I have decided to analyse some album covers of the artist I have chosen as well as other genres to show the difference between the covers and this will help me to decide what design I would like to do for my own cover.
This is one of the album covers for The Pretty Reckless. It was released in 2010 by Interscope Records. This album does not have a sub title, the only text it has is the band's name and EP which means extended play.
The text on the cover is all white of a bold but gothic font, this suggests that it was done to match the style of music. The bands name is center aligned, between the artists heads and on the door to stand out but is done so that the main image still stand out. This text has been used on all of their album covers which establishes the band and makes it easy to recognise the artist. By creating a music video for this artist we would have to use the same writing so all the albums as well as the one we will create will look consistent. EP at the bottom of the cover is also in the same font colour however a lot smaller and hidden as it is not important.
The main image is in a black and white effect of three men and one woman this implies that they are the members of the band. This effect was done to match its setting, it looks like downtown New York in a rough area where this type of music would be played due to the social class. The positioning of the artists are standing and sitting around the steps which show their slackness and in a way show power by the positioning as it looks intimidating. Their facial expressions are very serious which connotates their meaning behind the songs, the songs are quite depressing and talk about situations which only a certain social group face regularly such as abuse, drugs and death. Perhaps that is why the colouring of the album is black and white because the audience of this music believe they live in a boring world which is dark and dull for them.
The clothing of the artists is also very dark and consists of monochrome colours, all three of the men are dressed in black, whereas the girl is dressed in white with hints of black. This makes her stand out due to being pale skinned, bright haired and dressed in clothes which are also bright. This may be done to be visually appealing to boys and girls.
The image to the left is the back cover of The Pretty Reckless album Light Up ( the album that we will be recreating).
Traditionally on a back cover there is the track list with the barcodes and other information not a main image. However as the time has gone on an images on the back cover is used as well as the front.
Due to The Pretty Reckless being a band the back image is of them; three boys and the main singer Taylor in the middle. This could suggest domination in this group or the protectivness over the female singer.
All the band members are dressed in monochrome colours with the female singer wearing white, which makes her stand out from the others. This could have been done on purpose to attract the male target audience as they are more likely to purchase something if there is a female advertised on it.
The colouring of the tracklist is in a red bold colour and a Times Roman font which makes it very difficult to read. It is good to have it at the top of the album because the image then stands out however it is not seperated which makes it harder for the audience who buy the cd.
The barcode is always located on the bottom right as it is code and convention of cd covers, therefore to make ours look realistic we will place a fake barcode in the position. Around the barcode and bottom off the cover is information about the record label, image, date and studio logo etc. We will also include this into our cover.
In comparison, this is an album cover for the pop/ RNB genre, this is the most recent album cover from Beyonce, created in 2011 by Parkwood Columbia. The album is called '4' this is because it is her fourth studio album and it is her favourite number.
The text on this cover is plain black thin text with the same font and colour used for the subtitle which is located at the bottom of the cover. The size of the text is quite large and stands out but does not over power the image. The text is behind the image but the text is still visible and because of being such a well know artist the image is recognizable without the text. The number 4 is positioned to the bottom right corner but is large enough to read and understand that it is the album title.
The image is of the female artist in a medium shot so it is a clear image of what she looks like but does not show the entire body. The image is enlarged so that it covers the middle of the cd cover. The background of the image is a pale yellow so that the black text stands out as well as the image.
The artist is dressed in just a fur coat, with no under layers, this may be slightly raunchy for a cd case however everything is covered and being such a popular celebrity this image will not effect the sales. Her makeup is very dark and accessories very Caribbean/ African/ tribe style this may be done to fit with the latest trends or to fit with the meanings of her songs.
Both covers are very effective for the genre they are representing, although they are different genres they follow some of the same codes and conventions of a cd cover. The titles are both large and bold, and positioned in the center of the case, the album title is located at the bottom of the cover however they are opposite sites. As well as the images is fit to the case so the whole case is covered. The differences between the two is the colours used. The first image uses dark colours to represent the darkness of the songs and genre they sing whereas the Beyonce album is brighter and stands out, the colours used may imply the album track list is fun and the meanings are not depressing.
This is the back cover of the Beyonce album.
It is obvious that the same design is used for the back as it was used for the front. The artist name for the front is used exactly the same however the main image is slightly different. At the front of the cover the female artist was facing towards us however on the back it is showing her back. This suggests that it is done so that the front shows the front and back shows the back.
The colour scheme is similar and the clothing is still fitting with the tribal theme.
The tracklist is written in black which is clearly visible and is positioned to the right on the clear background so that the image is not overiding the text like the other cover (The Pretty Reckless).
The barcode as well is positioned to the right at the bottom therefore it is not a genre move, it happens for all cd covers.
The similarities between the two are the both are dressed in short outfits which show a lot of flesh this could have been done to appeal to the audience and make it stand out on the shop shelves. Moreover both covers have a barcode in the right bottom corner, studio logo and all the other information. This may be because of it being a code and convention. The differences is the font colour and style and the image colour. The Beyonce cd is bright in terms of colours used whereas The Pretty Reckless album is very black and white. Therefore when we recreate this we would have to take into consideration the black and white colours used.
After analysing both covers, I have developed knowledge of how different genres portray their music through the cd covers. As we are doing a grunge song by the artists of album one we would need to follow these codes and conventions in order to make the album fit with others of this genre.
Author: Kiran Paul
The image to the left is the back cover of The Pretty Reckless album Light Up ( the album that we will be recreating). 
