CD COVERS RESEARCH

Here I've done a bit of research to get a good idea about the sorts of covers artists within my alternative genre have used to promote their products. I think this range of genre produce the most artistic and creative images and art work for their products to steer away from the typical pop scene where the band or artist are shown on the front. I, myself, prefer this approach more as it's more my taste and so will attempt to find some inspiration from other current artists. 

This is the album cover for Sigur Ros's Heim album. I love this cover and have the actual edition of it at home. The imagery of the front cover shown here is spread right through the fold out cover, much like the digipak I'm creating but only a 4 panel. The image is a high contrast frame of a hill leading to a forest with some sort of metal poles sticking out the ground. The image looks like it's been taken on an old over exposed polaroid which is what gives it it's authentic touch. The sharpness of the outlines appears to be in a soft focus which diminishes harshness from the solid shapes within it. One of my favourite elements of this cover is the face that the artist and the album name look like they have been drawn straight onto the cover in pencil which gives a really  authentic feel to it. The writing looks rushed and adds further simple hints of creativity to the design. Also it looks like the colour temperature has been reduced to create this cold blue effect on the image which effectively makes it quite chilling to look at. As for added effect O particularly like the purposely added damage look to the side of the image which looks like the developer has been touched before it's dry, along with the thumb print on the bottom right. It makes the package look old and worn and I think that's what makes the whole thing so appealing to view. The image its self isn't even anything in particular, its the colours and the tones that make it so effective and I doubt that the image has much to do with the connotations of the album either. I think this producer has gone more for the feel of the packaging perhaps what you feel whilst looking at the image is meant to represent the core of the music itself, maybe a slight feeling of isolation and emotion through something which looks very basic on the surface, but which is, in fact, shrouded with a deeper meaning. I think that this will be the main inspiration for my own digipak as this concept ties in well with the artist I have chosen to use for my main text. Both bands are quite instrumental and extremely emotive in their lyrics. Producing an image like this would benefit the sinister side to the track and as it's about the artists wife dying of cancer something such as this could potentially explore the emotion and atmosphere of the song itself. 

The other image to the right is of the back of the CD which acts as another cover seen as the pack contains 2 versions of the album, (one live and one pre-recorded) I love this image too as it brings such a sense of mystery to the viewer it's hard to actually tell what's going on in the frame. It appears to me that it's a cafe full of people moving about but looking closer to it I think it could be the image of 1 person moving around the space and then just photographed in motion to make it appear like more than 1 is there as the shadowing blur travel around the room. In the centre of the room tables are viable upon which teapots and some cups and the outlines of old antique chairs can be picked out through the shadows. The colours are warm and again, over exposed to give it an antique / worn feeling. However looking at the back wall an exit sign is visible, which is reasonably modern and sticks out from the contemporary feel of the room. This could perhaps give connotations of escapism and the feeling of wanting to run away from emotion or a situation. What sticks out the most though is the microphone placed close to the camera just off the centre of the frame. It's an old looking piece of equipment and to me adds a sense of reality to the theme of the artist. It's like they have taken something extremely ordinary and everyday but put their stamp on it, or could perhaps indicate a personal journey, from once working in a cafe to now touring the world in their band, or perhaps it could represent home, with figures coming and going and the door so open for people to walk freely away, but always having music as an escapism instead of using that door. The whole designs of the packaging give indicate that the outer layers aren't the most important thing about being a musician, it's actually about the music its self that makes a successful artist.

 Here's the cover for Bon Iver's For Emma, Forever Ago. It's a cover that I love again for it's simplicity and artistic approach to promotion. The main image is a tree scene, bold black through a high contrast but then the rest of the image has been distorted so that only the top of the tree can be seen. It looks like some kind of glue or melted down plastic has been spread over the image and then scratched and manipulated round the edges. This sense of mystery could again be compared to the concept of Sigur Ros's cover, it's the music that's important. The distortion almost looks like frosted glass placed over the picture so that half of it is blocked out. In fact the image could represent looking out a frosted window outside to the scenery. The outside of the cover hold a solid black border just around the top right corner. This allows the darkness of the tree to sink into the outer layer which makes the visual flow together. The font of the artist is much more simple than that of Sigur Ros's too. It looks like an adjustment of Times New Roman, in a soft light brown colour. This is then contrasted with the hand-written font of the album name in a pure white colour which matched the cold sky of the image below. I love the use of this type of font, I think it makes the cover look a touch more personal, as if the artist has written it himself.