“Map Of The Soul: 7” Designer Reveals How BTS Members Created The Cover With A Hidden Touch

BTS always have a lot of creative input in their own albums. This time, Sparks Edition has revealed how the members created the cover for Map of the Soul: 7 with a very special hidden touch.

Sparks Edition is a Korean design studio made up of two talented graphic designers—A Jihye and Jang Joonoh. Before working with BTS on Map of the Soul: 7, they designed iconic packaging for major Korean brands like Innisfree as well as album covers for 10cm and other artists.

Eagle-eyed fans may have already noticed that the album’s cover is made up of multiple ‘7’s all layered over each other. According to the designers, the variety of ‘7’s symbolize a variety of meanings—perfection, mastery, determination and more.

But the album cover wasn’t just the work of these creative designers. All the BTS members also participated in a very important way—by choosing the ‘7’s that appear in the design.

Sparks Edition said the titular ‘7’ is the album’s core “brand mark”, representing the journey of BTS. Each member picked their own font for their ‘7’ mark, showcasing their individual selves. When layered over each other, these marks represent the group’s shared journey as 7 members over 7 years.

RM chose a bold, rigid serif font.

Jin chose a slim, old-style serif font.

Suga chose a traditional serif font with a bookish feel.

J-Hope chose a swirling handwriting font.

Jimin chose a sleek, curving sans-serif font.

V chose a bold font with unique serifs.

Jungkook chose a clean, minimalist sans-serif font.

Many ARMYs were in love with the Map of the Soul: 7 cover as soon as it was revealed, but now it’s even more special knowing it wouldn’t be complete without the members’ input.

Another cool part of the members’ font selections is that they weren’t just used on the cover. The fonts were also used to write their stage names in their preview clip for M Countdown.

M COUNTDOWN NEXT WEEK BTS -2 pic.twitter.com/W7N87xeFuT

— 브리이에 (@briller613_bts) February 20, 2020

Check out Sparks Edition’s Instagram post here!

View this post on Instagram

방탄소년단의 이번 앨범 ‘MAP OF THE SOUL : 7’의 브랜딩과 아트워크, 디자인을 진행했습니다. – 각 멤버별 마크입니다. – 레이어되는 일곱가지의 7을 통해 멤버들의 7년간의 불안과 그림자, 그리고 그들의 사명감이 축적되고 중첩되어 하나의 이미지로 표현되는 점을 가장 중요하게 작업했습니다. – #방탄소년단 #스팍스에디션 #sparksedition #bts #mapofthesoul7 #mots7 #albumcover

A post shared by 스팍스에디션 (@sparksedition) on Mar 1, 2020 at 6:42am PST