Album Art Design
Karen DaltonThe client: Karen Dalton / Capital Records (concept)
The brief: The brief: Produce two new vinyl cover designs for an existing album, one in the style of the genre of the album, and the other an alternative genre. The focus is on type. I selected the classic, crackly folk album ‘It’s So Hard To Tell Who’s Going To Love You The Best’ by Karen Dalton.
My goal and process:
I wanted to make one totally custom title, and for
the other use an existing font and experiment with manipulating it into
something highly decorative.
For the alternate genre cover, I aimed to create something bold and exciting that instantly reads as jazz. To achieve this I hand drew letters with sharp edges and varying widths to bring a sense of fast movement. The palette was very limited, with a focus on a bright blue reminiscent of shades commonly present on jazz records of the 1950’s and 1960’s. The result is an upbeat, slick cover that’s the total opposite of what this album sounds like.
For the existing genre cover, I wanted to focus on dramatic flourishes to give a nod to ornate, decorative elements of wood carvings and lino prints often associated with American folk music and art. The colour palette was kept soft and subdued, with a yellow warmth to evoke the feeling of sunlight through the windows of a country home.
For the alternate genre cover, I aimed to create something bold and exciting that instantly reads as jazz. To achieve this I hand drew letters with sharp edges and varying widths to bring a sense of fast movement. The palette was very limited, with a focus on a bright blue reminiscent of shades commonly present on jazz records of the 1950’s and 1960’s. The result is an upbeat, slick cover that’s the total opposite of what this album sounds like.
For the existing genre cover, I wanted to focus on dramatic flourishes to give a nod to ornate, decorative elements of wood carvings and lino prints often associated with American folk music and art. The colour palette was kept soft and subdued, with a yellow warmth to evoke the feeling of sunlight through the windows of a country home.
