The Future of Funk Visual Concepts: Neon Sci-Fi Artwork and Chicago Jaxxx Identity

Visual Concepts

Recovered from the preserved Future of Funk archive-home record, including the original visual-development explanation and surviving concept images.

With the foundation of the project established, attention turned toward creating a visual identity for The Future of Funk.

At the time, there was no ship, no mascot, no trading cards, and no established mythology. The project existed as music first, and the challenge became determining what visual world that music belonged in.

During the earliest creative discussions, Brad Lee and Ronnie Vineyard began exploring possible directions for the artwork and overall presentation of the project. One of the strongest early influences was the colorful science-fiction aesthetic found in animated futurist worlds such as Futurama. The goal was never to copy an existing property, but to capture a similar sense of fun, exploration, and futuristic possibility.

As ideas developed, Ronnie brought in Rishi, who had previously contributed artwork connected to The Usual Suspects campaign. Together, they began refining some of the earliest visual concepts for the project.

Early Animated Futurist Direction

One of the earliest exploratory images reflected the colorful sci-fi direction being discussed.

Future City Concept

The concept phase expanded into a futuristic city environment before the mythology and ship became fully defined.

These initial pieces focused on futuristic cities, retro-futurist architecture, vibrant color palettes, science-fiction environments, and a world that felt larger than any individual artist appearing on the compilation.

What began as a discussion about artwork was becoming a discussion about worldbuilding.

The question was no longer what the album should look like. The question became:

The answer to that question would lead directly to the creation of the Future of Funk mythology.