Album Artwork

Album Artwork Timeline

1939

The first ever album cover by Alex Steinweiss Which was made for LPs replacing plain covers previously used. The in-

troduction of illustrated album covers increased sales so many other record labels followed.

Album Artwork Timeline

1940s

Alot of early album covers where hand illustrated as they did not have the technology to create them digitaly at this time. the

covers where quite simple and used a limited range of colours as they didnt have the technology to print many colours.

Album Artwork Timeline

1950s

As technology advanced so did the album covers, they started to incorporporate photography into them rather than them being

fully hand drawn.

Album Artwork Timeline

1955-6

Printing techniquees improved and album art started to beprinted in full colour

Album artwork started to get alot more artistic compared to the ones in previous years. alot of the artwork in this decade had a

very psychedelic feel to it and was very colourful.

Album Artwork Timeline

1960s

Album Artwork Timeline

1970s

In the 70s punk rock came around whcih had a d.i.y ethic so the artwork reflected this.

Album Artwork Timeline

1980s

In 1980 alot of people started using cassettes so this changed how album artwork was displayed as LPs where in a square format and

cassettes where rectangular. in the lates 80s adobe illustrator was also released.

Album Artwork Timeline

1990s

In the 90s photodhop was released which opened up alot of possibilities to designers as they could now manipuate images alot easier and do things that

couldve been hard to do before. Cd players also became more affordable which meant more people started to buy cds over cassette tapes.

Album Artwork Timeline

2000s

Technology has advanced alot over the years and alot can be done using computer to manipulate images and create 3d models and such. Tools such as photoshop and illustrator have become alot more advanced and more powerful

allowing alot more to be done digitally

Album Artwork Timeline

2010+

In the current age music is going digitalas it is now available to easily buy online on itunes or amazon and it is expected to get rid of CDs as it is much easier

and convenient to buy online.