We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Josh Wilhelm a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Josh, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

One of the most meaningful projects I’ve worked on was a cover art piece for my friend Brent Crowe and his song I Never Knew. Brent is a singer-songwriter and producer who believed in me and my ability to create cover art from day one. In fact, he gave me my very first cover art opportunity, back when I was still creating designs on my phone and hadn’t even learned Photoshop or any professional design software yet. At the time, I definitely felt unqualified, so having someone trust me creatively that early on meant a lot.

What made I Never Knew especially meaningful was how involved I got to be in the creative process. I heard early recordings of the song, gave feedback while it was still developing, and really got to understand the emotional weight behind it before creating the visuals. Brent trusted me with one of his most personal songs, and that level of trust is something I don’t take lightly.

The cover itself was inspired by the art of Kintsugi, the Japanese practice of repairing broken pottery with gold, where the brokenness becomes part of the beauty instead of something hidden. The idea was collaborative, and my wife actually introduced us to the concept after learning about it in college. To create the artwork, I photographed a vase, physically broke it apart, photographed the shattered pieces, and then digitally brought everything back together in Photoshop. It was one of the first projects where the process became really hands-on and artistic instead of just sitting behind a computer creating something digitally from scratch.

I think that project really solidified for me that this is what I truly love doing. Seeing the final artwork while listening to the finished song, and then seeing Brent’s reaction to it, was one of those moments where everything clicked creatively. The visuals and the music felt like a perfect fit.

I’ve always believed that great cover art should help tell the story of the music visually. It should make someone stop scrolling, feel something, and want to listen. Looking back, I Never Knew is still one of the most creative covers I’ve made, and I hope it shows my ability to help artists visually communicate their story in a meaningful way.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I’m a graphic designer and the owner of JW Creates, where I work with small businesses, musicians, nonprofits, podcasters, and creatives to create custom cover art, logos, websites, and branding materials that help promote their work and tell their story visually.

Music was really my entry point into graphic design. As a musician myself, I became fascinated with album covers and the way a single image could shape how someone connected with a song or artist before they ever pressed play. That passion eventually grew into a love for visual storytelling and branding through design.

Cover art projects are still what excite me most creatively. That’s the work that pulled me into this industry, and it’s still the thing I feel most passionate about today. I believe great cover art should do more than just look interesting, it should help communicate the emotion and identity behind the music in a way that makes someone stop and pay attention.

One thing that sets me apart is how personal I try to make the creative process. I never want projects to feel like a simple exchange of money for a digital file. I genuinely want to get to know the person behind the project, understand their vision, and partner with them to bring it to life. My hope is that when someone works with me, they leave feeling like I cared about their project just as much as they do.

One project I’m especially proud of right now is an upcoming release with artist Teni Rane. We created a full visual package including CD and vinyl layouts along with six individual single covers that all connect back to the main album design. It pushed me creatively because the project was much more colorful and technically detailed than my usual style, but that challenge made the final result even more rewarding.

Outside of client work, I also co-host a podcast called Judged by the Cover with my friend Phil Hyland. The podcast started as a way to share my love for album artwork on a bigger platform. We talk about iconic album covers, the stories behind them, and why certain visuals connect so deeply with people. It’s also been a really fun way to encourage younger artists and creatives to find inspiration from both classic and modern design work.

At the end of the day, I really just want people to know me as “the cover art guy.” I love cover art. I love creating it, studying it, talking about it, and hearing what album covers other people connect with and why. There’s something powerful about visuals becoming tied to music and memory, and I feel lucky that I get to contribute to that in some small way.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

For me, the most rewarding part is definitely the collaboration side of it. I love getting to know the person behind the project, learning what matters to them, understanding the story they’re trying to tell, and then figuring out how to visually bring that to life. That process is what makes creative work meaningful to me.

One of my favorite moments during any project is when I show someone a design and they immediately respond with something like, “Yes, that’s exactly what I was imagining.” That moment never really gets old. It’s incredibly rewarding knowing you helped take an idea that only existed in someone’s head and turn it into something real they can see and connect with.

I also genuinely love the process of creating itself, especially when I get to be hands-on with a project instead of doing everything purely digitally. There’s something satisfying about experimenting, building things physically, photographing elements, or finding creative ways to make a concept feel more authentic and lived-in.

A lot of my work revolves around music, so it’s really rewarding when a song or album ends up paired with visuals that truly fit the emotion and story behind it. Cover art can shape the way people experience music, and getting to play even a small role in helping that music connect with an audience is something I’m really grateful for

At this point, success for me isn’t really about numbers or recognition as much as it is creating work that helps bring someone’s story, or the story of their music, to life in a meaningful way.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

I think creatives need more community. We live in a very isolating culture, and honestly, creatives tend to isolate even more. Some of my best ideas and strongest designs have come through collaboration. Sometimes it takes another person seeing something you don’t see to help push a project over the finish line or bring it fully to life.

I also think comparison and social media can be really damaging for creatives. We constantly see other people’s highlight reels or work that took years to develop, and we start feeling like we should already be at that level ourselves. It becomes easy to believe that if our work doesn’t look like someone else’s, then maybe it doesn’t matter…and that’s just not true.

One of the biggest things that helped me personally was finding creative community. There was a season where I was struggling with my podcast, and a group called Podnooga really helped me realize I wasn’t alone. Being around other podcasters who had the same frustrations and challenges gave me the encouragement to keep going. Eventually I had the opportunity to help lead the group, and now our goal is to create that same kind of support system for others. Sometimes simply knowing other people understand the struggle is enough to keep someone moving forward creatively.

I think people can support artists in a lot of simple ways too. Share their work. Go to their events. Ask them what they’re currently excited about or creating. As creatives, it can honestly feel exhausting always being the one bringing up your own projects, so when someone else takes genuine interest in your work, it means a lot more than people probably realize.

At the end of the day, podcasts, music scenes, local businesses, artists, and creators are the things that shape culture. They give people ways to express ideas, emotions, stories, and dreams. Without creatives, the world would feel pretty gray and lifeless. There’s already so much pressure in society pushing people to think the same and create the same things. We need the weirdos. We need the people who see the world differently, hear sounds nobody else hears yet, and create things that make the rest of us feel something.

So either go create, or support the creatives who do.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.jwcreates.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jdubcreates/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jdubcreates/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@judgedbythecoverpodcast
• Other: Judged by the Cover – www.jwcreates.com/judgedbythecoverpodcast
  Podnooga – www.jwcreates.com/podnooga

Image Credits

Photos by Jenny with JW Photography