Album Art Research in Class

In a lesson in class we discussed Album Art and its purpose and conventions.

When putting albums into certain categories these are the ones we came up with:

• whether it was a band or a solo artist
• conceptual imagery or beauty shot of the band/artist
• colour scheme
• gender
• compliations
• focal on artist or album name
• pop culture links
• links to songs
• what the focus is on the back of the album
• debut album or not
• abstract or realism
• medium used for the style/design
• theme of music
• decade in music (trends within a certain year)
• consistency of albums
• record label

We drew out some main features of all the album artwork that people had brought in for the lesson and we found:

• album and artist/band name at the front
• tracklist on the back
• spine has the name of the artist/band and album title
• an image
• record label on the back
• barcodes
• consistent colour scheme
• websites (a newer method of promoting)
• casing (booklets included)
• smallprint
• publication date
• copyright
• parental advisory (if needed)
• promo sticker
• distinctive fonts

After further discussion we came up with ideas as to what the purpose of an album cover was:

• an insight into the artist
• attractive to look at
• images associate with the sound of the artist/band
• to inform
• promote the band/artist
• provides lyrics which deepens the personal connection of the artist/band and their fans
• value for the money people spend
• shows band/artist identity
• gives people a physical product

The album artwork that I had decided to analyse for the lesson was Paramore's Brand New Eyes Album.

• Conceptual/artistic imagery used for the cover
• Paramore's third album so there is no need for an image of the band as they have already established themselves as a band
• Has a pastel/faded colour scheme
• Niche and quirky
• Very simplistic
• Images connotate lyrics as the album front cover is a reference to their song "Brick by Boring Brick" from the album
• Has a booklet which provides similar conceptual and abstract images on each page as a background for each set of lyrics

This lesson was useful to me as it made me see just how important album artwork is. If it does not draw in the audience, the album won't sell. As our group's idea is for a three piece band and they are releasing a debut album, we probably want all our band members featured on the cover as we have to establish their identity. Also I learnt that genre is very important to convey across using album art and that is something that we will do for our band's album.