This is a rough sketch I did of the cover so I could visualise my idea. I thought the title to be along the top of the cover in a small font, then the artist’s name (Natasha North) to be along the bottom in a larger font.

Initial Ideas:While doing research into album artwork of a similar genre, I came across these designs (see left) whose composition really interested me. I liked the idea of having a wide shot of a landscape which seems to never end; I thought I could use Cromer pier, the location of one of our shoots for our music video production. The image creates connotations of isolation and sadness, which matches the tone of the track we picked for our music video; therefore the album artwork will promote the tone and atmosphere of the track, so when the audience is browsing the shelves, they will be aware of what to expect from the album.

Rough Sketch:

This is Cromer Pier, looking down the

walk way, out to sea

Ideas for Fonts:The recurring font choice in all these album covers are very stripped back, often sans serif fonts. However, serif fonts are used, such as on the Staves album If I Was, to create a vintage, type-writer effect. The text must be clear enough to see in a small font size, as the album covers I found in my research often have minimalist titles.

More Rough Sketches:

This is another rough sketch so I could visualise my cover. I liked the old, worn-down design of these albums (see above – the crinkled edges, coffee rim stain and faded photograph) and I wanted to incorporate this into my design, adding to the vintage appeal.

Worn, faded edges (like a battered photograph)

Silhouettes of the characters

This sketch shows two faces (Olivia and my characters in the music video) looking on at one another: the expressions are going to be very empty and sad. This will juxtapose the image in the centre of the cover, where there will be an image of the two of us in a happier time of the relationship; this image will be slightly faded, almost ghostlike (almost like the memory is fading away). I was inspired by the ghostly images I found during my research (see below).

Ghostly image of happier times

Portraits of main characters

I thought I could use images for the “happier times” aspect of my cover from stills from my music video (see above).

Initial Ideas:I came up with another design, this time for the digipak as a whole. I made a rough model to explain:

The album cover (image 1) will unfold to reveal two panels (image 2). It will be an extended landscape of the beach (a location visited in our music video); panel one will have the beach in a bright, sunny light, but then it will fade into panel two where the colours become darker and more moody, highlighting the deteriorating relationship portrayed in our music video. Panel two will also include an image of Olivia – the main character – overlaid on the beach landscape, like she is looking back on her relationship.

The second panel would then unfold to reveal two new panels (image 3): the three panels will now reveal the full extended landscape of the beach, beginning with the bright, sunny colours of panel one and fading into bleak, dark colours in panel 3. The CD will be placed on panel two; its design (image 4) will be Olivia and my character running along the beach holding hands, with the title of the track and the name of the artist above the horizon of the sea.

image one image two image three

image four

image five

image six

However, when the disc is removed, the image underneath will be Olivia and I standing on the beach, although one of our silhouettes will be fading out, almost a memory, again the melancholy tone of the music video (image 5). Finally, image six shows the reverse of the digipak. I thought some driftwood would make a good background for the track listings, as usually simplistic textures are used in the covers which I researched; also, it would be in keeping with the beach theme (see middle panel).

Unedited Photos:

Most of my initial ideas centred around the beach, so I decided to go to Cromer and take some photographs of the beach and the objects you find there. I was particularly interested in finding some interesting textures which might work well as cover designs for the CD disc. The woodwork of the beach huts were stripped down and rustic, which I thought would work quite well. I also liked the tangled mess of seaweed and rope, also the moody skyline that appeared that day. I was inspired by the textured designs of these CDs (see right).

Further Font Research:I did some research into some other fonts I could consider using in my final album artwork. While I already considered simple sans serif and serif fonts (see slide one), I also had a look at the handwritten fonts on dafont.com. This is because, in many of the covers I researched, there is a combination of fonts used.

Here are a selection of album covers that I found which use handwritten/brush-stroke fonts, as well as basic sans serif.

I really liked baby fox as a font, as it is very delicate and stripped back; the petite font reminds me of the album cover for Bon Iver or Kodaline, artists which have a similar genre of music to Natasha North (the artist which I used). Out of the loopy, handwritten fonts which I found, Signerica is my favourite; however, some may find the handwriting illegible, so may find difficult in locating the name of the artist if I was to use it on my album cover. However, I could some one of the serif fonts to promote Natasha’s name, while using Signerica for the track name.

Which fontsshould I use?