Monday, May 9, 2011

ALBUM DESIGN INSPIRATION






Posting a bit off topic from my project concentration this week, but this side topic is something that I feel could spark some valid conversation. One of my main sources of inspiration for graphic design comes from some of the record sleeves form my personal collection. Something that interests me greatly is the process of designing album art for music artists. The images that I have included are all from bands from the late 70’s but I feel that these images are great examples of collage work and after listening to the songs I think that the album art collaborates wonderfully with the sound of the music.

A friend of mine re-issues 7” tracks as a hobby and is considering re-issuing “The Last Words” record, which includes 2 singles that were issued only once in Australia, making this particular copy a rare commodity. I was asked to help with the process of designing the cover and I am looking forward to do so. It was communicated with me that many times when a record label is looking for an artist to produce album art, it is difficult to find somebody who can successfully create a design that correlates well with the music. I personally love when the images in the album art seem to flow well with the type of music. Being able to see and physically hold the record sleeve or disc insert and examine it really a huge part of discovering new music and I think an important process of getting familiar with a new music artist.

Perhaps this is one of the reasons that vinyl seems to be making a comeback currently, but overall, I don’t mind paying for my music so I can own the physical album art : )

Does anybody have a favorite artist or just a band that they feel has exquisite album cover?

11 comments:

  1. Here is a link of the 25 best album cover of the decade (2000-2009).
    http://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/lists/2009/11/the-25-best-album-covers-of-the-decade-2000-2009.html

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  2. Congrats on being asked to help with the design of an album. I generally love a lot of the illustrated stuff from the 70's mainstream. My wife bought a catalog of ECM cd covers, and they have some great minimalist designs in there. Brian Eno has some cool cd covers. I also admire the courage of the design on the The Beatles (white album), by not using any graphic.

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  3. I also love album and CD covers, but I wonder what's going to happen and how the cover designers are going to evolve now that so much music is online and so many people no longer BUY the physical discs.

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  4. one of my all time favorite album designs is the album

    "beneath the surface" by the GZA.

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  5. It's kind of funny that even when you buy an album on iTunes, you still get the album art in this typical square CD case or vinyl shape instead of something more unique to the medium.

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  6. I agree with Nina I think the same thing every time I get a new album.

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  7. There is not really group that I like that I think has great album art. It saddened me at this realization. However, it might be because I don't know what they are making since I just put the music in my Zune (*gasp* not an iPod?!) and don't look at the album art.

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  8. I can see a lot of influence from these in your work. What I love about your projects is the sort of messy, grungy feel. I have a tendency to be a perfectionist, and sometimes am afraid of letting my work get away from me. These designs are great, and will always stand out to people as something unique and different.

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  9. "Being able to see and physically hold the record sleeve or disc insert and examine it really a huge part of discovering new music and I think an important process of getting familiar with a new music artist."

    I definitely relate to this comment. I have a lot more music on my iPod than I could fit (or afford) in copy, but I feel like the bands that I've owned a CD or record of I just know so much better - the bios, the thank yous, the lyrics sheets are all important, but even the physical interaction is something I recognize I'm missing out on when I hit shuffle.

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  10. Great example of graphic style matching the tone of a larger work.

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  11. I love the Art Nouveau-esque design of Vanessa Carlton's albums Be Not Nobody and Harmonium.

    As a musician as well as an artist/designer, I've started trying to think of ways to work with the fact that everything is floating up in the digital cloud nowadays. My personal solution at the moment would be to really push the reward factor of buying the physical album, where you're not just getting the physical CD and the booklet, but really nice original art and souvenirs that will appeal to your hardcore fans. Another solution might be to create custom graphics to tag individual tracks with that are linked to the cover art for an album, but aren't just a shrunken-down version of the cover art, if that makes sense.

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