Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Packaging: CD Covers

What it is? This is the cover of Periphery's self-titled album.
What is its function? Its function is to promote the band's music.
Where did you see it? I own the album.
What attracted you to the piece? I like how it has a very clean futuristic feel to it, and makes use of many brushes and textures, blended together in a way that looks pleasing.
Describe the style of the design & typography used. The design consists of a decorative uppercase "P", which is the bands logo. It is surrounded by several curved lines which form a circle, drawing one's attention inward. The band's name is underneath in a sans serif typeface spaced very openly, which I feel causes the viewer to read it a bit slower.
Does it relate to any of the styles/periods we are studying?
Describe the quality of the artwork. I feel that the quality of the artwork is pretty high overall. It definitely comes across as interesting to look at. After looking at it closely and analyzing the composition of the image, I feel like with some practice, I or anyone in the class could do better, so I wouldn't necessarily consider it top of the line.
What it is? This is the cover of the album "Planetary Duality" by The Faceless.
What is its function? Its function is to promote the band's music.
Where did you see it? I own the album.
What attracted you to the piece? The artwork appears to be hand drawn or painted and looks very lifelike, (considering it is a science-fiction piece). The colors are very vibrant, while the overall image has a dark feel to it, which I feel is appropriate for a death metal album.
Describe the style of the design & typography used. The band's logo is at the top, which is in a grungy hand drawn typeface typical of the modern death metal genre. At the very bottom is the name of the album in a sans serif typeface, and much like the image above (Periphery), it is spaced very openly. In contrast to the album before, this one is in all caps. I feel that the way both album titles are written causes the viewer to read them just a bit slower than normal, placing a sort of emphasis on the title, but differently than italics would.
Does it relate to any of the styles/periods we are studying?
Describe the quality of the artwork. I feel that the artist did a great job with the album cover and created a very captivating image that has a sense of "story" that draws the viewer in. This fits well with the band's lyrical content which relates to aliens and science fiction themes.



In both of the above album covers, there is a rather large logo front and center, and an album title in smaller font near the bottom, again centered. This seems to be a very common trend at the moment for album covers, specifically when it comes to the more extreme end of the musical spectrum.