Sunday 30 September 2012

The Iconography Of The Album Cover

Due to the advance in technology it has meant that music software such as ITunes has contributed to album artwork being a thing of the past. From this line the article is making it clear that more people are downloading their music rather than going to the shop and buying the CD. It shows that album art work physical presence is fading and that they are becoming digital. This means that when it comes to making a cover for DJ BooSH I will have to come up with new and interesting ways to intrigue people to purchase it.

Part packaging and part advertisement, the album cover provides an insight into the artists worldviews, leading to the success of collaboration between the creative minds, the best album cover art illustrates and accompanies the music in a way that creates a whole package. Certain album artwork has become a recognisable object in their own right and has lead to inspire other work shown in the media. From this paragraph I have an understanding that when it comes to making my album cover I have to use visuals that will help the audience gaining an understanding of the type of person the artist is and the genre of music that they fall into. When it comes to making my album cover I will use visuals that show the audience the genre of music does, it could mean that I could u bright colours or even gain inspiration from artists in the same genre of music.

Julian house a album cover designer said in Relation to the music industry work we do a pitch but only if we feel that the client has come to us because they like what we do, rather than being part of a bigger competitive pitch process. If I was to choose a company to produce the album cover for BooSH I would choose them based on me liking the work they have previously done rather than the reputation or money they have. If I was to look at the work that Julian House Company has made and I liked it I would consider using them because they would be an ideal match.

How much input does the designer have?
There may be a brief from the record company that covers the basics, like whether the artist need to be on the cover, who the demographic, ect. But we take most of our directions are from the artists. More often than not this involves sitting down and talking with them about the ideas behind the album, anything they’ve seen that they like. Then well go off and do several sets of visuals and present them, then hone it down from there.  This shows that album cover designer are mostly under instructions from the artists, it shows that the artists inform them what visuals they want to see on the cover. The designers will make a few drafts and the artist can choose which one they prefer. If I was to do this for BooSH there would be few important things that I could insert, I would use bright colours to symbolise the genre of music that DJ BooSH falls into. I would also insert 4 people who’s identity is unknown, this is because we believe that DJ BooSH shouldn’t be shown in the video therefore we not going to show his identity on the cover. I would give the designer some freedom into what they think should be included on the cover, this would be shown in some of the drafts that they would make.

Who made it , why, how, for whom and for what purpose?
It’s important to think about not just who made the media text and why, but who the audiences is and how they respond to it. Before making my album cover I have to consider the target audience and the people that are going to purchase and listen to DJ BooSH, with this taken into consideration I then can aim the cover at my chosen target audience. As DJ BooSH fits into club music genre it will mean that the visuals that I use will be linked to clubbers, this is so the target audience can empathise and relate to the music that DJ BooSH produces. Target audience is a major part, if it isn’t chosen correctly it could mean that the correct people wont listen to the music and the song wont be successful.

Associations and connotations
It is important to consider the difference between denotations and connotation. Denotation is simply identifying the elements within a image and connotation which means identifying the meanings that the images can portray. When it comes to making my cover I will try and use both denotations and connotation to provide the audience with ideas of what certain images can show and mean.

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