Album Cover Research

We have researched what type of music we want to make our music video on and now we need to research what kind of album cover has the most effect on the viewer. We want our album cover to be attention grabbing and make the viewer want to pick it up and buy it. 

After looking on the internet at various websites we found a survey that Q did on the top 100 album covers.

This list has helped us to focus in on the most memorable and popular covers. Furthermore because the list has been made by such a popular music magazine it helps us to really focus in our target audience and what they want and find the most appealing. 

In particular our favorites were :

38. The Jimi Hendrix Experience, ''Electric Ladyland''

This is a very iconic album cover, the simple image shows the emotion and passion in Hendrix. The colours are vibrant and exciting. 

There is no text used on this album cover, this makes it even more simple and allows the reader to just concentrate on the image. However because Hendrix is a more established artist he is able to do this and still enable the reader to know who the album is by. 

On our album cover we will try to use the reds to highlight certain parts of her, such as her lips and lipstick. 

The effect used on this image could also be really effective on ours by creating this sketchy look as though the image has been sketched. 

82. Bruce Springsteen, ''Born To Run"

"Born to run"s main appeal is the composition. The simple black and white colouring make the image simple but the composition of Springsteen standing to the 1st and 2nd line of the image make the cover iconic. 

The mise en scene for this image is key because it makes him seem stylish and sum up the idea of "rock-star" therefore reinforcing our stereotypes of male singers. The guitar enhances this further. 

The text is also extremely important, the larger font highlights his name. The slim font used in the text looks simple and effective. 

The colours used are all very similar and dont stand out too much. This makes its subtle and not as vibrant as the Hendric cover. They both use different techniques to create their covers. 

1. Radiohead, "Ok computer"

This was chosen as the number one album cover. Its a very unique cover because it uses multiple images and blends them into each other. The colours are all perfectly matched and create this blurred result leaving the audience wondering what they are looking at, almost creating an abstract piece of art. 

The roads blur into each other as though the traffic is moving as you are looking at it. The effect used is like a sketch. 

The text used is simple and doesn't overcome the image. The title of the album is larger than the band. The font is a simple block text in bold that doesn't make too much of a statement it just highlights to the reader who it is by and what it is called. 

90. Cure, "Disintergration"

This album cover is really effective because it provokes a feeling of sadness, confusion which is what the title is all about. The image is very complex in what it may mean and what is happening however it is simple in its composition using an overlay of two images and just the title and name of the album. 

The colours used are of a similar palette with a mix of teals, pale blues and deep oranges. When mixed with the black they create this idea of confusion and decay. 

We particularly like this cover because it fits on with out idea of loneliness and the overlay of the two images creates a really interesting outcome.