Research on CD covers

We started off by looking for popular bands that had a genre of indie or pop rock as these were most reflective of our band. Just: have a hybrid genre of alternative rock also known simply as alternative. Alternative rock became popular in the 1990’s and emerged from independent record labels which is typical of our chosen band.  Our bands influences include bands like Coldplay and the Arctic Monkeys and we feel that Just: have a similar target audience to these popular bands.

The first band and album cover that we looked at was ‘The Script’ who have a self titled album. Self titles albums are common with new bands forming with the music industry. The cover uses bright colours contrasting with the victorian style rooftops that are sinking into the ground. The smoke that is coming from the extra large chimneys tells me that they are a victorian style. In the centre of the cover there is a black and white hand holding a man and a woman which appears to have been cut out and then pasted on because of the white outline which has been left. The woman is wearing a bright yellow dress and the man is wearing a white suit. The man has coloured stripes coming out of his collar instead of a head which makes the cover seem very surreal. The font that has been used on the cover is very simple and easy to read. The ‘The’ has been underlined which helps to emphasize it. The ‘Script’ is also in a larger font type which makes it the same size as the bottom of the line before it.

The back cover is one block cover and is very simple. There are no images just text which is straight to the point showing the order of songs on the album. The logo of the band is most prominent on the back cover and is positioned at the top and centred.

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We also looked at ‘The Hoosiers’ album. This band has a bigger pop appeal than The Script and this reflected their album cover. We found various versions of the same cover for The Hoosiers for example..

I like this album cover as it has a surreal aspect to it and there is always something happening where ever you look.  The eyes at the bottom of the cover seem very sinister and stand out the clearest as they contrast with the blue monotone look to the cover.  The image seems to be set in a woodland area as there are lots of creatures dotted around.  The rabbit located at the bottom of the cover is sat on a grave stone.  The gravestones are symbolic of the end of a life and  on the cover they are ironic because they link to the title of the album which is ‘The Trick To Life’.  Towards the top of the cover there are flying machine for example the rocket and the plane.  These machines were created by humans and are key to life on earth as people rely on them each day.  The image as a whole is blurred towards the centre of the cover which helps the viewer focus on the name of the band which is places centrally on the cover.  This album has helped me with the design to our album as the main focus of the cover is the bands name in the middle therefore i think that this should also be the main focus of our band on the cover.

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Another album that i have researched is ‘Elbow’

This album is also very surreal as there is a giant white cute in the centre of the cover.  Behind the cube is a brick wall and a the silhouette of a cityscape, this is stereotypical of an urban setting.  This could be influenced by the characteristics of the band as they could be from a city. There images on the cover look like they have been drawn by children as they are line drawings that don’t really make sense and have been coloured in in one colour.  The cover looks like it has been stained by a tea bag, this effect has been used to make the cover seem visually pleasing and also makes it seem even more surreal.  In contrast to the previous two covers the name of the band is not as prominent in this one, Perhaps the cube is the logo of the band and is therefore used as an ident.  Instead the name of the band is in a simple serif font at the bottom of the cover and the title of the album is in a smaller type underneath the band.  These are both in white so that they contrast from dull background.  These album covers all have a contrasting aspect involved which i will try to include when designing my cover for the band.

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This album cover is interesting because you can’t really tell what the image is.  It seems to be a bunch of coloured shapes arranged in the centre with a large navy blue gap around them.  Bellow the centre line in the middle the shapes are all coloured however when you look above the centre line the shapes are greyscale.  The image could be of an extremely pixelated X & Y which is the title of the album but the image has been zoomed in so that it is not recognisable.  The cover creates a sense of mystery about the band however the band is so well known that they are already established within their target audience.

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The image that has been used on this cover is dull and is of a row of houses.  This suggests to the target audience that the band has come from a ‘garage band’ and then developed into releasing there own album and becoming a success.  The dull image makes the retro style artwork in the windows stand out.  The artwork looks like it is from the 70’s and has a hippy feel about it.  This could reflect the band and suggest that they are young and laid back.  The font that has been used is unique to the band and also has a 70’s feel to it.  I think this because of the long extended lines especially on the A and the M.  The colour that has been used matches the colour of the artwork in the window and stands out from the background of the image.  I like the garage band feel that has been shown in this cover and i hope to capture this in my album cover for our band.