What To Look For In An Album Cover Designer
The Beatles – Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
The instantly recognisable cover of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band showcases a wide array of famous faces.
In total, there are 58 people imposed on the cover. Peter Blake is the English pop artist, best known for co-creating the sleeve design for the Beatles’ album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and for two of The Who’s albums. His other best known works include the cover of the Band Aid single “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”, and the Live Aid concert poster.
The colours of the album are loud and psychedelic, synonymous with the counterculture movement of the 60s.
Blondie – Parallel Lines
Despite the band’s objections to this picture being used on the cover of Parallel Lines, it went on to become a very famous design.
The black and white lines that serve as the background of the album cover are very striking and are well-suited to the band’s attire.
To accentuate the design’s contrast, Debbie Harry, the band’s lead singer, is scowling. This contradicts the mood of the rest of the band, who are smiling cheerfully.
Elvis Presley – Elvis Presley
The bright green and pink text on the cover of The King’s debut album really pops and complements the black and white photo of Elvis.
Even on its own, such a passionate and energetic image catches the eye, announcing Presley’s arrival to the world.
The designer of The Clash’s ‘London Calling’ created a pastiche of this cover, using the same lettering style and colours.
The Velvet Underground and Nico – The Velvet Underground and Nico
Any album cover that Andy Warhol designs is bound to get noticed, and that proved to be the case with The Velvet Underground and Nico’s eponymous debut album.
The cover was interactive at the time of its release, with the banana being created as a peelable sticker.
It has since gone on to become one of the most recognisable album covers of all time.
Pink Floyd – The Dark Side of the Moon
The entrancing cover design of Pink Floyd’s ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’ doesn’t have much detail, but it’s a much lauded design.
It depicts white light being refracted into a rainbow of colours when it shines through a prism.
The iconic image grew to become an instantly recognisable symbol of Pink Floyd, even more so than the band members themselves, who stayed away from the limelight while the album became a huge success.
Kraftwerk – The Man-Machine
This eye-catching image adorns the album cover of ‘The Man-Machine’ by German synth-pop powerhouse Kraftwerk.
It’s a very structured design that looks almost robotic, which fits with the futuristic themes of the band’s music.
The ‘Bauhaus’ black and red colour scheme is very striking and red negative space is cleverly used to create the shirts that the band are wearing.
Sex Pistols – Never Mind the B*llocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols
The colour scheme on the front of Never Mind the B*llocks was openly garish and was completely different to other artwork of the time.
Like the music on the album itself, it symbolised the non-conformity and anarchism that punk was all about.
Rarely have album cover ideas been so simple yet so pertinent.
Pond – Tasmania
The rainbow style cover of Australian band Pond’s 8th studio album ‘Tasmania’ is a simple, but superb piece of graphic design.
Psychedelic rock is Pond’s forte and the eclectic colour scheme is very suited to that genre of music.
Unusually for an album cover, the track listing is displayed on the front of the CD.
Album Cover Designer In Yorkshire
You must have a bit of inspiration from the music you listen to, it’s time to let a professional create your own album cover.
After you’ve read through all of these album cover ideas, make sure to tell us which ones were your favourite or let us know if we left something out. Share your thoughts by tweeting @DrewsADesigner or reaching out on the contact page.