Album Covers

an overview

How Are Music and Image Related?

- The images on an album cover are a representation of music

- Both the images and music have a specific target audience in mind

- Process of production

A Brief History

Purpose1.To protect the record, whose grooved

surface was delicate. 2. To advertise the contents and artistic

aspirations as the record had little room on its own record label.

Design Teams

-Hipgnosis was a British art design group that specialized in creating cover art

-Pioneered many techniques such as photo manipulation, which became Photoshop

BreakdownThe following is a breakdown of the top three album covers of all time, according to Rolling Stone.

Some of the points covered will be:-colour use -contrast-concepts -music genre-themes

Top 3 Album Covers

(according to Rolling Stone)

Sgt.Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band – The Beatles

-concept of album design was “people we like”-colours reflects the genre of music, which was psychedelic rock-the Beatles themselves dressed like the Sgt. Pepper Band, reflecting the title of the album -attention grabbing-name of the band stands out, even though the rest of the cover is busy

1

Never Mind the Bollocks –The Sex Pistols

-cover defined the punk art movement at the time

-attention grabbing -simple but represents the

band’s image-bright and contrasting -captures attention amidst the

black, brown and grey covers-defined punk music from then

on

2

The “White Album”- The Beatles

-also known as “the White Album”-written at a time of conflict for the

band-reflects the band coming into their

own solo careers -simple, but attention grabbing and

makes the artist known-contrast to all other album covers-iconic

3

Tips and Tricks We Learned

-Represent the artist’s music and beliefs through images.

-Make use of colour and contrast to make the album cover attention grabbing.

-Make a statement by being bold.