Album Cover Research

Album Covers Moodboard

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

- Artist Title
- Album Title
- Track Listing
- Record Label(s)
- Producer(s)
- Copyright Information
- Barcode

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

I would categorise the album covers by genre/gender.

Electro/Dubstep (first row on above picture)

These album covers have a nature theme and are very mysterious. These album covers rarely feature any artists and revolve around a particular theme rather than artist branding.

Male Hip-Hop Artist (second row on above picture)

The album covers very much focus on the artist and their branding/imagery. For example, Wretch 32 includes his classic font which is part of his artist identity. They generally feature duller colours, in comparison to Female album covers.

Female Solo Pop Artist (third row on above picture)

Again the album covers focus on a particular artist and their branding/imagery. The difference, is that the females are made to look attractive and are objectified, whereas the males are made to look very cool/relaxed. These album covers are generally very fun/bright.

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

I think the purpose of an album cover is to sum up an artist in one word, it's basically all their ideas/branding in one image. They need to appeal to an audience however and therefore they often feature eye-catching graphics. You could call it a form of marketing as it advertises the artist.