Album Artwork: Similar Products

As we're beginning to think about our album artwork, we have to take into consideration the genre that we're trying to comply with. Therefore, I conducted some more research into synonymous artist's albums. I'm going to look into the album artwork of artists such Lykke Li and Lana Del Rey as these are all artists from the 'indie pop' genre.

The Lykke Li album artwork that I am looking at is from her album named 'I Never Learn'.

By starring on the front cover of the album, Lykke Li is conforming to the conventions of 'pop' as a genre, however, her costume, facial expression and positioning are what alters the look to suit 'indie pop' conventions specifically. The cover is black and white without any glimpse of colour, highlighting her face and hands against her black costume. The connotations of the colour black connotes a sense of elegance and formality, supporting the unconventional 'pop' but unique 'indie pop' genre. 

The back contains the tracklist in a small white, 'handwriting-like' font against a grey background that includes the same mesh material that she wears draped over her head on the cover. The inside of the album has an off-white background that contrasts with the plain black CD. The inner left echos the back of the album, listing the songs in the same font but in black.  

Her positioning, as well as the makeup she wears on the album, is unique because it doesn't instantly project an air of beauty but would attract an audience's eye as it's not entirely mainstream. As she has been placed on the front cover, according to Dyer's star theory, she is conforming to the ideology that an artist in a commodity and is built/moulded to be sold. If she wasn't present on the cover, it would convey that the label was trying to sell the music itself rather than an image of a star.

The Lana Del Rey album that I looked into was her most recent release, 'Lust For Life'.

The album cover contains three of the most typical components, the artist's name, the album name and the artist themselves. Lana Del Rey is the key focus of the album, being placed in the centre of the frame and looking directly forwards at the audience.The font, as well as the colour scheme, is consistent throughout the front, back and inside of the album. This moulds the genre of the music as well as almost becoming a trademark for the specific album and would likely be used throughout the website and any advertisement for future tours.

When creating the album artwork for our own artist, there are specific elements from the two above that I will take influence from. For example, I think that for our genre, the artist has to be placed on the front cover, looking at the audience with a recognisable potentially handwritten font as I feel it adds a more personable feel. We have a colour scheme of red and black that is weaved throughout the music video idea that will be transferred to the album too.