Researching CD artwork

When artists release music they usually release a CD form of them as well as a downloaded/iTunes version. The artists make sure that their CD artwork for albums, EPs and singles reflect the song/s on the CD but also them as artists. This is something that we will have to consider when creating our own CD digipak. We will also have to think of what image, font and album name we will want to use for our own work, which will also need to reflect on our created artist/group.

This is the front cover artwork for girl group, Little Mix, new album. The album name is 'Salute' which was chosen because it is one of the songs on the album, but also maybe to portray an idea if girl power because it's an all girl group and the album cover looks to be quite a powerful image, particularly with the clouded sky behind the image of the girls. The font is a red and it is a paint-like style, to give the cover a more grungy look, and they have also included the Little Mix logo in the corner, also in red, to make the album more recognisable to their fans. The image of the girls shows their own personal style and fashion choices, but they have been styled to colour coordinate with each other to go with the theme of the album itself which is girl power. They're also posing in quite a sassy way to also go with the idea of girl power and independence.

This is the front cover artwork for boy band, One Direction's, new album. It is quite simple as it only consists of two images of the group, in front of a wood background, however it stills shows each members individual style. The font is their own created font that represents them as a band, written in white inside a black box which shows contrast and makes the writing stand out. The album name is 'Four' which was chosen because it is their fourth studio album and they have been a group for four years now, which is again quite a simple name but it does have a meaning behind it.

Some artists choose not to be on the cover of their albums, EPs or singles. This example is from Ed Sheeran's second album 'X', and it is very simple as it just shows a black X across the whole cover, which looks like it has been spray painted on, which highlights the name of the album. The background is just a simple bright green, which also creates contrast and makes the album title stand out.

The front cover is not all that is needed for a CD digipak, we also need to think about the back cover of the album. We will have to consider if we want another image of our created artist on the back or something that may represent them, or we could decide not to have a back image at all. We will also have to think about where we will place the track listing and what font and colour will be used for this. As this is a CD digipak we will also have to include the record labels logo, and in our case we're using Sony Music Entertainment, and to show that rights do go to the label, and we will also need an image of a barcode to show it is able to be sold in shops and online websites.