R+P Post 10: Album covers that have inspired and influenced my ideas

Below are some albums we looked out for inspiration.

 

What I like about these albums

- bold

-clear image of artist

-clear album name

-clear brand image

A debut album cover should:

• Artist face covering the album – important for marketing
• Clear artist name – important for marketing
• Eye catching – to attract attention
• Clear colour combos – to represent the genre of the music
• Must haves: distributor, barcode, year of release, contact information, copyright logo, record label logo

A common theme is the artist looking directly at the camera which provides direct address. This is what I would like to have in our album cover as it will help create a relationship between the artist and the audience, a side profile would give the wrong message of a disconnected artist. In terms of fonts I would like to have something simple but also colourful and bright as that will match the genre of garage/dance. I would prefer to shoot the cover on location to give it a more gritty feel however doing it in the studio would be much better as then we would have a lot more control over the lighting

Album cover – close analysis of Katy Perry's Roar single cover

A strong theme in this single cover of Katy Perry is the 'lion'. Seen from the lion print border, the two lions on the letter 'o' as well as the jacket with a lion roaring. This connotes ideas of strength and power and by looking at context we can pull out ideas of female empowerment. However what's interesting is the fact that there is still a very feminine undertone with the cover, with pink tones and very pretty makeup. Suggesting that being both feminine and strong are not mutually exclusive. As well as this there is a very strong form of direct address, however with Katy looking over her shoulder we can see someone who is also a bit rebellious

In conclusion, this research has been very useful as I now know the conventions of an album cover especially a debut artist's one. As a result I now have clearer ideas of what I want to include for our own album cover.