cd cover analysis

Lily Allen- Alright, Still

This album cover looks as though it has been created using photoshop there is a lot of different little pictures included in it that wouldn't have been necessarily in a picture set up, so might have been art worked in. There still looks to be some handmade or doodle pieces involved that are in black and white that are arrows and clouds. 

The images around the main picture of Lily Allen don't seem to be relevant to the album title, they are a bit random but they might have a relevance to song titles included on the album which would make them make sense. The actual album cover as a whole looks to be quite fun and imaginative its not taken very seriously and it looks retro as there is bold colours and the chequered print. 

Lily Allen is featured on the front of the album cover she looks quite relaxed she's wearing trainers and a dressed so its not too over the top, she's sitting on a bike which shows she didn't want it to be taken too seriously. 

The main focus of the cover is clearly Lily Allen because everything else all the other pictures and doodles seem to be layered behind her. There is quite a lot of black and white but i think this just makes the album cover stand out a bit more and makes the colour that has been used more noticeable. 

The typography of the artists name is in a kind of speech bubble that looks like a cartoon lightening strike, it is in black and white which stand out against the grey colour checkered pattern. I think the positioning of the title works quite well as it is not interfering with any of the images underneath the whole top 1/4 of the album cover is kept reasonably clear of any other images.

The title of the album has been worked in with all the other images it has been written in bright red and has been created in a bold 3D looking font, this is quite hidden but can still be seen due to the colour it has been designed in. 

Jay-z- The Blueprint 3 

I think the album cover is based on a large collection of white instruments stacked on top of each other in a corner of a white room or set up. The 3 red lines look like they have been photoshopped into the picture but were infact also painted onto the instruments. The whole thing was the photographed and placed on the front cover. 

I think the 3 red lines represent the 3 in 'Blueprint 3' but the actual use of red isn't obvious, although i do think the red does look very effective and eye catching against all of the white. I think the white instruments and white background are quite calming and then the red from the 3 lines give the impression of danger or anger. 

The use of instruments certainly gives the impression that jay-z is very musical but there may be an undying message of their use that may be explained again by some of the songs on the album itself. 

You can tell that the album is a photograph because it looks very realistic and 3D i don't think you would have got the same effect if you recreated the same thing on photoshop, you can see all the shadows from the positioning of the instruments and you can tell that the room itself was lit from the top because the bottom is quite dark compared to the top. 

The typography on this album cover is quite simple the artists name and album title does not interfere with the design they are placed on both top hand corners of the album and are written in black. The black was a good colour to use as it stands out against the white background, but the font itself isn't very bold so it doesn't stand out too much. Also the font is quite small, but Jay-Z has been written in a different font to the album title and also is bolder and bigger which may show that his name is more important. 

Mika- Life in cartoon motion

This album artwork is totally different to the first 2, it looks as though it has been created using more handmade techniques, the images look hand drawn, there could even be different textures that have been scanned into it. It looks very doodly and the pictures look very random although the title is 'life in cartoon motion' and the drawings do look very animated to a certain extent, they look like illustrations but maybe not as cartoony. 

I think the way the album cover has been designed to look fun and childlike, its clearly not been designed to be taken too seriously so maybe has been aimed at a younger audience. 

The colours that have been used are very bright and stand out a lot, there seems to be different layers to the composition of this piece and has been tried to be made to look a bit 3D. In some parts of the artwork it loos like the colour has been added using watercolours, but then other parts look very bold like they have been coloured using marker pens. There is still some laments of shading even if this was made by hand and there is a mixture of tonal contrasts. 

The typography of the artists name has been worked into the actual design and looks 3D as it looks as if it is coming off of the page, the font that has been used makes it look like a stencil has been used to create the main letters. The writing has not been written straight and has been titled slightly up at the right, but the fact the main letters are white makes it stand out against the rest of the artwork as it is just full of colour. The name of the album has also been worked into the artwork in quite a swirly writing, it looks as though it could have been hand written in black ink, but stands out against the browny colour strips, but the title is again quite small compared to the size of the artist name.