I had a pretty damn good guess at the process, having played around with text-conversion myself a bit, but I just wasn't sure until I read it! I mean, talk about Rorschach - you can see so much in there, including a distorted Silver Shamrock TV ad pumpkin mask, a screaming face, etc, and how about that faux ringwear?? I mean, is that just a pure fluke or what?!
I did an LP sleeve a few years back (before I had any idea what the fuck I was doing!) for a friend, and we settled on the idea that it should look like an old library record. That included fake ringwear and corner bumps!
Well, my pal finally confessed to me that it was a huge mistake - people were constantly mailing him to ask whether he only had OLD battered copies of the record for sale, not new ones! And it actually went further, with people asking for refunds/sending copies back :O ("YOU LISTED AS MINT!!!)
Another over-elaborate packaging gag we did, was to do their Video compilation dvd as a limited VHS clamshell box (this wasn't so passe back then!) for a fake cheapo family sci-fi flick! (I was pretty obsessed with Monster Kid Home Movies at the time...)
That one got so elaborate, I actually shot the first 3 minutes on Super8 of the fake movie, which played as an intro before the DVD menu proper kicked in:
https://vimeo.com/9534805
Hahaha......and yep, again there was mass confusion and complaints from fans of the band.
I guess the benefit of doing things mainly for fun/as favours is that you rarely have to justify your mad, fucked up ideas too much to the suits!