Art, Design & Music

logicalbum

logicalbum

Who doesn't love good music, and good art? I was inspired to write this post after seeing the album art for Logic's album "Under Pressure." It was illustrated and designed by fellow SCAD grad, and the always amazing, Sam Spratt. It got me thinking how important the relationship between art and music is. The album art is of course the face of the music that is on the album and represents what the musician has spent their time producing. The album art for Under Pressure depicts a scene that was common for Logic when he was an up and coming rapper; sitting in the basement of his friend's home reading lyrics off his phone while his friends listen.

The most memorable album covers throughout time are ingrained into our minds and of course the designer plays a role in ensuring this. Some albums have remained a part of culture years after being released. Two of my favourite album covers of all time are The Beatles' Abbey Road & Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon. The designer for Abbey Road, John Kosh, famously said "we didn't need to write the band's name on the cover ... They were the most famous band in the world." The album art for The Dark Side of the Moon was designed by Hipgnosis and George Hardie under the instruction to come up with something "smarter, neater- more classy."

beatles

beatles

Dark_Side_of_the_Moon

Dark_Side_of_the_Moon

As a fan of minimal design, it always intrigues me to see just how minimal album art can go, while still achieving something that is memorable. Another Beatles classic that has come to be known as The White Album (1968), designed by Richard Hamilton, consisted of a simple white sleeve embossed with the name of the band, and each with a unique serial number.  This was perhaps as minimal as possible an album art can get...right? Well Kanye West proved that to be wrong with his 2013 release of Yeezus, with the packaging that Kanye designed himself. The album had no album art, and consisted of a simple CD encasing  with a red sticker affixed to the front, and the CD within the case (also blank in terms of artwork) showing through.

6a00e5536294b788330133f61596f6970b-320wi

6a00e5536294b788330133f61596f6970b-320wi

Yeezus4

Yeezus4

Despite the minimal nature of these two albums, I am sure that they will continue to stand the test of time and remain an important part of our design culture. In a world where we are visually bombarded on a daily basis, the designer (along with the musician) must figure out how to solve the problem of not getting lost to the consumer, and it is truly amazing to see just how they continue to solve this problem.

Below are some examples of album covers that I think have been successfully designed. Enjoy!

bob_marley_the_wailers-exodus2

bob_marley_the_wailers-exodus2

coverparadise.to

coverparadise.to

californication

californication

the-chronic-4ea687eb81068

the-chronic-4ea687eb81068

think_cd_cover_big

think_cd_cover_big

london-calling

london-calling

bollocksslv25

bollocksslv25

joy-division-unkown-pleasures

joy-division-unkown-pleasures

And here's the first album cover I ever designed for the Trinidadian band jointpop :

553762_10151052111241137_890095540_b

553762_10151052111241137_890095540_b

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Joseph Kosuth and the Idea of Art

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Trinidad & Tobago Film Festival Branding Review