the branding takes Nice Horse into an entirely new aesthetic direction. There’s something powerful about letting go, about laying it all bare, and we wanted this artwork to represent just that—a space where listeners could feel seen, understood, and empowered.
The tour merchandise was designed to capture the energy of Nice Horse: bold, fearless, and free-spirited. The rugged Nice Cowboy t-shirt plays to the wild adventurous side of Nice Horse. Like the cowboy, Nice Horse rides their own path, embracing the unknown and charging forward with confidence.
For this release cycle we really wanted the visual journey to reflect who Nice Horse is as a band and as individuals who are constantly evolving, pushing boundaries, and encouraging others to do the same.
The Be Nice Nation brand was created as a philanthropic extension of the Nice Horse universe where limited edition merchandise was created to encourage donations towards various charitable organizations. The four point emblem represents the constellation Equuleus (“Little Horse”) and the connection of the four members of the band.
