Graduation

For Graduation, Kanye West visited Takashi Murakami's Kaikai Kiki studio in Asaka, Japan, and the two worked together on the art direction. "The cover is based on Kanye's theme of student life. School," Murakami said. The artwork redraws the Dropout Bear as a cartoon in Murakami's bright, pastel Superflat style, influenced by manga and anime.

The images tell a story. On a rainy morning the bear rushes to a graduation ceremony at a fictional college in Universe City, a futuristic metropolis, and on the back cover he is shot out of a cannon into the sky. Production took several weeks, with West constantly emailing new ideas to Murakami and his team.

Rolling Stone named it the fifth-best album cover of 2007. Murakami later turned the artwork into animation for the "Good Morning" video and went on to create the cover of Kids See Ghosts in 2018. Graduation was released on 11 September 2007.