Album Cover

I wanted to create an album similar to Arctic Monkeys Humbug album because of how Humbug replicates an old LP jacket. Because our target audience wears vintage clothing and as an audience they are quite creative and artsy so using an old LP style reflects their interests and styles. I have chosen the same yellow colour as the Humbug album because it reflects the vinatage, washed out feeling, but then I added noise on the album sides to add texture. The noise also reflects the setting of the music video (the yellow grain reminds me of the sand) and I like how the album cover ties in with the video therefore appealing to our target audience.

This part of the album is where you would open the CD and in the style of an LP it would be the inside of the album jacket. The CD would slide into the sides of the album, along with the album booklet with lyrics. With the image I wanted to choose one which was different from the album cover because the one on the album cover is direct, and is telling audiences that this is the artist. With the picture on the inside I wanted it to be more wistful, and romantic so the fact that she is looking away and looking at something else gives a sense of her reminiscing and reflects the attitudes of the actors in the video. I used a brush to go around the edges of the photo to create that same wave/dashed sand look because I wanted it to link back to the beach and the melancholy/romance of the beach.

I have used the same noise effect to create the feeling of sand to link to the front of the album, but I didn't want the back too fussy. There is a lot happening on the front of the cover that I wanted the back more simple, and I think the font decorates the album well enough. The font is quite feminine in the way that it curls at the end of the letters and the way it joins up. The target audience is quite a feminine/artsy audience so the font appeals to them because the font is decorative but is gentle and feminine.

With the album cover I created a new file on photoshop and began with the basic yellow (similar to Arctic Monkeys - Humbug) and then thought of adding noise because I think the noise is artsy/creative, adds a vintage quality, and the same sand/beach link from the video which all appeals to my target audience. I then selected the photo of the artist featured in the music video (using a circle select tool) and copied this image onto the cover. I selected a paint brush which when you painted with it it reflected the waves which links into the video. The paint brush makes it look more arty as well which appeals to the target audience. The font is artsy and feminine which again appeals to the audience I am targeting. I didn't want the font to overpowering and I think the font is simple, elegant and the reasons I said above - the font is simple, and make sures that the album isn't in your face. I chose the photo because it's very natural, and I like how it's posed but still using a natural background so to the audience it looks friendly, slightly formal, and the audience is introduced to the artist.

The spine reflects everything I have already said, and I have taken keys elements from the cover for the spine so when it's on the shelf the audiences can see the sand texture of the noise and the feminine font which all link to creativity.