Album cover analysis

We also need to make an album cover, the most important thing when making the CD cover is for it to be visually attractive for it to stand out and for people to buy it. I also have to ensure that the cover reflects the bands individuality but also the genre.

Album Cover analysis
This particular CD cover is very simple looking, and not very eye catching. The lettering is clearly displayed at the bottom right corner, it can be described as neat and simple perhaps even a bit boring. The dominant image within the front cover is of the star which connotes not only that she is the artist but also that her music may also be centred around her.

The physical appearance of the star is that she is well presented and her facial expression reveals that she is happy, this highlights that the music may also be centred around happiness. The colours are dominating lilac and white suggesting that the music may be very happy and lively genre and also shows her femininity.
In conclusion I think her Cascada's CD cover as a whole doesn't work too well, I believe that there should be more on the CD that would attract potential buyers, In my own CD I will try my hardest to make the cover visually attractive and unique.


Muse- Black holes and Revelations

This cover by Muse is from their third album, Black holes and Revelations. It clearly displays four bald men sitting at a table in a background which appears to be red and dusty. I think this is Mars, I can see it is the planet Mars from the background and how Mars has a distinctive 'red' colour.

This album cover is very different from others, although there isn't much on the cover it connotes onto another level, that the band are meaning to be metaphoric, this can reflect their personality's and perhaps is shown in their songs.

The font is clearly shown in the top left hand corner, in clear black lettering- this can be for many reasons, most importantly so that it can be seen easily by the audience but also connotes the band's individual brand name 'muse' and black holes and revelations being the albums name taken from one of their songs 'starlight' highlighting the bands imagination but also showing their personal reference.

The physical appearance of the men cannot be seen clearly but we can see that they are wearing quite strange, eccentric type clothes highlighting the genre of the songs and also their own personal individuality at the same time.

In conclusion, I personality think this particular album cover works very well, not only is it visually attractive it conveys the individuality of the band.

Mika- Boy who knew too much

The boy who knew too much by Mika is a very unique album cover, it features a lot of graphic images inspired by a pop art style. On the right hand side we can see a picture of the artist,this is very strange as many artists have a whole image of them dominating the cover,on this cover we can only see a small image of him suggesting that his music may not all be about him and the rest of the cover is much more dominating,instantly attracting the attention of the audience. The images are painted from bright and vibrant colours,the pictures on the front are illustrated interpretations of each one of his songs which cannot be said of other artists as this can be very difficult to do. The album name 'the boy who knew too much' may be a reflection of him and his album suggesting that he perhaps knows too much and everything is confusing and mystifying and thrown onto the cover. The album is similar to his debut album which also features cartoon images of this kind which is good as it lets us as an audience to identify it as mika's album.In conclusion I think that Mika's album is one of the my favourite, not only is it easy to make, its visually attractive and attracts the audience because of its unique quality. The distinct style of drawing would also target different kinds of people reflecting his type of music.



Story of the year- in the wake of determination



This album by story of the year is very different from the other albums I have analysed, as it doesn't actually have a dominant image on or does it feature a picture of the band and only a title of album and the band's name and no prominent art work on the front. However there is a background art, from first glance this image looks like water and green paint being thrown at the album to make a nice combination of the two colours, but when I looked closer I realised it was a dragonfly being killed portraying violence and also the violence in their lyrics. I think the front cover is also very harsh showing the harshness that is in life. The albums font also matches the colour of the dragonfly's blood contrasting both of the colours together.




In conclusion I believe this album cover is quite successful because from the visuals shows the story of the music and the type of music the band makes only from the album art.

The Beatles- Abbey road



Abbey road was an album released by The Beatles, it was the last album of theirs.The whole idea of the image is that Paul McCartney is dead, also suggesting in a song called 'Paul is dead' and other hidden lyrics in their songs.



The physical appearance of the band members is distinctively unusual, John Lennon is dressed all in white, similar to a clergyman or maybe a 'god' like being. Ringo starr is wearing a black suit representing an undertaker. Paul Mccartney wears a black suit and walks out of the step with the other beatles, it is common for people to be buried with no shoes on, and Paul is wearing no shoes, revealing that he is a ghost or he is in fact dead. Right in the background we can see a hearse and it looks like they are walking towards it.


In conclusion I think this cover is very successful and is it my favourite as it tells a story, at first glance it just looks like 4 men crossing on a zebra crossing but after looking at for longer time the story is revealed.


I think its use of hidden messages is very clever although takes a lot of thinking to work out, it also features all members of the band showing the audience whose album it is. The idea that Paul McCartney is dead was a publicity stunt carried out by The Beatles and so supported this cover, the idea of Paul wearing the white outfit and the Hearse in the background made the audience think Paul was dead, adding a surreal effect. I think if a person doesn't understand the dominant image on the CD cover then its not very successful, because it doesnt have anything to offer the people who can't see the hidden message or who aren't actually Beatles fan. Although I do belive that the cover is successful when targeting fans of The Beatles, but not very when attracting new fans.