Media- Album Covers

I am sick of seeing Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of The Moon" cover- everywhere I look it seems to be. With that being said there is obviously something that is effective about it. While I don't personally like it I find that this is an effective cover because of the rainbow which emerges with the penetration of the prism- the color against the bland background is something which is very effective. The colors really pop against the black background. Not my favorite, but effective.


Miles Davis' "Tutu" is a simple cover which uses this large portrait of a face to make a large impact. The complexity of the shadows and the intricacies of the face ar highlighted in this album cover, which is unlike most other covers on the shelf. A simple design with a large impact- nice.


So this is the first out of three times that Jerry Garcia shows up on our list with the album "Cats Under the Stars", this cover is effective because of the simplicity of the black background, the contrast of the circular shape and the triangle, and the use of the sphinx figure to add an edge of the exotic and the unexpected. With Jerry Garcia the unexpected is always expected.


I had to include Frank Zappa's "We're Only In It For The Money" because of its blatantly hilarious spoof of the ultimate album cover "Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" by the Beatles. The designer used comedy as a large attraction for this cover while also using the wild success of the original to help attract interest in this album. Pure Comic Genius.


The Rolling Stone's "Exile on Main Street" does well with its use of black and white photography, rather than using color to distract the viewer from the pictures, the designer used the black and white contrasts to create another depth of visual appeal without detracting from the photographs


The Beatles' self titled album is as simple as it comes- one of the hardest to pull off, yet most effective design strategies is stark simplicity on an album cover. This album stands out among other albums with more complicated covers- instead of the white plain on the cover of this album being boring it actually draws the viewer in, beckoning them to explore behind the cover


"American Beauty" is an album which is well organized geometrically- the circle in the center contrasts the square shape of the album, the words in the circle are equaly balanced on top and bottom, and the rose is at the center of the circle, drawing the attention in- The Grateful Dead did a great job with this simple, yet effective cover



A plethora of psychedelic colors hit the eye on Cream's "Disraeli Gears"- yet somehow an order and theme come out of this chaos- a great example of the graphics conveying the culture which surrounds the band and the time- this album grabs attention on the shelves and screams for further investigation- a great marketing strategy


Bob Marley's "Catch a Fire" is effective not only for its obvious play on words with the zippo lighter design- but because of its simplicity- this is a recurring theme with effective album covers



The Grateful Dead's "Aoxomoxoa" is a great album cover- the vibrant colors grab the eyes attention and the psychedelic feel of the graphics hint at the culture surrounding the band. Aan example of a very effective use of graphics on this cover are the green plants towards the bottom which point upward, directing the eye back into the center of the picture.