Designing the packaging for “The Boys of Dungeon Lane”

Introduction

Paul McCartney’s new album in 2026, “The Boys Of Dungeon Lane“, was eagerly waited by fans, since the release of “McCartney III” six years earlier, in 2020. During a screening of the documentary “Man On The Run“, in February 2026, Paul’s manager Scott Rodger explains that the new album was still not out because Paul was taking the time with the artwork.

I attended a screening of MAN ON THE RUN last night at Loyola University in New Orleans. Scott Rodger, Paul’s long-time manager and part-time New Orleans resident, was in attendance and did a brief Q&A after the film. […] Here’s what Scott said, verbatim, about future Paul news: “There will be new Paul music in 2026.” “The record’s done.” “The only reason it’s not out already, is Paul took his time with the artwork.”

Forum resident JMichael – From Steve Hoffman Music Forums – February 10, 2026

In the early hours of March 25, 2026, Paul’s brother Mike McCartney revealed the album title, “The Boys Of Dungeon Lane“, in a post on X, along with a logo styled to resemble a Liverpool street sign. He noted that the artwork had been designed by his son, Josh McCartney, Paul’s nephew.

Josh saw this teaser for r kids new album ‘The Boys of Dungeon Lane’ in Liverpool yestas. It was familiar to him as he had designed the Dungeon Lane(Speke) artwork for his Uncle

Mike McCartney – From X, March 25, 2026

The official packaging credits, published in the album’s 12-page booklet, list David Lane of Lane & Associates and Paul McCartney as responsible for the creative direction and artwork. The collage and silkscreen treatment is credited to Kate Gibb, while the photography is credited to Mary McCartney, Paul’s daughter, and Josh McCartney.

In addition to those officially credited, graphic designers Imran Matin Khan and Tom Black were also involved in the development of the album artwork, although their contributions were not acknowledged in the booklet credits.

It was such an honour to work with @paulmccartney on his new album The Boys of Dungeon Lane, which is out today.

A special thanks to all the staff at MPL Communications and at @capitolrecords

Creative direction by David Lane and @paulmccartney
Silkscreen artwork: @kategibb
Graphic design: @tomblack._ and @imranmatinkhan.xyz at @lane_and_associates

From Lane and Associates on Instagram, May 29, 2026

Such a pleasure to have worked on the artwork for The Boys of Dungeon Lane, the new album by @paulmccartney which is out today – @lane_and_associates – Creative direction by David Lane and @paulmccartney – Incredible silkscreens by @kategibbprint -Graphic design @imranmatinkhan.xyz and @tomblack._ at @lane_and_associates – A special thanks to Paul, David, all at MPL communications and @capitoluk

Tom Black – From Instagram, May 29, 2026

The album cover(s)

The album cover for “The Boys Of Dungeon Lane” adopts a deliberately understated, almost anti-spectacular concept. It features a cream background with a street-sign-style badge reading “The Boys of Dungeon Lane L24,” rendered in black with a red accent, echoing the design of modern street signage in Liverpool.

“The Boys of” is set in the same typeface and color used for “City of Liverpool” on official signs, while “Dungeon Lane” uses the standard typography found on street name plates. “L24” refers to the Liverpool postcode area that includes Dungeon Lane.

In the bottom-right corner of the cover, Paul McCartney’s signature appears in black.

Numerous special and exclusive editions of the album were released, some featuring alternative artwork. On certain versions, the accent colour of the sign was changed to green or blue.

The gatefold LP edition features the logo in a blind-embossed form, recalling the cover design of the Beatles’ 1968 album “The Beatles”.

A “White Label LP” edition, pressed by Third Man Records, features the handwritten lyrics of the track “Days We Left Behind” on a white background. The text, written by Paul, is printed in black, with the exception of the phrase “the boys of Dungeon Lane,” which appears in red.

Amoeba Music released an exclusive yellow vinyl edition of “The Boys Of Dungeon Lane“, featuring an alternate cover design inspired by the store’s own logo.

The back cover

The back cover of the album simply features the track listing, handwritten by Paul McCartney, set against the same cream-coloured background used on the front cover.

The collage

An expansive collage composed of dozens of tinted images in reds, oranges, blues, and yellows was included in every version of the album. The composition incorporated childhood photographs, performance shots, group scenes, youthful portraits, and fragments of bird iconography, alongside a small “Dungeon Lane” street sign embedded within the layout. The poster stands in deliberate contrast to the spare simplicity of the album’s front and covers.

In most LP editions, the collage was used for the inner sleeve of the LP. The gatefold LP edition and the picture disc edition of “The Boys Of Dungeon Lane” placed the collage at the centre of the visual presentation. A separate Green LP edition featured an alternate version of the collage in which green replaced red as the dominant colour. The limited Blue & White Liquid Splatter LP edition and the Blue LP edition included another variation of the collage.

The collage was created by graphic designers Imran Matin Khan and Tom Black and silkscreen artist Kate Gibb, who shared various videos and photos about the design process on her Instagram account.

It’s been hard keeping this to myself… the best’est of commissions with Lane&Associates for the legend that is Paul McCartney…

Kate Gibb – From Instagram, May 5, 2026

As a way to bring Paul’s memories of being a boy in Liverpool to life, we curated a montage of over 100 archival images, beautifully silkscreen printed by @kategibbprint.

From Tom Black on Instagram, June 1, 2026

I was talking to David [Lane], who was going to help design the whole package and the whole artwork, and I showed him some early photographs that I’d taken when I was a teenager, I think it was, up in Liverpool. And so he said, “Well, we should use all of them. We should get Kate to silk-screen them, screen-print them all.” And the thing I like about the idea is that it means you can look at this cover forever, which — I remember trying to, well, we did that with the Sgt. Pepper cover. We wanted you to be able to just pore over it. Because I always remembered going into Liverpool city center and buying a record — it would be vinyl in those days — and the half-hour journey back on the bus, you would just sit there and get into every little thing. And there’s a lot to look at on this thing — lot of childhood pictures of me, my brother Mike, and various friends. There’s John here, George, and we went on hitchhiking trips. And one of the songs on the album is called Down South, and that’s about me and George going hitchhiking from Liverpool down south. So I had a lot of nice memories of that, and that’s all incorporated into this. There’s some Hamburg shots.

Paul McCartney – Live on TikTok, May 2026

Creating the collage for @paulmccartney .. silkscreen on paper .. from his photographic memory bank .. curated by @lane_and_associates .. I made four unique versions .. details changing with fresh applications of colour .. new situations leading the way … process process process!

Kate Gibb – From Instagram, May 11, 2026

Silkscreen

A stencil-based printmaking technique in which the first step is to stretch and attach a woven fabric (originally made of silk, but now more commonly of synthetic material) tightly over a wooden frame to create a screen. Areas of the screen that are not part of the image are blocked out with a variety of stencil-based methods. A squeegee is then used to press ink through the unblocked areas of the screen, directly onto paper. Screenprints typically feature bold, hard-edged areas of flat, unmodulated color. Also known as silkscreen and serigraphy.

From Silkscreen | MoMA

The Tumblr account bodl-gatefold succeeded in identifying most of the photographs used in the collage.

The bird iconography

Various birds appear throughout the collage, all sourced from “The Observer’s Book Of Birds,” a book Paul McCartney had mentioned owning on several occasions.

The Observer’s Books were a series of small, pocket-sized books, published in the United Kingdom from 1937 to 2003. Intended for children, they covered topics such as hobbies, art, history and wildlife.

Birdwatching started in Liverpool, my mum had the midwife’s house on the edge of Liverpool, where we lived. It was where Liverpool just stopped and then became deep countryside, so that was when I had the opportunity to do quite a bit of birdwatching. And now because I live part time on a farm, I’m able to see a lot of birds and I don’t need the Observer’s Book of Birds quite so much as I did back then.

Paul McCartney – From Paul McCartney | News | Sticking Out of My Back Pocket: Birdwatching, March 20, 2026

The montage features 30 hidden birds, taken from the Observer’s Book of Birds which Paul and John would use to identify species.

From Tom Black on Instagram, June 1, 2026

The photographies

For a full list of photographies and their sources, refer to The Tumblr account bodl-gatefold or People masterpost – @bodl-gatefold on Tumblr

The booklet

The vinyl editions of “The Boys Of Dungeon Lane” included a 12-page booklet featuring the lyrics to each song, handwritten by Paul McCartney.

The booklet’s front cover features a photograph of Paul McCartney taken by his daughter, Mary McCartney, and treated with a silkscreen effect by Kate Gibb.

It was nice the way it all came together, really. Because I asked Mary if she’d mind taking a portrait of me that we could use, because we knew Kate — the girl who did all the screen printing — would take that picture Mary took of me and make it into that, which I love. I love the treatment.

Paul McCartney – Live on TikTok, May 2026

Lyric cards

Some variants of the LP and CD editions of the album included some so-called “lyric cards.” Each card features an excerpt from the album’s collage artwork on the front, with lyrics from “Days We Left Behind” handwritten by Paul McCartney printed on the reverse.

The Gold LP edition also included an additional postcard featuring a black-and-white photograph of Paul McCartney taken by Mary McCartney on the front. The reverse bears the handwritten inscription “The Boys Of Dungeon Lane – PAUL McCARTNEY,” written by Paul.