The first disc records, ones that we would recognize as such, appeared around 1910. Most often these were packaged in plain brown Paper or cardboard sleeves. Occasionally and enterprising retailer would print his store name on the sleeve but generally they were unadorned.
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.
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.
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.
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.
CDD Research: Analysing Conventions Of Existing Media Products
After reading and analysing the examiners comments about research into existing CDD, we decided to look at different album covers and the conventions that we could see. We looked at the conventions of the front, back, inside front, inside back and spine covers on six different CD covers. We then found the similar conventions that most of them shared.
Below are the notes that we wrote about the similar convention that we found in the CD covers.
From this task i have learnt that there are many similar conventions found in all types of CDD. There are also many conventions that are shared between albums of the same genre. This has given me different idea about the conventions that i should use on my CDD. I have also seen the types of images that fit with the genre's conventions. I have also seen the smaller details that i will need to include in my CDD, for example, a production company symbol.
Analysing Existing 4 Pannel Digipacks:
CDDigipack Planning Sketches:
After looking at different artists that are similar to my own, i have drawn up 4 sketches of full CDD's that i feel would be suitable for my chosen artist.
In the sketch above i have chosen to use a image of the artist lying down with her hair all spread out onto the floor a the front cover image. This is a common image for female artists as it has her face in the image and show off keep qualities such as hair and facial features. She have bold eye makeup so that her eyes stand out and in the front cover as she will be looking straight into the camera. On the back will be a large number one as that is the title of the album. The images inside the CD Digipack will be representing love as that s what most of Zara's songs are about.
In the image above, the picture of the front cover will be of the artist will be standing facing the camera, with her hand on her hips and looking into the camera. her hair will be pulled back from her face and be resting behind her shoulders so that the main focus is on her face and her eyes. The back cover will just be another picture of the artist bit a close up of her with a different hair style and makeup. In the inside will be images relating to love as most of the songs on the album are about love and relationships.
In this image above there will be the artist on the front cover and will have her arm up with her hand resting in the top of her head. This shows that she has some attitude and is confident within herself. On the back cover will be a image of the artist, showing her face but another focus will be on her hair. This would be a very important quality for this artist because of her age and her audience who like to perfect their own image. The inside would be of images to do with love or symbolise love. The part where the CD would be placed would have words to do with the songs or lyrics in a circular motion or shape so that it fitted I with the circular shape of the CD.
Finally, is plan has the artist leaning on the front cover. This shows off her assets and shows she has an attitude as she is leaning up against a wall. On the back cover there will be a picture of the artist putting her hand though her hair and will be at an angle. This is to make her too sexy and focus on her hair and face. On the inside of the CD Digipack there will be a picture of the artist and the male in the music video so that the CD Digipack links with the music video. The other image will be edited to make the work 'love' with the 'o' bigger so that the CD will be the same shape as the 'o'.
Practise Editing
I then used photos that we had taken to try and recreate on example of the CD Digipack that we had planned.
Firstly I found a background on the internet which was a pale colour that fir the 'girly' theme of our tourist and would be attractive to our chosen audience. I then chose my own image that i wanted on the front cover and then removed the background colour so that you can only see the background of the CD Digipack. I also placed the picture in the centre of the front cover so it was the main focus and eye catching to the audience.
I then added the name of the album and the artists name to the front cover and used the colour pipette to extract the colours of the scarf to use as the font colour.
I then entered the image i wanted on the back cover and place it in one side so that it looked like the artist was leaning on the edge of the CD Digipack. It also left spec to put in the text needed on the back cover.
I then added all the names of the songs featured on the album, the record label, barcode, the artists website and the small print onto the back cover.
I then chose a lighter background on the internet which i could ten place my chosen images on top.
I added a image of the artist and her boyfriend in our music video. This helps the audience connect what they see in the CD Digipack and the music video.
Finally, i found a picture of a love heart sweet and added it to the inside right of my CD Digipack. This works well as the shape of the CD is the same as the shape of the love heart sweet. It also links to the music video a the love heart says 'it's love' and the music video is about love too.
Final CD Digipack
To create the background we used photoshop and the fading effect. We chose the colour pink as it did not clash or blend with any colours in the artist's clothes the day of the photo shoot. We decided the fade to white would be upwards as the text would stand out against the white colour.
I then duplicated the layer and placed it on the back cover of the CDD. This was done so that there was a continuous theme through out our front and back cover.
I then duplicated the layer 2 more times and rotated them so that the fade would be the same as the outside covers. This was done so that the theme was continued throughout the whole CDD.
We decided on the front cover image and i then inserted it in and removed the background from the photo. I then placed the image in the middle of the front cover so that it is the focus of the front cover.
I then added the name of the album to the left of the image and the artists name to the right of the image. The colour chosen was the same colour as the artists lips. This tied the colour of the text in with the image. It also stood out against the background colour of white and light pink.
We then chose the picture that would be placed on the back cover of the magazine. I placed it to to the lefthand side because of the picture's angle. The artist is leaning to the left and this fit perfectly on the righthand side of the cover, still leaving room for the track list and other elements that still needed to be placed on the back cover.
Using the same colour as the artists lips and font as the front cover, i added in the track list to the back cover. This was placed at the lefthand side of the cover, next to the image.
I then put on the bar code and record label to the back cover. The barcode was put as the bottom left of the the cover as this is where i found it most on the CD covers i had previously looked at. The recording label was placed between the image and the picture. This was an ideal place as it was just the right size and it is seen easy when looking at the back cover.
I then added in the artist's website and the small print about copyright at the bottom. The small print was then pit above the barcode as this was a big enough space and would not take the focus off any of the other images or text that were on the back cover.
I the added the name of the album and the artist's name to the spine of the CDD. These were also in the same font style and colour as the front cover. They were placed to the top of the spine as that if were i found most of the album names and artist's names on the other CDDs i looked at in my research and planning.
I then placed the record label's logo and the serial number on the spine too as this is what i found when i look at other CDDs in my research and planning.
I then took a photo of the love heart sweet and made it the same size as the hole would be in the cd. This means that the love heart sweet will still be sen through the hole of the CD when it is placed in the digipack.
I the added an cut around our image we had taken of the artist and the actor. I use the eraser to remove all of the background so that the image that was left was just of the artist and actor. I then placed a black clipping mask over the top of the image and then moved the image on top of the clipping mask, leaving a silhouette of the image that was originally there.
I then found a youtube video on how to make text spiral on photoshop. I followed the stops on this tutorial to make the lyrics to my song spiral and fit to the shape of a CD as this is what the target audience said they thought was a good idea.
This is our final CD Digipack saved as a JPEG file.
"Endless" Zara Larsson Completed CD Digipack (embedded as a .jpeg file)
This is the final CD Digipack after receiving feedback from our target audience and making slight changes.
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