Kate Gibb has recently completed the cover art for ‘Living in Patterns’, the latest album from the band Pollyn. The artwork, which also extends to artwork on the disk itself, employs the geometric and washed-out screenprinted style for which Kate is best known. The album is out now and was recently Rough Trade’s record of the week.

Congratulations to Michael Kiwanuka who has come top of the BBC Sound of 2012 list which aims to showcase the best rising music stars for the year ahead. The Sound of 2012 list was compiled using tips from key UK-based music critics, broadcasters and bloggers. Now in its tenth year, previous winners have included Jessie J, Adele, Mika, Ellie Goulding, Corinne Bailey Rae and Keane. Big Active design has been working with Michael Kiwanuka since early last year – his current single ‘Home Again’ is out now and we are currently completing the design for his debut album which will be released in March. The album also called ‘Home Again’ sounds amazing – so nice one Michael – respect and best wishes from all of us…

Mat Maitland has been invited to exhibit as part of Art Vinyl 2011. The show, at Jonas Gallery in Brussels, features the best album sleeves of 2011, and includes Big Active’s work with Noah and the Whale, Das Pop, Nero, and Sneaky Sound System. A range of Mat’s personal work is running alongside the album covers.

TMDG in Argentina celebrated it’s 10th anniversary earlier this month. The design conference held annually in Mar Del Plata was launched in 2001 by Seba Acampante and Pablo Gonzalez Diaz Pacheco – and has since grown to fill a stadium venue attracting over 6000 visitors from all over South America. This year’s line up of speakers included David Carson, Jeremy Ville, Ian Anderson, Dr Alderete, Elliot Tupac, Unconvention, Hojun Song, Massimo Vignelli and Gerard Saint from Big Active. We’d like to extend our thanks to everyone involved for their passion and hospitality. TMDG Rocks – that’s official! Click here to see some of the highlights.

Big Active’s Mat Maitland describes his blog - Leopard Tree Dream - as “a crystal ball of record covers from my private collection…”. With frequent and insightful postings, celebrating the eclectic image-making that defined landmark releases by the likes of Grace Jones, Blue Oyster Cult and Vangellis, Mat shares his enthusiasm for an inspirational period of album sleeve design. Enjoy.

Above: GRACE JONES “MUSE” (1979) Art Direction by Grace Jones & Richard Bernstein. Cover art by Richard Bernstein.

British electronic dance act Nero have scored their first UK Number 1 with the single ‘Promises’. The track is taken from the duo’s brand new album ‘Welcome Reality’ which is released on MTA/Mercury/Universal this week. The cover imagery “inspired by classic sci-fi movie posters” was created by Markus Karlsson for Big Active.