When designing album artwork design, there's a lot to think about, from selecting the appropriate typography to capturing the feel of a record's sound with just the right combination of visuals. Use these guidelines to create cover art that is both thoughtful and effective for the musicians you're designing for.
1. Consider the versatility
Consider a variety of sizes—album art appears on everything from billboards to social media to the music app on your watch, so create a design that's iconic enough to work in small sizes but detailed enough to shine when reproduced in larger applications.
2. Make use of innovative packaging options.
Today, a lot of album graphic design is simply for a digital single. However, if you have the opportunity to create a one-of-a-kind vinyl package, take advantage of it. Creative doesn't have to be expensive—you could even screen print your packaging and have the vinyl manufactured commercially. A Grammy Award is even given for best album packaging. For ideas, look at previous years' winners and nominees.
3. Recognize the artist's brand aesthetic.
Our main goal as designers is to let the band's or musical artist's voice shine through rather than our aesthetic. What is the visual style most popular among the band's fans? Some of the people we collaborate with have their style guides, which can be extremely helpful in determining which themes to focus on and which to avoid to make the album art truly their own.
4. While designing, listen to music.
Even if it isn't your cup of tea, listening to the artist's music while designing will help you decide on the best look for their album art. Even if you think you know the sound and vibe, give it another listen. You might be surprised to hear a specific lyric or sound that gives you new ideas.
Now is the time to hire an album cover designer.
Making an album back cover design that will leave an impression on your fans and potential listeners is no easy task. It takes some investigation, brainstorming, and trial-and-error. With these strategies kept in mind, you should be able to chart a course through these waters and land on something that truly resonates with you and your base.
In addition to the album title art, we hope you enjoyed these best album cover design tips. MyDesigns provides high-quality album cover design services to musicians, publishers, labels, and bands of all genres. Our highly knowledgeable team has years of experience creating rich album art designs for the music, publishing, and entertainment industries. We can help you with professional album cover design, movie soundtrack cover art, 3D trailer releases, music release cover illustration, and other digital media marketing and graphic design projects.
