Complete Guide To The Perfect Album Cover

Some album covers will be remembered for the rest of our lives, as much for their creativity as for the music they represent. A great album cover is similar to a great logo in that it endears your 'brand' to an audience by providing them a look into the world you've built via your music and performance. All aspects of the album cover, from colours to typographic choices, should be thoroughly examined rather than being an afterthought of development. Here's how to make an album cover that accurately portrays you and your music.

Why Do I Require A Professionally Produced Album Cover?

Although music is an abstract art form, it does have an unmistakable commercial component to it. Even when music is purchased through a digital shop rather than from record store shelves, a cover design that delivers its own message about the music contained within and captures the eye is vital if you want an album to sell.

There's also a long history of excellent album cover design that have been inextricably linked to the music they represent, with the picture becoming an inextricable component of the music. It's similar to how effective branding communicates specific ideas about a company; the images that accompany your album release may assist your audience understand you and your music.

Album Cover Design Tips

Decide Who You Want To Be

In some ways, your album cover should be akin to branding, which is the technique of developing a visual identity for your company. Before you can create an excellent cover, you must first grasp the basics: who are you as a musician or band? Who is your target audience? When people listen to your music, what do you want them to think or feel? Is there anybody or anything that inspires you? Answering these questions will help you gain a better understanding of your identity as a musician, which you may then visually convey. Try to distill your music down to a fundamental goal statement, as you would in a branding exercise, and use this as a springboard for producing a visual depiction of it.

Understand The Psychology Of Colour

Even the simplest designs send a message, even if it's tough to see right away—consider how much Apple's logo says about their devotion to forward-thinking, straightforward, and user-friendly design. In this case, colour psychology plays a significant influence. The impact of the vibrant, exciting colour red versus the soothing hue of blue is vastly different, so consider what colours best communicate who you are in your album artwork.

Make Use Of The Latest Typographic Trends

Imagine reading your daily newspaper in Comic Sans rather than Georgia. You may use typography to great effect on your album cover, especially if it's a main point. For example, Todd Tourso's modern cover for Beyoncé's self-titled album is refreshing in comparison to the overdone glam photos seen on album covers throughout the artist's career. Metallica's Metallica (The Black Album) album cover and typography used in boxing-match placards were inspirations for Tourso.

Experiment With Various Picture Styles

Many album covers include a portrait of the artist inside the artwork, but as many creatives have demonstrated, this doesn't always mean a glamour or back-to-the-wall band image. Swift considers the 1980s to be "a moment of infinite promise" and a decade she adores. It felt only natural to shoot her album cover with a Polaroid camera. Although Polaroids have been available since 1937, instant cameras did not become cheap until the 1980s, making them one of the decade's most popular forms of expression.

Swift's songs gained legitimacy because of the Polaroid idea (or at least to how it was perceived). Aside from a significant premise, it was also a unique visual approach that captures her as the face of her music in a fresh, new way on art cover.

Match The Music's Mood

When it comes to album cover design, getting to know both the music and the artist(s) you're working with is a smart place to start. A deep grasp of the tone that the music is attempting to produce helps streamline the design process and bring the final product closer to the artist's intention.

Björk's album covers, for example, have always been considered to be as experimental as her music. Björk channelled her unique vision of immersive performances once again for her album Homogenic, working with designer Alexander McQueen to create a costume for the figure she'd imagined, bringing the spirit of her songs to life visually. Would an all-white cover with no details appropriately depict her music? Would a happy photo of her in a t-shirt adequately convey the breadth of her work and musical legacy?

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