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Lose your mind to these hypnotising gifs of moiré patterned vinyl sleeves

Like the mind-bending zoetrope vinyl label, LP covers using a moiré pattern are few and far between, sadly underused.

A moiré pattern is a basic optical illusion in which two similar (but not exactly the same) patterns are placed over one another. When the top cover is moved, the pattern comes to life.

A collector of all vinyl weird and wonderful, let your mind wander over the brain-bending moiré patterned records from DJ Food’s collection.

A collector’s collector, if anyone’s got an eye for the unusual it’s DJ Food. A graphic designer with a passion for comic book culture and visual ephemera, his attention to record sleeves and packaging is second nature. We were blown away by the variety of weird and wonderful records that remained largely undocumented in his impeccably organised shelves.

A moiré pattern is the effect when an equally spaced set of lines or dots is placed over a similar pattern and moved, creating the illusion of moving or strobing designs as the contrasting black and white lines cover or reveal the image below. Similar to the way a strobe light works on our vision in a dark room, turning the light on or off.

Printing a pattern on a transparent record sleeve or acetate overlay placed over a card sleeve containing a contrasting design can throw up all sorts of interesting illusions. Even the smallest movement of the patterns, causing them to be mis-registered, can lead to the eye perceiving movement from two static images.

The term moiré originates from a type of textile with a rippled, uneven appearance and this effect is sometimes confused with a lenticular image which is a form of movement caused my viewing an image from different directions. – The Vinyl Factory.

Check out the rest of the patterns below.