I label myself as a designer for music, with a preference for cover art, so I figured it would be nice if I’d write more on-topic about that on my blog. After writing my previous post I thought: “It’s relevant and I like it, so why not write more about it?” So I’m just going to. I’ll try figuring out several approaches on how to write more about CD design and this is the first of a few subjects I will be delving into: trends in cover art.
The thing I see more often than I’d like, is recurring concepts in cover art. CD designs with a similar artwork (generally speaking of course). This doesn’t limit itself to just CD designs, you can see it in movie posters as well. It’s also not something ‘new’, to emphasize that I’ve focused on some older record covers in this post.
Now I know that originality is a totally different subject I could write about for quite a bit, so I will refrain from doing that in this post. With this one I’m just pointing out some copying behavior, in order to highlight the originality of some cover designs. The top image in this post obviously depicts the coming of crowds with hats in record design. Now here’s a few artworks with people and coffins as a core concept:
Some illustrative hotel scenes:
There are a few more record covers at the bottom of this post of which I’m sure you can figure out the similarities for yourself.
It seems like there only has to be one designer to create an artwork worth talking about, and with it we’ll have some more new CD designs for any random artist or band. What’s up with that? I refuse to accept that all of these covers match the concept of the record, it’s just too obvious for my taste. The copies were probably just lifting on the success from the first in line. Unfortunately that doesn’t say a thing about the music, which is a disappointment in my opinion. Most of the times the covers are pretty bad ass, it’s just too bad they’re not as original as I thought.
As a designer myself I strive to create original artworks that fit with the music it’s for. So I just can’t fathom why designers, or the artists/bands themselves for that matter, would so blatantly copy the concept of another design. Feel free to let me know what you think of this via Facebook or Twitter.
In my previous blog post I’ve shared some of my thoughts on cover art. I have to admit that it has a slight negative feel to it, that’s because I was compelled to write it after viewing another disappointing cover design. Despite that; if you’re interested in how I think about cover art, you might find it an interesting read. Go to my previous post: “Venting my thoughts on cover art”.
15
Feb
2012
25
Jan
2012
06
Jan
2012
30
Dec
2011
21
Dec
2011
Nederlands
