* Opinions express in this article are not endorsed nor shared by Buddy Guy's Legends or Buddy Guy.
My younger brother has a saying: “You can do anything- that doesn’t mean you should.” Can you count the number of times you’ve felt that way about something? Designing isn’t easy, especially because everyone has an opinion about how something should look. Quantifying the value of design can be difficult because it’s hard to measure.
Yes, you can save money by having your sister (or brother, or friend, or friend of a friend who took a Photoshop class) take a stab at it. 1 time out of 100 it will turn out to be worth it. Nothing, let me repeat, nothing will ever replace a designer, a photographer, a code writer, an actual musician (as opposed to a recording), or any other specialist for that matter. Yes, technology can provide us means to create works of art, but there is no denying artists themselves are unique entities.
In the time I’ve worked at Buddy Guy’s Legends, I have seen hundreds of albums come through our door. It took a while before I started really paying attention to their design. When I did start to look at what was going on, I noticed two painful and sad facts. Blues artists typically had bad artwork, and really bad photos in said artwork.
I’ve mentioned it before in our CD reviews: good artwork can draw new listeners to your album. Conversely, bad artwork can put new listeners off your album, no matter how good your music may be. You wouldn’t buy an apple with rotten skin, no matter the promise of delicious fruit that lies below. Below are some case studies of effective and ineffective CD design.
Blondie - Parallel Lines
In design, one of the most important ideas is hierarchy. Parallel Lines does this perfectly, in the most simple and straightforward way. Vertical black and white lines allow the curved silhouettes of the band to stand out, while the band’s dress mimics those lines, keeping them from standing out too much. The placement of the band members- half on black, half on white- further keeps important features like their hair and pants from sinking into the background.
Let’s look at what they’ve done right. In this case, Blondie stands mid right and dressed in white, causing her to stand out from the other band members. Notice how your eye is almost instantly drawn to her? Notice how as soon as it is, your eye is drawn directly up to the album title? With the exception of the shoes of the band, it is the only color on the album. You can’t help but see it, and once you do, you find it hard to see anything else first without trying.
That’s because in order of hierarchy, the title comes first, Blondie second, and the band third. Simple, right? Check this out.
Notice how the white of the band’s shirts are almost completely on the white lines. From the top, the white lines lead us to the shirts which end at the waist, and are stacked in a way that lead us to Blondie. The black shadow, meant to be a break point from backdrop to floor, highlights the band’s shoes. They balance out the title of the album without drawing the attention of the eye. Look at them- see how the dull color doesn’t really strike your curiosity? The composition of this album is stunning. The artist did an amazing job of creating a visually complete album cover.
One last thing. Did you notice how the band members’ ties are all super straight and vertical like the lines in the background? Did you also notice how the top of the ties act like arrows, pointing you to the album name? Yep.
Jimi Hendrix - The Ultimate Experience
Abstract concepts can be a difficult thing to pin down design wise. Art can sometimes simply be a feeling or the desire to invoke a feeling. There are concepts you can pick out, but the facts can be a little more hazy, which in this case I suppose would be most appropriate.
Of all of the rules designers follow as guides for good design, the most important is that those rules can (and sometimes should) be broken.
This is quite the contrast from the Blondie album. There are fewer elements, but similarly the elements have come together to create something beautiful. By overlaying the image of Jimi, they created a connection, allowing the background to bleed through the foreground image. That connection makes Jimi feel like a part of the image despite being the top of the hierarchy. Add to that the use of highlight color from the background on Jimi himself, and it makes a solid, cohesive and impressive concept and composition.
Once again in contrast from the Blondie album, it is the absence of color that allows the title to stand out. It’s important but not imposing on the visage that everyone (even the kids these days) knows. Another interesting aspect is the change from the signature of his name to the classic serif font style for the subheader. The Ultimate Experience is emboldened by and made more serious by this classic all caps look. Notice also how the signature of the title highlights and frames Jimi. The J pointing to his right shoulder, the stems of the H and D pointing you to his face, and the i extended beyond the usual size finishing the frame with his left shoulder. This is of course reflected in the stoic appearance of the photo as well. Jimi, despite looking serious, is dressed in his classic style with a whimsical and artistic vibe.
It’s not often you find album covers that completely embody the artist. The Ultimate Experience comes up in spades.
Victor WainWright - Boom Town
It’s important that we not only explore good design, but bad design as well. Sometimes it’s easy to look at a design and say or know it’s bad. There are reasons for that. There are an exasperating number of problems with this artwork, but the major issue is that it’s built out of parts that don’t match.
If you’re going to make a composition comprised of multiple photos you’ve got to do it well. They need to be able to fit together and appear coherent. Using low resolution images next to high resolution images, as they’ve done here, calls attention to the fact that the image is constructed. Additionally, each photo indicates a very different light source. The car’s perspective is another problem, as it doesn’t match the street. As one of the major elements, it’s imperative to get that right. If you’re not a designer, you might not be able to point out these problems individually- but something will definitely feel off. Like a cheap disguise, you know what they’re going for but it’s not convincing.
Remember everyone, bad design punishes everyone, not just the client.
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