Album CoversAlbum covers are the first form of imagery that are seen by target audiences in relation to an artists album. They are used to capture the attention and entice audiences into buying the album. Therefore the album cover has to be attractive, relevant and desired by the audiences. Artists will generally create album covers that establish the artist, the genre of music and their persona.

The BeatlesThis Beatles album cover is very bright which is the first aspect that will capture the audiences attention and cause potential audiences to notice the album. This is a key feature as it immediately attracts.The images are of the

band in 2 different styles surrounded by legends and icons of that time. This immediately implies a form of superiority and greatness about the artist to the audience. Its also shows that they are of a standard of popularity where they are able to be placed around such legends (e.g Marylin Monroe)

This album cover could potentially represent the personality and persona of the artists as it exudes confidence. This could also relate back to the music within the album and by this time the Beatles were well established artist. This is a reflection of the time and the place the Beatles were at within their career.

I like this album cover not only for the bright colours, but I believe there is a subliminal message shown within this album cover. The fact that the band is disguised among other well recognised artist, actors ect, yet the flowers spell their name could be implying that the band ‘The Beatles’ will always stand out even among the great. This is something to consider when creating my group and I’s album cover.

The fact that this album cover is also completely made out of cardboard cut-out opens up alternative methods to creating an album and still adapting to the particular genre and style of music. This showcases the variety of ways an album cover can be created yet still remain effective.

Destiny’s ChildThis Album cover is very stereotypical of the R’N’B genre as the main focus is the artist and their is nothing in the background nor the foreground to distract from that. This makes this album cover establishing to the audiences as they will automatically know/ recognise the artists. The simplicity of the album cover presents and idea of purity about the album suggesting that the music and the artist are the main aspects to this album and their are no gimmicks or distracts that will take away from the raw music itself.

The way that each member of the band has been strategically placed for this image can help the audience to empathise with the artist which would encourage them to buy the album. Also the angles of each member could suggest something about their personality. For example Kelly Rowland looking directly into the camera suggests she is a confident person. Each member is equally sized however they are placed behind one another with Beyonce at the front suggesting that she is the most important member of the band, these aspects could be understood by audiences.

The use of the font of the artist name being bigger than the font of the album name suggest that the band is well established and will be recognised for their name. However the font is still smaller than the images which shows that the audience are going to buy the album because they recognise the faces which exude beauty and are known for their music.

Calvin HarrisI personally think this is album cover is very creative and has been created specifically for the artist’s audience. The fact that the image is not of the artist suggests that the image is a representative of the audience or how the audience feel when they have heard his music, not only for her beautiful appearance but also for the projected confidence which is for both the male and female audience. The way the hair is blowing in the wind adds a subtle sense of excitement which matches the dance genre of music.

The use of the black and white colour effect adds power to this image as it makes the female face appear to be stronger as the lines and shadows are enhanced. The use of the shadow creates some mystery about the woman herself which could imply that there is mystery about the album and the unexpected is to be revealed when the album is heard. This mystery would attract an audience as they would want to find out something unexpected about the album. Also the fact that her eyes cannot be seen also add to ambiguity of the album as a whole.

I also like the fact that the font of the artist name and album name is black and white which matches the theme of the front cover, however it is not huge which means that it allows for the image to speak for itself and attract the audience not the artist. This could also imply that the music will speak for itself on the album.