http://abigailpaceyamvcmedia28.wordpress.com/2012/10/22/the-iconography-of-the-album-cover-media-magazine-article/
This SlideShare Presentation includes photocopies of an article based on The Iconography of Album Artwork from MediaMagazine (September 2012) [written by Christopher Budd]:
The Iconography of the Album Cover from Belinda Raji
From the article I have learnt that album artwork should not only be eye-catching, but it should also portray a message about the musician and the music they produce. All elements of mise-en-scene are considered to be symbolic of the musician and the meaning behind their music.
I also know that the album artwork will be presented at a variety of different sizes depending on the format, such as small icons in iTunes, or thumbnails on the website, so the artwork I create should be identifiable and recognisable from various distances (Artistic Abode).
Bill Smith is an album cover designer, and he said in an interview with Arkade (a UK-based independent music company),
"ARKADE: Do you have any advice for bands on how to choose a successful design?
From the article I have learnt that album artwork should not only be eye-catching, but it should also portray a message about the musician and the music they produce. All elements of mise-en-scene are considered to be symbolic of the musician and the meaning behind their music.
I also know that the album artwork will be presented at a variety of different sizes depending on the format, such as small icons in iTunes, or thumbnails on the website, so the artwork I create should be identifiable and recognisable from various distances (Artistic Abode).
Bill Smith is an album cover designer, and he said in an interview with Arkade (a UK-based independent music company),
"ARKADE: Do you have any advice for bands on how to choose a successful design?
BILL: The simplest ideas are the best, try and come up with an idea and stick to it and try not to get leant on by anyone to change or modify your ideas."
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To help me start to create designs for my Digipak I have begun to look at the most iconic and famous album artwork designs of all time, to try and get myself some inspiration, and to begin to identify what makes a 'good' album cover.
#1 according to musicradar.com is Pink Floyd's The Dark Side Of The Moon:
For this album, Richard Wright instructed the designers to make the album cover "smarter, neater—more classy" in comparison to the band's other albums. The design was constructed under three rules; the requirement from Richard for a 'bold and classy" design, the prism represented the band's love for lighting effects on stage and to represent the album's lyrics. I personally like the use of bold, contrasting colours in this artwork as it really makes it stand out from any other albums on the market. I also think that the concept is really strong and perfectly reflects the requirements for this album.
#2 is Nirvana's album 'Nevermind' which features a naked baby swimming after a dollar bill which is attached to a fish hook.
People assume that because of the obscurity of this artwork there is a deep metaphor behind it, but the idea actually originated when Kurt Cobain watched a documentary on home water births. It is however the obscurity of the imagery on this album cover which makes it so infamous - but we don't really understand why. It is nevertheless a brilliant, award-winning album, but the artwork itself is what ensures that generation after generation of audiences know and identify the album.
From this I can see the real importance of a successful album cover- it needs to be eye-catching but it should be relevant to the musician and the songs itself to really make an impact on sales. I will now have to research further into the planning that goes behind creating album covers to fully understand the importance of aspects such as fonts, layout etc.
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Stephanie Hamilton, a freelance website designer who holds a degree in Graphic Design, write for the blog The Daily Egg (conversion optimisation, design and copywriting tips) has written an article on her opinion of the top 20 musician websites which keep audiences engaged and what she believes is needed within the design process.
She believes that a good musician's website should include:
- latest news
- upcoming shows and events
- blog content and social networking
- merchandise/store
- media in the form of pictures, videos etc.
- story/bio
- community forum/subscription service
- mailing list/newsletter service
Looking at the top 20 Stephanie has chosen for us, many of them I don't recognise because she is American, which makes this research unreliable for me as I cannot relate to the examples. However, just by analysing some of the images of the websites, I can automatically tell some of the genres of music that they are - even without knowing the musicians - which I might be able to relate to my own work.
Her #5 is Francesca Battistelli, an artist who I don't personally know, but from research she is a fairly low-key singer-songrwiter from the States, which kind of matches my chosen artist Ed Sheeran, as he too is a singer-songwriter, so they are of fairly similar genres.
Stephanie has placed this website quite close to the top in her top 20 as the type of styling - the colours and the illustration techniques - perfectly symbolises the simplicity of the artist's music genre. She also finds that the colour scheme is warm and inviting whilst still indicating the music genre. Social networking plays a big part of music marketing in today's society, so the inclusion of such links on the home page is a massive 'YES' from Stephanie.
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