Attn: third man records
Associate Graphic Designer Application
Kaylee Bird
COVER LETTER
to the key holders of the vault
My name is Kaylee Bird, and I’m applying for the ASSOCIATE GRAPHIC DESIGNER POSITION at your Third Man Records Nashville location. This is letter is not just a request for employment. It is a transmission from a lifelong artist, idea generator, aesthete, filmmaker, and an pattern-based architect who recognizes Third Man Records not just as a label, but a living organism of tangible magic.I hold a BFA in Film & Television from NYU and come with background that fuses producing, design, visual storytelling, and retail fluency into something magnetic. Yet more importantly, I bring an energy—something untamed, multidimensional, and relentlessly inspired. I am a dual citizen of the US and UK, and I am currently rooted in Nashville, TN.I thrive in collaborative atmospheres. I’ve worked on reality shows and independent films, managed fast-paced positions, curated designs comprised of both physical & digital mediums, and traveled the world as a photographer documenting those from all walks of life with empathy and style. Whether building visual pitch decks to reimagine perception itself, I commit fully. Design is not just work to me—it’s performance, psychology, community, and aesthetic tension embodied.Your listing asks for someone energetic, friendly, curious, passionate about music and design. What I offer is a total synthesis of those values—and then some. I’m currently in pursuit of a dynamic multilingual skillset, including German, Latin, Greek & Japanese—a mission that alludes to how I value the Art of Communication both visually & verbally. I am a fierce learner armed with a mind that cannot help but create; one unafraid to get hands-on with analog media, darkroom photography, packaging & design. I love to bring the artistic process to its zenith. Whether in person or by way of connection through my creations, when I do connect the experience is incendiary & electrifying. I’m live to create this level of artistic resonance.If given the chance, I will not only represent the Third Man brand—I will amplify it, bringing my unique perspective to Third Man’s unique brand. I believe this position is the first scene in a greater film we will hopefully make together. One where music, visuals, and mythos coalesce into something unforgettable.
Download Physically Submitted Application
My Favorite album cover
THE CLASH
"London Calling"
MY FAVORITE ALBUM COVER
Selecting a preferred album cover undoubtedly presents the most challenging aspect of this application. The quality of an album cover can be attributed to the meticulous craftsmanship of elemental design. However, for many individuals, an album cover transcends its visual appeal, representing an emotional connection they share with the musical content. In my personal experience, this is the criterion I employ to determine which album cover I would consider “My Favorite.”From the moment of my birth, my eyes remained perpetually open, devoid of tears, yet never closed. I was unable to sleep. Apparently, the world held an insatiable fascination for my developing mind at birth. This innate curiosity eventually bestowed upon me a blessing that unlocked the boundless possibilities of the world. Nevertheless, until then, my parents had to employ innovative methods to lull their only child to sleep.
THEY PLAYED MUSIC
For the first time, my eyes softened. Music became the world’s first translation for me—the first language that reached me before I had any command of words. Album covers quickly became the visual markers of that early initiation. They were tactile gateways I reached for: small, square portals into sonic worlds, images vibrating with the promise of the sounds within. Some covers soothed, some unsettled, but the most powerful conveyed a sense of truth so immediate it felt almost alive.One, in particular, has remained with me for years—not because it is pristine or ornate, but because it serves as a kind of emotional seismograph, capturing a moment of expression so raw that it becomes mythic.
"LONDON CALLING" - THE MOMENT BEFORE IMPACT
“London Calling” by The Clash transcends mere admiration; it is a dynamic photograph that captures emotion in its most unfiltered state. Pennie Smith’s iconic image of Paul Simonon violently smashing his bass guitar is renowned for its imperfections. The motion collapses into blur, the focus drifts, and shadows engulf the edges of the frame. Every classical expectation of photographic precision is subverted.However, these perceived flaws transform the image into something more authentic than technical perfection could ever achieve. The blur becomes heat, sweat, and noise—the electric atmosphere of a live performance distilled into a single still. It is the cinematic equivalent of vérité filmmaking: an unplanned moment that reveals something fundamental about human expression. As a filmmaker, I comprehend the rarity of such a frame—the instant when reality ceases to compose itself neatly and erupts into authenticity.
The typography introduces an entirely secondary narrative. Its pink-and-green palette is a deliberate reference to Elvis Presley’s debut album, a visual dialogue with one of American music’s foundational myths. Elvis stands holding his guitar as a promise, while Simonon brings his down as a verdict. The dialogue is unmistakable. Past and future collide. Punk does not simply descend from rock; it snaps at its heels, challenging and evolving the very mythology from which it emerges.This is why the cover is timeless. It captures the creative impulse in its rawest form—the urge to break something open to release something new. Art often begins in the tension between intention and abandon, and “London Calling” freezes that tension at maximum voltage. It documents the suspended instant before impact: the breath, the rupture, the precise point where chaos transforms into revelation. The photograph is not mere documentation; it is transformation captured mid-swing.
A PERSONAL PARALLEL
Years later, I experienced a moment that echoed the emotional charge of that image. After leaving an abusive relationship, I found myself holding the bass guitar that belonged to the person who had caused me significant harm. The instrument became an unwanted relic—an object heavy with the residue of a past I refused to carry forward.What followed was not destruction for its own sake, but something closer to reclamation. With my mother as the photographer and myself the subject, I smashed the bass, bringing it down with clarity and intention. We performed our own form of symbolic rupture. It was, in many ways, the debasement of the basic: taking an ordinary object infused with pain and stripping it of its power through decisive action. When we cast its broken remains into the ocean, the gesture became a private mythology of release.
When I recreated the “London Calling” cover using that same bass, it was not imitation but rather a transformation. The raised instrument, the braced stance, the suspended energy before impact—all of it mirrored a truth I had experienced. The resulting photograph engaged in dialogue with the original, shaped by my own history yet connected to a broader artistic lineage.
WHY THIS IMAGE ENDURES
“London Calling” remains my favorite album cover because it captures the moment before transformation—the instant where emotion overtakes form, where feeling becomes action, and where truth refuses to remain still. It is a visual distillation of everything I value in art: emotional honesty, the embrace of imperfection, the collision of heritage and rebellion, and the power of imagery to carry both personal and cultural weight.
A Kaylee 3iRD Portfolio
Portfolio Overview
Detroit Urban Decay Photos
Handmade Collage Designs
"ProppaGander" Designs
For Comix City Too
Portraits with Perspective
Promotional Work For Rome Streetz
rome streetz epk
created on photoshop & cut on adobe premier
Written, Produced, Designed & Edited by Kaylee Bird
CLOCKS
An 8mm experimental Short Edited on a Steenbeck
Written, Directed, Produced & Edited by Kaylee Bird
Untitled
Shot on Kodachrome & Edited on final cut pro
Shot, Written, Directed, Produced & Edited by Kaylee Bird
Faux breaux
An 8min short film shot on super 16mm film
Written, Directed, Produced & Edited by Kaylee Bird
Thank you to whomever took the time to review this application. You've hopefully concluded that I'm the ideal applicant for this position & that you needn't look any further. Contact me any time, day or night.
Kaylee Bird
+1 (615) 910-3511 | [email protected] | NASHVILLE, TN
© A 3iRD Perspective. All rights reserved.