Week 2 Task: Album covers analysis

Front:

Back:

1. What are the typical features that an album cover has? Make a list of all the elements they have in common.


FRONT:

• image of the artist(s)
• name of the artist - large, bold font
• name of the album - large, bold font
• parental advisory if there is swearing
• colour scheme

BACK:

• continued colour scheme
• track listing
• info on record company
• featured artists
• copyright
• artist website
• barcode

INSIDE BOOKLET

• continued colour scheme
• more images of artist
• info on tracks
• lyrics - sometimes
• thank you from the artist
• credits to those involved in making track

SPINES

• title of album
• name of artist

CD

• continued colour scheme
• artwork matches the cover, i.e. Lily Allen's debut album Alright, Still. 

2. How would you categorise the covers in front of you? Are there any other ways of distinguishing between them other than generically?

• The albums I used were from when I was young, ranging from 2000-2007 and the main category to distinguish the albums would be through genre. I split the albums into garage/UK hip hop, pop, hip hop/r&b and rock. 
• I also split them up into bands and single artists and immediatly could see similarities between all the band covers who used a layout of name and album title at the top, and a large group photo taking up most of the space.

3. Album covers serve many different functions. What do you think these are (ie what is their purpose?)

• I think that the main purpose of an album is to show audiences what an artist is selling, so that they can buy in to the brand. When I grouped the albums according to genre, it was clear that the pop covers were very obvious, with a simple photo of the band and the rock ones such as Avril Lavigne (right) were more understated. Audiences would see a cover and immediatly identify it with the genre. This can be useful for mainstream artists who want to sell their music but alternative artists could want to create an enigmatic feel, which relates to their music.

• There is usually a relationship between the text and images. We are drawn to the artwork as it is normally placed centrally and the text anchors this, such as the title 'Nellyville' from Nelly's album, which adds to the rustic, urban feel. We can see that this creates an image for the artist, branding or even re-branding them in a way that audiences will be able to identify and become familiar with.