CD Cover Analysis

Artist name, in the signature font for the artist used on all posters and advertisement for the artist.

Recognisable logo for fans to associate with.

Album name, to match the font of the artist, recognisable again to the audience. Fits with genre of music.

Different images to represent the different genres/audiences the artist can reach out to.

Representation of a female audience.

Representation of a male audience.

Bright, fun colours to show the entertaining side of the artist.

Different poses/faces from the artist something you would expect to see. Not so serious, all about having a good time. To fit the genre of Rock/hip-hop.

Lower case show that the artist is informal and doesn’t

take himself too seriously.

Dressed up in a costume shows his fun-loving personality.

The backbone of the cover has the album and artist’s name this is for when the album is on the shelf people can read what CD it is

Bright, fun colours to show the entertaining side of the artist.

Fan pages and social networking site addresses used for fan purposes also as a form of marketing.

Recognisable font used for the title.

The dressing up costume from the photo shoot on the front cover.

The artist is shown again. The image matches the front cover. Its like he is exhausted after the photo shoot.

The production details are shown in small print as this isn't so important to the fans but does say all the necessary information such as copy write and record labels.

Conventions shown on the back of the CD cover: track names, running order of the tracks, amount of tracks, image, title and production details.

A recognised logo of a well-known production company.

Barcode for sale purposes.

Far background dark to focus on artist, their name and album name

Bright light around Tinie Tempah making him stand out. Gives a unrealistic approach.

Use of CGI (Computer Generated Imagery) to give the special effects of the cover like the city he is ‘holding’ and the space style background. Both unrealistic but sells as it is very effect and eye catching

His name is in capitals with the same triangle effect as the background showing conventions and sharp edge like city buildings

Motionless expression for serious RnB effect.

Dark glasses could be used to highlight brightness of the things around him and is a sign of a star

‘Disc-overy’ helps link what the CD is inside the album and also the name of his album; It has been well thought of.

Eye to Eye with Audience as we assume he is looking directly at us under glasses

We can feel part of it as though he is holding all of us in this ‘city’ like generated image.

Tinie being main feature and sells album cover better because we are attracted to him

Song titles are all in capitals and again have the same approach of sharp triangular points as the front cover, which could indicate a building type structure.

Same background effect and matching colour scheme just without Tinie who is replaced by song titles

Backbone is simple with just the name of artist and album. Same colour scheme as throughout but ‘Disc-overy’ here is in pink.

Same bright effect around the important parts of the CD with the same Graphical unrealistic pink glow effect and space like feel.

Small print to indicate institutions other details related to the product.

The back is simple but effective. No pictures just a running colour theme as all we need to know is the song titles. All main selling points are on the front cover

We get the same conventions of genre shown here through use of darker colouring, bold sharp fonts and the use of unrealistic special effects.

(Linkin Park - Minutes to Midnight)The CD has the main Linkin park symbol covering the front along with the same colour scheme as the album itself, ranging from white to a series of grey’s and finally to blacks. Also the desgn of having the album songs all around the outside of the CD is an interesting feature.

The layout for the album cover is very basic, with no serious usage of images .Apart from that the majority of the album design is mainly grey scale which relates to the type of music having a slightly dark feeling to it.

The way in which all the members are standing with dark clothing in a dark environment makes the cover seem much more masculine rather than having a vast use of colours and seeming more feminine.

The idea of having a majority of the ocean life having a slight neon like feature helps to relate to the fact that the genre of music is electronic style.

A very simple font has been used as this helps to make the artwork become more effective and stand out more rather than it being really extreme and therefore drawing the viewers attention away from the main album artwork.

The way in which the main band members (Rob Swire, Gareth McGrillen, Kevin Sawka and Paul Harding) are seen slowly reaching out towards the two people in the centre of the album.

Interestingly, the band’s logo is placed in the top left hand corner of the front cover, rather than in the center.

The album title is written in large, bold, black capital letters, which stands out from the background image in order to grab the attention of their potential target audience.

The background image for this album cover appears to have been taken from the band’s position, which ultimately gives the album a more personal tone. The photograph depicts a large group of people at a festival listening to live music. This image would appeal to both their older and younger target audience, as for the older generation this scene would bring back memories of their youth, which reinforces the album title ‘TIME FLIES’.

The image also reinforces Oasis’ as being an Indie/Alternative band , as stereotypically Indie/Rock/Alternative band’s perform at music festivals.

On the back cover the track listings are placed rather differently near the bottom right hand corner, which ultimately describes the reckless background image. Unlike most album covers, the track listings are not organized numerically and instead the song titles vary is size. This is quite unconventional and would therefore, appeal to their potential target audience who are likely to have these type of ideas and atitudes.

Like most album covers, Oasis’ album contains the conventional information that can be found on the back cover: a barcode, a copyright notice, the band’s website details and the record label’s logo and name.

There are no images of the band on this album cover. This could be because Oasis are a very well-known and established Indie/Alternative /Rock band and therefore, do not need to appear on their album cover, as their target audience will already know who they are and what they stand for.

The image used on the back cover of Oasis’ album is the complete opposite to the one shown on the front, as it is a totally different shot. Furthermore, unlike the front cover, which has a vintage, pink colored tint that is easy on the eye, the use of sepia creates a harsh tone to the back cover that is not as pleasing as the image on the front cover.