In Blue

In Blue

By the Static Jacks

     Static Jacks formed in 2007 in Westfield, NJ, when three of the original members started playing together for a high school project. They began playing and writing songs together a short time after that; and each went to separate colleges before quitting after one semester to pursue music. They found another guitarist after putting up wanted flyers in music shops. In Blue, the second album, was released on early October, 2013. Since then the band hasn't wasn't released new music and haven't been heard of. 

     The In Blue cover is a wonderful piece of artwork in general. The stemmed flowers are brightly colored, the majority of them being warm colors, and the stems are more pastel cool colors. The flowers are centered and almost touch the top and bottom edges of the frame. So it is obvious that the flowers are the emphasis of the design. The paint splattering on the left side creates an asymmetrical element. It feels as if the petals are withering away and the petals and the splatters are the only thing that are bleeding off of the framing.   

     The slate circle containing the information on the top right corner also catches the viewers attention. It feels out of place because it doesn't really match the color theme with the rest of the composition, and it doesn't feel hand done. I probably wouldn't have a problem with it if it matched a color from the flowers. The font used was a sans serif, but at first I confused it as a slab serif because of the thickness. Static Jacks is the main emphasis out of the information, because it is larger and it has a kind of framing due to the line above and under it. In Blue runs across the bottom line nicely due to the opened kerning. Even though the circle and the fonts appear digitally made, the line aren't entirely straight so it ties in with the hand made element. I also liked how the designer used the same color from the background as the font colors; it makes it appear like it is cut out. 

Heck

Heck

By Deal Casino

     Deal Casino were originally known as Something About January and formed when all four members were young adults. They all decided to move to Asbury Park, NJ where two of them would work a recording studio- where they would practice- and the other two at a restaurant. The earliest year that I could find of the band forming has been 2013, and are still continuing to make music. Their genre of music can be described as pop-rock, with a sound that resembles Young the Giant and Neon Trees. Heck is the third EP from the band- which was named after Heck Street in Asbury Park- wanted to have a "live" type of style for the music. 

     The style of art for the cover reminds me of 1950's jazz album cover. The image is centered, with the artwork boxed in. The artwork style is a simple, one colored contour drawing with dots, larger and smaller, to create shadowing. Even though the beautiful image is simple, the message from the image is straight forward. It shows the man putting his hand in the woman's underwear, possibly touching her genitala, and vice versa. Who knows why the designer choose this image, but it is eye catching and could reference towards the title of the album, Heck.

        Heck and Deal Casino both have a serif font and resemble the same style of font, yet Heck has a more decorative feel because of the reflections on the font. Heck is also smaller then Deal Casino, yet still holds on its own. I like that the designer still used the same gold for the type used in the imagery instead of switching to another color.  

Distraction

Distraction

By Bear Hands

     The Distraction cover has inspiration from the gridded setup of the early to mid- 60's rock covers and psychedelic art. Distraction (2014) is the second album from Bear Hands. Their first album, Burning Bush Supper Club, has a collaged, glitchy type of art work; so it may be possible that the band has used the same artist for both of their albums and/or wanted a unique cover. 

     As previously stated, this cover remind me of ones from the early rock setup. The image takes up more than half of the cover and has a black and white photograph of two eyeballs sort of blended together. Both of the eyes are looking in different directions; they both appear to be panic or just witnessed something shocking. The image also has a high contrast with the mostly gray/white right side and the black left side. My eye is automatically is drawn to the photography, then get pulled up to the bold text. 

     Unlike Burning Bush Supper Club, which used cut-out letters and hand lettering it appears, Distraction uses a bold, sans serif font which is left justified. There is a thin hot pink line separating the bands name and the title of the album. Which could also be reference back to early rock cover for limited color. Bear Hands is a lot smaller then Distraction, yet it still carries the same weight because of the boldness from the font. Distraction seems centered with the image, with the same amount of white space on the edges, but to me it competes with the image; since they are both strong. My eye either wants to look at the image or the title, which in turns becomes a distraction. Maybe that is why the designer decided to use both strong imagery and type to hence towards the title of the album. 

Burning Bush Supper Club:

https://theocmd.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/bhcover.jpg

Homesick

Homesick

A Day To Remember

      A Day To Remember is a Florida based pop punk band. Homesick, released in 2009, is the third studio album by A Day To Remember. While I was doing research for this band, the original cover I believe didn't have type on the cover. But, just in case, I'm going to write about the cover that includes the type and the one without.

     The covers artwork is by Dan Mumford, an illustrator based out of London.The first thing that the would catch the viewers attention is the style of art that is used. It uses thick, black contour lines with saturated cool colors and occasional gradient. The cover without the type has an obvious emphasis where the figure is looking at the light at the end of the tunnel; the light at the end of the tunnel could also be the emphasis because it is the lightest color on the image. Whenever you look closely at the image, you can see hidden monsters like werewolves and giant spiders. Even though it is a horrific thought to be in those woods, it is a beautiful piece of artwork. It is also represents what kind of music the band plays.
     The bands name on the top image is a blocky, all cap, sans serif with a gradient on the edge; possible to match the image better. It also has cracks and burn marks throughout the letters.The vines from the image also interacts with the type. It is broad and because of it it almost touches the edges of the frame; it is also way too close to the top of the framing. Homesick is centered directly below the bands name. I feel like since it is completely white, compared with the gradient, it sticks out. It almost competes with the band name, because I don't know which one to look at first. I don't know how they would have fixed the problem. Probably the designer could have moved it to the bottom next to the person because the viewers eyes are going to move around the image anyways. Also, because of the such enlarged type, we lose detail of the image. Like the werewolves are cut off and the spiders almost hidden. To me, the designer could have done a much better job.


Dan Mumford Portfolio:
http://www.dan-mumford.com/

Is This It by The Strokes

Is This It (Original)

The Strokes

     In 2000, The Strokes members had part-time jobs and practiced new material weekly at a recording space. They released a demo in the fall of that year and Ryan Gentles attention. Ryan was a talent booker at New York City's Mercury Lounge. From the support of their personal mentor and producer, The Strokes recorded three tracks ("Modern Age", "Last Nite", "Barely Legal") which were on their first album Is This It, released July 2001. 

     The above image was the cover used internationally. Colin Lane, the photographer and cover artist, took some spontaneous photographs of his then girlfriend after she got out of the shower. It is a black and white photo of her her hip downward with a leather gloved hand resting on her buttocks. Lane did not have any inspiration for taking the photograph and quoted, "I just wanted to take a sexy picture." The composition of the photograph is mostly asymmetrical, it's heavy on the right side of the frame, yet balanced. The glossy, black glove defiantly (which seems slightly above centered) catches the attention of the viewer; against the highlight of the woman's hip.  

     The left side of the frame has a nice, asymmetrical curve to it because of her body. The all caps, sans serif text is on a continued line tucked in the upper left. The red is the only color on the album and makes emphasis on the title, not the bands name. The band consciously left out the question mark, claiming that "it did not look right." To me, the text seems separated from the image. I either look at one of the other and have to intentionally tell myself to read the text.  
     Even though the above cover was used in other countries, the cover design was changed for the U.S. market for being too sexually explicit. Side note: some of the tracks names were also change after the 9/11 attacks. The American cover use a psychedelic photograph and was designed by CERN. Even though it is a photograph, I view more as a watercolor painting. The colors go very great together and there is a lot of movement, yet it doesn't seem like a psychedelic piece. Also, the text against the yellow wasn't the greatest decision because it just gets lost and seems they didn't put thought on where to place it well. The frontman made the discovery of the "psychedelic" cover and in the band biography "mentions the fear of objections from America's conservative retail industry and right-wing lobby as reasons for the artwork's alteration." What I do like about the American cover, is how it does look like hand done watercolor. It sort of looks like a starry space scene with the blue parts. As previously stated, I do not think it's a psychedelic cover, just a really nice piece of art work the band decided to use as a cover.

American Cover:

 http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/91SyZlC7NDL._SL1500_.jpg

Citing:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Is_This_It