Judged by its Cover

ALBUM AND BOOK DESIGN

Do you judge a book by its cover?

• They say “Don’t judge a book by its cover” but one of the most important parts of book cover design is creating a design that makes readers want to read it.
• A book cover must be appealing, informative, and able to be judged in the split second a consumer looks at it.

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Harper's Magazine, June 1896, by Edward Penfield

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cover_art#/media/File:Edward_Penfield,_Harper's_June,_1896.jpg

A little bit of history…

• When books were first produced covers functioned only to protect the handwritten and illustrated pages.
• As mechanical printing presses were developed and books became cheaper and easier to make, in the 1820’s, book covers became more popular and the norm.
• As more complex book covers were developed so did graphic design as a career and in turn professional book cover designers.

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https://www.grapheine.com/en/history-of-graphic-design/history-of-book-covers-1

Famous Book Covers

• Book covers are the visual tie to the book and can be as well known as the book itself.
• Many artists have gained notoriety from the covers they have designed.
• The Great Gatsby cover, created by Francis Cugat (written by F. Scott Fitzgerald), is one of the most celebrated book covers in American literature. 88 years after it was created it is still used on the cover (although it has been swapped out over the years, it is still used intermittently).
• Cugat was born in Barcelona in 1893 and was a painter and graphic designer. He moved to the US and consulted on over 60 technicolor films in Hollywood starting in the 1940s.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_Great_Gatsby_cover_1925_(1).jpg

Book Cover Designer

• A book cover artist is responsible for creating the visual tie to the content of the book on the cover.
• This can also translate to magazines and similar.
• There is not a specific college degree in book cover design. Many book cover designers focus on graphic design, illustration, fine arts, photography, desktop publishing, or similar.

Check out a video on designing book covers here.

Another type of cover design…

• Album art is another, more contemporary form of cover design.
• Album art gives the viewer a sense of the style of music, who the members of the band are, and is a good representation of the artists’ public image intentions.

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A little bit of history…

• Alex Steinweiss is credited as the first album designer.
• In 1938 Columbia Records hired him as their first art director.
• He is credited with inventing the idea of cover art and by the late 1940s all major record companies were including cover art on their albums.
• This idea of album art has transitioned from records to cassettes to CDs and includes full albums and individual song art.
• Although physical albums and LPs are becoming less common, album art is still included in digital formats.

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Famous Album Covers

• The Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon album is one of the most famous due to the critically acclaimed music and the iconic album art.
• Artists, Aubrey Powell and Storm Thorgerson of Hipgnosis helped design previous Zeppelin albums.
• The designers were given little direction other than to “do something clean, elegant, and graphic.”
• Graphic designer, George Hardie helped develop the prism idea. The prism does reflect the band’s stage lighting.

Famous Album Covers

• The Beatles final record, Abbey Road, is a very iconic, and often recreated, album cover.
• Abbey Road is outside of EMI Studios in London, where The Beatles spent much of their time.
• The EMI Studios building has now been renamed Abbey Road Studios.
• Millions of people have visited the crossing.
• The band name and album title were left off, the designer argued they were the most famous band in the world and didn’t need it on the cover.
• The photograph was taken by photographer, Lain Macmillan. Only six shots were taken.
• Paul McCartney is barefoot simply because his shoes were too tight and he kicked them off before the photoshoot.

The Beatles - Abbey Road album cover: photo by Iain Macmillan, design by John Kosh. Picture: Press/Apple Records

Album Cover Designer

• An album cover designer often designs the cover as well as the back cover, insert, lyric sheet, etc.
• Album artists often work closely with the band members and often collaborate on the design with the musicians.
• Album artists are often trained in fine arts and/or graphic design.
• Degrees can be obtained in design, illustration, photography, or general fine arts to help train artists for a career related to music art.

Check out a video on album design here.

Judging a Cover…

• In a sea of books or albums, how does one stand out?
• Often consumers browse the selections not knowing specifically what they are looking for. The designer has to consider their target buyer and how to get them to buy the product.
• How does the design appeal to them aesthetically?
• How is information conveyed to them?
• How does the style reflect the product?

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Principles of design

• The principles of design help guide design to be easy to read, aesthetically pleasing, and eye catching.
• The principles of design include:
• Emphasis
• Balance
• Contrast
• Movement
• Pattern
• Proportion
• Rhythm
• Unity
• Variety
• Repetition
• White Space
• Hierarchy

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Principles of design

• For this assignment we will be focusing on:
• Emphasis
• Balance
• Contrast
• Movement
• Pattern
• Proportion
• Rhythm
• Unity
• Variety
• Repetition
• White Space
• Hierarchy

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Balance

• In design various elements have different visual weights. It’s important to balance those weights to create a successful design.
• Balance can be symmetrical, asymmetrical, or radial.
• Playing around with the position of various elements can help find the best balance.

Emphasis

• Used to highlight the most important information in a design.
• Contrasting elements, color, placement, and white space can help create emphasis in a design.

Hierarchy

• Hierarchy is the arrangement of elements in a design to show importance.
• Often the most important information is the largest or is placed in a way that emphasizes it.

Unity

• Unity is created when the elements in a design harmonize.
• Using similar colors, fonts, or elements that visually tie the design together creates unity in a design.

THE ELEMENTS OF DESIGN

• The elements of design are the building blocks of any design.
• These will naturally work into all your designs but with this design assignment you will focus a lot on TYPOGRAPHY.
• The elements of design include:
• Color
• Line
• Shape
• Form
• Space
• Value
• Typography
• Texture

Typography

• Typography is one of the most important parts of a design because it conveys information about your client.
• Typography can be serif (with feet such as Times New Roman), sans serif (no feet, a simpler font such as Ariel), and decorative (such as cursive or handwriting fonts).
• It’s best to only use one decorative font mixed with simpler serif and san serif fonts.

Your Assignment…

• Use Adobe Photoshop to design a book cover or album cover.
• The book design should reflect the content of the book, it helps if you have read the book.
• The album design can be for a whole album or a single song. The cover should visually tie to the style of the music.
• You can use photographs, scan in drawings, draw digitally, etc. Play around with Photoshop to learn the program and create your design!

Your Grade…

• Photoshop tutorial: Participation grade
• Cover design research: Participation grade
• Client information sheet: Participation grade
• Cover design: Project grade
• Use of Photoshop
• Connection to the book content/music
• Connection from the front-spine-back or album front and back
• Balance
• Emphasis
• Hierarchy
• Unity
• Creativity
• Effort
• Critique: Participation grade

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