Project Statement

‘the simple fact that the traditional primacy of the record cover as the principal visual component of a band or musician’s image no longer holds true. When the great album covers of the past exerted their magic it was because they were all there was. Today there are many ways to experience music - TV, the internet, live gigs, movies, festivals, clubs, countless radio stations and even mobile phones. The result is that the album cover is now only one of many platforms for the visual expression of a band’s identity. And for a new generation growing up in an era of downloading, the record cover is increasingly likely to be viewed as an irrelevancy’ -  Adrian Shaughnessy.

At the start of this project, I intended to rebrand an album; to design an album cover, logotype, posters and more for an artist, and to produce a record sleeve with my design on. Pretty soon however, the irrelevancy of this idea become abundantly clear. As I researched further for my essay, I read books such as ‘Cover Art By:’ in which a multitude of contemporary designers are interviewed, and a lot of them state the same opinion - as a result of the shift to digital music consumption, album covers are becoming irrelevant. I couldn’t conclude in my essay that album covers and physical music formats may soon die out, and then design and produce a record sleeve for my design project. 

‘I don’t hold out much hope that there will be a need for good cover graphics in 10 years time. That’s one reason why we are running our shop. People will always need clothes and things like pictures and posters for their homes to make them feel good. Of course, music will also be sold, but I am not sure if labels will still be distributing it on LP or CD.’ - Jan Kruse.

This quote, found in ‘Cover Art By:’ - sees designer Jan Kruse agreeing with the general consensus; music labels will stop distributing physical music formats soon. As a separate point they also state how physical objects like clothes, pictures and posters are something that people will always want. Although inherently, they do not connect the idea of selling objects that people want/need with the distribution of music, it made me think, what if you did? If there are physical objects that consumers will always buy, and music will at some point stop being physical and move entirely to digital streaming and download, is there a way to re-capture the tangible magic of physical music formats by creating products that represent an album?

Here was were the idea for New Music Market came about; a new format to consume music on, and a new way that design can be utilised within that consumption. This project idea was much more engaged with the findings of my essay.

My essay concludes by stating that contemporary designers now, shouldn’t mourn the album cover and try to sustain its relevancy, but develop and adapt the way that graphic design can be used to visually represent music, because even in digital formats, graphic design is still integral in the consumption and listening process of music because it still visually represents it. The concept of New Music Market offers an idea for how this could be achieved; it may not be the most efficient solution, and by no means, if it was real, would it become the primary means of consuming music. However as a design project, it links fluidly with my essay and findings and provides an interesting and engaging design concept.