Research : The History Of The Album Cover
Introduction
Here i have gathered information from the 1910 to present on music album covers and the meaning and reasons by the choices made.
Research
1910
1920's
In the early 1920's retailers started gathering many of these cardboard sleeves and binding them together with heavy paperboard or leather covers. These looked similar to large photo albums and, borrowing the name, were sold as record albums. These albums offered much greater protection for the discs than the original packaging and were seen as indispensible to disc owners that had seen too many of their fragile records broken.
1930's-1940's
Beginning in the 1930s the record companies started using these record albums to distribute bundles of records from one performer or a collection of performers with similar musical styles. Some of the first cover designs can be traced to these albums and the record company’s desire to graphically communicate the music each album held.
Alex Steinweiss the art director for Columbia Records is given credit for the concept of modern cover art. He experimented with different concepts and images through the late 1930s and into the early 1940s. 
During this time Columbia Records rebounded from the terrible years they had suffered during the depression to become one of the most prominent record companies in the United States. Much of this was due to their ground breaking use of graphical design. By the close of the decade all major recording companies had graphic design professionals on staff.1960's-1980's
The golden era of cover art design began in the early to mid 1960s and lasted into the early 1980s. During this time the major format for music was the 12 inch, long play disc or LP. Cover art became a part of the musical culture of the time. Often used to express graphically the musician’s artistic intent, it helped connect and communicate to listeners the message or underlying theme of the album.
Designers, photographers, and illustrators sometimes became famous for their cover art creations. Such notables as Andy Warhol and Frank Frazetta were taken from being known in their industry to becoming household names due to their cover art graphic design work. So respected and desired are the designs and illustrations found in cover art that there are numerous art galleries that specialize in helping collectors find rare album covers.
As the medium for recording transitioned from the LP to the compact disc many graphic designers failed to transition with it. Having worked for so long with the much larger canvas of the LP cover, switching to the smaller CD case left most designers dissatisfied with their results. Often artist and record companies simply tried to shrink the LP size art to fit the CD.
Album cover art, now almost exclusively CD and CD packaging artwork, went through a period of change and rebirth in the 1990s. Designers learned to capture snapshots and portions of the artist’s musical intent rather than trying to convey the entire message. Also designers started conveying the emotion of the music rather than the musical intent.
1990's-onwards
In the late 90s computer design programs started to overcome the physical limitations of the smaller CD packaging. With the ability to draw much tighter, finer lines and have even small details look crisp and sharp, once again designers were free to explore a larger variety of design options. As the technology continued to improve graphic designers adapted and were once again producing world class artwork.
In the present, CD design is undergoing a true renaissance. Rather than becoming obsolete in the digital age as many thought it would, graphic design is once again proving itself as the difference maker. The internet is now the largest record store imaginable. Now rather than browsing a few hundred albums or songs at a time you may be exposed to thousands and thousands. Since it would be impossible to listen to portions of all those thousands of songs the design of the accompanying artwork must cause potential listeners to stop and take notice and give this album a try. Video
Here is a video made by a group of students that provides an interesting the on the implications of album artwork in relation to marketing.
CD Digipacks analysis
Introduction
This post will help me with my own CD Digipack covers by allowing me to identify which codes and conventions are important on covers for the music and the viewers.
1. JP Harris and the tough choices "I'll keep Calling"(by me)
FRONT COVER
BACK COVER
INSIDE COVER 1 AND 2
2. Ben Howard "Every Kingdom"(by me)
FRONT COVER
BACK COVER
INSDIE COVERS
3. James Blunt "Back to Bedlam"(by me)
FRONT COVER
BACK COVER
INSIDE COVERS
4. Paolo Nutini "These Streets"(by Hannah)
FRONT COVER
BACK COVER
INSIDE COVERS
5. Eden "Everything but the girl"(by Hannah)
FRONT COVER
BACK COVER
INSIDE COVERS
CD Digi Pack ideas:
Introduction
When planning out our CD dig pack we took under consideration that from looking at existing Digipacks that the common theme which occur is that the front and back cover have the same theme and the inside front and insider back have the same colour and generally theme.
These are 3 digital DigiPacks mock up of which we may use for our final DigiPack. Throughout these three the general theme which seems to be nature. The reason why we use the 'Nature' Theme because Matt Corby's music and voice is very pure and natural. We also used our own photography in these Digipacks which might be an option when filming the music video.
These are different screenshots along the way when creating the Digipacks.
DigiPack 1
Reason: Digipack 1 includes the most nature themed photographs.This design was also the highest voted out of the three resulting in Me and Hannah knowing that nature is the most suitable,interesting and appealing theme. We will revisit this design when design the final outcome because we also prefer it out of the other Digipacks. It enhances raw and beautiful materials just like Matt Corby's talent.
DigiPack 2
Reason: Digipack 2 was the second most voted design which also heavily shows pure nature. This design shows a jungle with vibrant green shades which is different to the first and second design. This colour makes the digipack look more magical which represent some of the songs. We might look back on the layout of these images as it all ties in together while also matching with the words effectively.
DigiPack 3
Reason: Digipack 3 mostly includes dull but bright colours which still highlights happiness and purity. Having someone fully faced towards the camera smiling creates a fun and joyfully Digipack design. We have use two images but spaced them out on each section, this helps connect the all the images together whiteout over powering the final outcome of the design. We might use this technique in our final design however the colours and photographs are to simple for the look we want to create.
These are 3 digital DigiPacks mock up of which we may use for our final DigiPack. Throughout these three the general theme which seems to be nature. The reason why we use the 'Nature' Theme because Matt Corby's music and voice is very pure and natural. We also used our own photography in these Digipacks which might be an option when filming the music video.
These are different screenshots along the way when creating the Digipacks.
DigiPack 1
Reason: Digipack 1 includes the most nature themed photographs.This design was also the highest voted out of the three resulting in Me and Hannah knowing that nature is the most suitable,interesting and appealing theme. We will revisit this design when design the final outcome because we also prefer it out of the other Digipacks. It enhances raw and beautiful materials just like Matt Corby's talent.
DigiPack 2
Reason: Digipack 2 was the second most voted design which also heavily shows pure nature. This design shows a jungle with vibrant green shades which is different to the first and second design. This colour makes the digipack look more magical which represent some of the songs. We might look back on the layout of these images as it all ties in together while also matching with the words effectively.
DigiPack 3
Reason: Digipack 3 mostly includes dull but bright colours which still highlights happiness and purity. Having someone fully faced towards the camera smiling creates a fun and joyfully Digipack design. We have use two images but spaced them out on each section, this helps connect the all the images together whiteout over powering the final outcome of the design. We might use this technique in our final design however the colours and photographs are to simple for the look we want to create.
Audience feedback on DigiPacks
We asked 25 students ages 16-19 to see which DigiPack they thought would work best. The reason why we asked this age group is because this is the target audience for Matt Corby's music.
These are photographic events of asking our target audience which out of the three DigiPacks worked best.
When asking which one they liked best we also asked them what improvements we could make to improve and add to our final Digipack when coming to it.
This is the overall results from the survey. From this we can see that our target audience preferred the look of Digipack 1.
After knowing DigiPack 1 worked best we asked for feedback on what we could add or change when creating it.
Our target audience suggested that we experiment with different positioning of the text around each side, making sure that it can still be seen if we settle on using a white font. From talking about fonts they suggested that we could try different fonts to suit the images better. When choosing the font we need to take inconsideration which size but also the style, it being bold or normal.
Our taggert audience felt that on DigiPack 3, how the positioning and the size of the font given the artists name and the album named worked best at different sizes but keeping the same font and colour between the two.
These are photographic events of asking our target audience which out of the three DigiPacks worked best.
When asking which one they liked best we also asked them what improvements we could make to improve and add to our final Digipack when coming to it.
After knowing DigiPack 1 worked best we asked for feedback on what we could add or change when creating it.
Our target audience suggested that we experiment with different positioning of the text around each side, making sure that it can still be seen if we settle on using a white font. From talking about fonts they suggested that we could try different fonts to suit the images better. When choosing the font we need to take inconsideration which size but also the style, it being bold or normal.
Digipack Sketches
To create our own quick ideas we each drawn out 2 Digipack ideas on all sections. We included a smoking design, a smoke bomb design, LED lights design and a fire design. These all are different features but they all include some part of nature, the reason for this was because natural and raw nature of the songs as well as the genre of the music. Me and Hannah are interested in all of these digipacks which results in us having to revisit each design and trying to corporate them together to create a final design
To create our own quick ideas we each drawn out 2 Digipack ideas on all sections. We included a smoking design, a smoke bomb design, LED lights design and a fire design. These all are different features but they all include some part of nature, the reason for this was because natural and raw nature of the songs as well as the genre of the music. Me and Hannah are interested in all of these digipacks which results in us having to revisit each design and trying to corporate them together to create a final design
Overall
Overall Me and Hannah have created interesting and unique digipacks design ideas which some are suitable fro the genre of music and some not. When we come to complete are final digipacks look we will make another target audience section to revisit most of the digipacks on this page and see which features our target audience take an interested in.
CD DigiPack Designing: Evolving Ideas
Introduction
Although We thought the concept of our CD Digipack was creative and suitable to the artist vibe and genre, however we have decided to explore techniques and design on Photoshop to explore the different effects we could create that will make the CD Digipack more original and appeal to our target audience.
To start of we have decided to do some extra research on Photoshop books and magazines that will improve our Photoshop skills and help us achieve a higher quality CD Digipack designs.
Photoshop Books
Here are photographs showing the books and then the main pages inside the magazines that we have explored. We have research on three types of magazines as each one shows us a wide range of techniques and skills to create different styles and aesthetics.
Number 1: Photoshop Creative
This magazine show what effects we could create with light, colour but mostly with the use of 'brushes'.
These techniques could help us create a more magical look within our own photographs.
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We could test out this look to see if any of our own images could be gathered together to form a beautifully unrealistic image.
This technique has mixed smoke with nature, this is one of the main features we have shown in the music video. Creating this look in our photos would not only give a mysterious appeal but also ink the CD Digipack covers to the music video once completed.
Here is a short explanation we found that guides us into creating a sun raise piercing though the photograph.
Not only would this match with the subtle and delicate aesthetics we want to achieve in the music video it will also help us create more natural light within the photographs as we can not use a lot of electric lights in this process because of the location.
 Here is an another short step by step explanations of a technique however this time it is showing how to create textures. We found this interesting to look at and we might test this technique out however for the final design a more natural aesthetics would be more suitable. |
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| This page has a completely different appearance to the other pages we have focused on. This is because of the LED lights we are using in the music video, we wanted to see if there was any way to achieve a vibrant photograph for the cover of the CD Digipack if it was chosen. |
Number 2: Photoshop School
The second magazine we looked at was the ' Photoshop School' book. This did not have any photographs created that links to are own ideas, however the whole book helps us with the simple or complex techniques and skills we would need to have to acheive a high quality photoshopped image.
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| These pages show us how to fix the most common problems when photoshopping a photograph. If we get suck along the way of the photoshopping process we will look back to this page and then fix the problem which is key for all our editing. |
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| This pages more Pacific and useful as we might want to enhance the shadows on our photographs if the lighting went wrong instead of capturing another set of photograph and wasting filming time. |
Even though this page shows a person within the image this does not mean we can not use his effect with nature of close ups of objects etc.
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| This will be the most useful technique we could use because some photographs we take are suitable however the sizing isn't quite right. This tool will change that and make a more effective photograph. |
Number 3: Photoshop Creative (Masks)
This magazine is also a 'Photoshop Creative' book however this concentrates in masks. Most of the work in this magazine is very artistic which is important as we might create an artistic design for our CD Digipack covers.
This magazine is also a 'Photoshop Creative' book however this concentrates in masks. Most of the work in this magazine is very artistic which is important as we might create an artistic design for our CD Digipack covers.
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| This was a small photograph we explored as it focuses on nature. This picture is very unrealistic however the lighting and art of it creates an interesting photograph that we could explore on. |
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| Here is a complex step by step on how to transform a photograph into a painting. This would be extremely usefully for us as we wanted to create art for the cover but also make it look exactly like the photographs we capture when filming. |
This was a little technique we spotted that would make a unique effect on our photographs, we will test this out however it might be to vibrant for the look we want to achieve.
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| This is also a small step by step technique that interested us as it combines both human features and nature which is the main features we are exploring in our own CD Digipack designs. |
Front Cover Experiments
From photoshop creative (brush) magazine we tried a short complex step by step on texture and merging. We did not complete this technique as we didn't like the appearance of the photograph as we realised we didn't want this as our front cover.
Back Cover Experiments
From the magazine photoshop creative (mask) we tried to re-created the 'Paint like Monet' technique which we followed a 20 step explanation on how to create this back cover. However, the outcome was not as we expected due the blurring of the image, the unclear step by step guide and we will not continue to use this feature in the future designs.
Inside Left and Right Cover Experiments
We have used the photoshop school magazine to re create this 'recover loss shadow detail' technique. From the final outcome we prefer the original photograph because it has more natural and realist aesthetics.
Filter Experiments:
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Here are some quick experiments we tried out on the filter gallery on photoshops. We prefer using these tools as we did not like the effect photoshops techniques created.
Here is some photographs showing Hannah and I completing these photoshop experiments.
Conclusion
Overall, when it comes to designing the finally CD DigiPack covers we will be using the filter gallery on photoshop. From our experiments we found out this worked best and will hopefully achieve the unique and artist qualities.
Final CD Digipack Advertisement
Introduction
After all the experiments and testing we have completed we are now ready to create our CD Digipack for the album 'Telluric' by Matt Corby. We finished our filming for the music video before we created this Digipack because we wanted to link them together to create more promotion and a unique twist.
Images we have used:
For the inside left panel that includes a quotation. We took this photograph when we was testing out locations however it is a very earthy , peaceful image which also includes feet which Matt Corby includes a lot in his album covers. 
For the inside right panel were the CD is placed. This photograph was taken while we filmed the smoke bomb scenes and this picture had the most mysterious appearance. The colour palette also matches the other images gentle. 
This was an image taken on one of the filming days with Ophelia at the Quarries This shot is long enough to act as both the front and back cover which helps the images connect.
W have used this image for the little white marks that is a logo which we placed on our CD back cover included in the small print.
We used this image for the barcode that is positioned on the bottom left corner of the back cover.
Steps
Here we have screenshoted all the steps we have taken to complete the CD Digipack and improvements we made along the way. We have used photographs we had taken thought-out filming for the music video which has improved the final outcome of the Digipack.
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Here we tried a photograph we had captured with filming the smoke bo,b scenes. We thought this was a very colourful and interesting image however it was difficult to match with other images and connect them for a unique but simple CD digipack appearance.
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We then changed the image to another smoke bomb photograph but with a less inpactful and busy colour palette. However this images was also hard to combined with because of the amount of nature it includes and the dull colour is shows.
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After that we tried a photograph that includes autumn colours and the stress Ophelia, this image worked well with the other images we had chosen so we tried it as the back and front cover and then as the inside covers.It worked best as the back and front cover because of the layout and positioning.
We then added in the quotations, artist name, alum title and track list. W chose the front chalkboard and the colour white for all the text due to the busy colours within the images. The chalkboard front helped make the text have the look of being drawn onto the Covers which help create and artistic appearance thought the CD Digipack.
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To add to the CD Digipack to make it have a more professional look we have added a barcode which we tried without the white but it wasn't strong enough to notice so we kept the white and then added in the small prints explaining who wrote the music and produced it and the contact information. 
Final Outcome
Target Audience Feedback
We asked our target audience to give use feedback on our CD Digipack. From doing Mock Up Digipack people voted that the best design which works best was the 'leaves and nature': We asked our target audience to give responses to our final digipack and these were their opinions:
' From looking at your previous Mock up Digipack I can clearly see that you took the 'nature' idea, which I personally think worked best, to go with the genre of Matt Corby's music. By using white font colour it is clear to see as the colour of the imagines are quite dark and it splits up the text.'
' This Digipacks works well as I can Cleary see that some of these images are picked from your music video, by looking at your mock music videos. This works well as it all links together with your music video. I like how you have used your singer as the front cover and it links to existing CD Digipacks.'
Overall our target audience agreed and thought that our final CD Digipack shows a clear link from our research to our music video and reflects the genre of music our artist is.
We asked our target audience to give use feedback on our CD Digipack. From doing Mock Up Digipack people voted that the best design which works best was the 'leaves and nature': We asked our target audience to give responses to our final digipack and these were their opinions:
' From looking at your previous Mock up Digipack I can clearly see that you took the 'nature' idea, which I personally think worked best, to go with the genre of Matt Corby's music. By using white font colour it is clear to see as the colour of the imagines are quite dark and it splits up the text.'
' This Digipacks works well as I can Cleary see that some of these images are picked from your music video, by looking at your mock music videos. This works well as it all links together with your music video. I like how you have used your singer as the front cover and it links to existing CD Digipacks.'
Overall our target audience agreed and thought that our final CD Digipack shows a clear link from our research to our music video and reflects the genre of music our artist is.
