The text below is copied from wtsduplication.com. The original online article can be found by clicking here.
The first disc records, ones that we would recognize as such, appeared around 1910. Most often these were packaged in plain brown Paper or cardboard sleeves. Occasionally and enterprising retailer would print his store name on the sleeve but generally they were unadorned.
In the early 1920's retailers started gathering many of these cardboard sleeves and binding them together with heavy paperboard or leather covers. These looked similar to large photo albums and, borrowing the name, were sold as record albums. These albums offered much greater protection for the discs than the original packaging and were seen as indispensible to disc owners that had seen too many of their fragile records broken.
Beginning in the 1930s the record companies started using these record albums to distribute bundles of records from one performer or a collection of performers with similar musical styles. Some of the first cover designs can be traced to these albums and the record company’s desire to graphically communicate the music each album held.
Alex Steinweiss the art director for Columbia Records is given credit for the concept of modern cover art. He experimented with different concepts and images through the late 1930s and into the early 1940s. During this time Columbia Records rebounded from the terrible years they had suffered during the depression to become one of the most prominent record companies in the United States. Much of this was due to their ground breaking use of graphical design. (Of course signing Frank Sinatra may have helped a little too).By the close of the decade all major recording companies had graphic design professionals on staff.
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| Alex Steinweiss |
The golden era of cover art design began in the early to mid 1960s and lasted into the early 1980s. During this time the major format for music was the 12 inch, long play disc or LP. Cover art became a part of the musical culture of the time. Often used to express graphically the musician’s artistic intent, it helped connect and communicate to listeners the message or underlying theme of the album.
| Incense and Peppermints: The Strawberry Alarm Clock |
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| Love Child: Diana Ross and The Supremes |
Designers, photographers, and illustrators sometimes became famous for their cover art creations. Such notables as Andy Warhol and Frank Frazetta were taken from being known in their industry to becoming household names due to their cover art graphic design work. So respected and desired are the designs and illustrations found in cover art that there are numerous art galleries that specialise in helping collectors find rare album covers.
As the medium for recording transitioned from the LP to the compact disc many graphic designers failed to transition with it. Having worked for so long with the much larger canvas of the LP cover, switching to the smaller CD case left most designers dissatisfied with their results. Often artist and record companies simply tried to shrink the LP size art to fit the CD.
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| The Velvet Underground's album cover |
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| Andy Warhol's cover for John Lennon's album Menlove Ave. |
As the medium for recording transitioned from the LP to the compact disc many graphic designers failed to transition with it. Having worked for so long with the much larger canvas of the LP cover, switching to the smaller CD case left most designers dissatisfied with their results. Often artist and record companies simply tried to shrink the LP size art to fit the CD.
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| CD cover of Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd |
| Record/Vinyl of Dark Side of the Moon |
Album cover art, now almost exclusively CD and CD packaging artwork, went through a period of change and rebirth in the 1990s. Designers learned to capture snapshots and portions of the artist’s musical intent rather than trying to convey the entire message. Also designers started conveying the emotion of the music rather than the musical intent.
In the late 90s computer design programs started to overcome the physical limitations of the smaller CD packaging. With the ability to draw much tighter, finer lines and have even small details look crisp and sharp, once again designers were free to explore a larger variety of design options. As the technology continued to improve graphic designers adapted and were once again producing world class artwork.

In the present, CD design is undergoing a true renaissance. Rather than becoming obsolete in the digital age as many thought it would, graphic design is once again proving itself as the difference maker. The internet is now the largest record store imaginable. Now rather than browsing a few hundred albums or songs at a time you may be exposed to thousands and thousands. Since it would be impossible to listen to portions of all those thousands of songs the design of the accompanying artwork must cause potential listeners to stop and take notice and give this album a try.
Iconic Album Covers
Nirvana - Nevermind.
Nevermind by Nirvana demonstrates all of the codes of a typical album cover' the title of the album, the artist's name and an image all appear on the front cover.
The image depicts a baby boy swimming underwater, chasing after a dollar bill that is attached to a fishhook. The baby extending his arms out to reach the dollar bill could be a symbol for the American dream; Nirvana were an American band. The American dream has connotations that people can achieve great things and garner success and happiness due to the great nation and its endless possibilities. The image on the album could depict the downfalls and dangers of allowing yourself to believe in the American dream - it could potentially be taken away from you.
Nirvana were attempting to make a statement about society at the time. They are implying that society places importance on wealth and the acquisition of capital, and that the thirst for money is imprinted or inflicted upon the younger generation from an extremely early age. The social commentary is stating that trivial and materialistic things like money are valued over anything else.
The blue of the water symbolises purity and baptism which contrasts with the presence of the dollar bill, a man made object, crafted from another natural source. The money is like bait to the baby, luring it into its grasp, but it could also be pulled away from it in an instance if circumstances change. It portrays humans as animals, who answer to the lure and call of money; the baby is "hooked" on money and wealth.
The colour of the font is in black in order to make it stand out against the predominantly blue background. The positioning of the text allows the focus to remain on the iconic image, and it draws the buyers straight to the striking, meaningful and thought provoking picture. The album title's font gives the illusion that it is shimmering and wavering in the water.
Although, there is a hint of hypocrisy and irony - the band wanted the album to succeed and sell as many copies as possible, therefore their ultimate goal was to make money for themselves.
U2 - War
Like Nevermind by Nirvana, U2's album cover for War uses all of the codes of a typical album cover - the artist's name, the title of the album and an image all appear.
The font is all in bold capitals, which really emphasises the title of the album, and means the buyers are captured by its boldness. The red font also makes it hard to ignore. The colour red also has multiple connotations such as danger, blood and passion, all of which can be associated with war.
The cover of the album depicts a young boy. His expression is stony and aggressive, which could either suggest that he is a victim of war, or is somehow involved. Like Nevermind, U2 are attempting to make a social and political statement through the image on their album - children have been forced to grow up due to the effects of war and have ultimately become tempestuous and battle-hardened.
It is also visible that the young boy has a cut on his lip, which we can assume is from an encounter due to the war - the effects of war do not discriminate against age.
ACDC - Highway to Hell
The album cover for Highway to Hell doesn't challenge any of the codes or conventions of a typical album cover - it contains an image, the album's title and the artist's name.
ACDC's genre is rock and heavy metal, which the typography of the font reflects - the text is sharp and pointy and red in colour, which connotes danger and hell, suitable and fitting given the album's title. Separating the first two letters and the remaining two is a lightning bolt which also references danger.
The hell imagery is continued with the horns adorned by the frontman of the group. In addition, he is also holding the devil's tail in his hand. The band want to portray themselves and their new record as rebellious and a little dangerous.
However, the band clearly don't take themselves too seriously, either.The frontman is pulling a comical face, whilst the bandmate to his left is broadly smiling.
Album Covers: Research Into Existing Products
For our task, we were given six random and unrelated albums and told to study them and see whether or not they followed the typical conventions of a music CD design.
The results were interesting, although many of them were not dissimilar to each other. Through the research, I discovered that every album front cover, in spite of the artist and genre, adhered to the conventions; they all included the artist's name, the album's title and an image of some sort. In addition, the inside back of every album included a disc tray, where the physical disc is placed.
Much like an album's front cover, all 6 of the album's back covers include an image, a list of tracks, a bar code and album credits. These four features may all be conventions of an album's back cover, and I have learnt that conventions do not just only apply to an album's front cover.
The inside front of all of the album's varied, much like the inside back of the albums. Three of the albums included their record company's name and accompanying logo. As well as the record labels symbol, Ben Howard's "Every Kingdom" includes album thank you's which is unique among the 6 I analysed. 3 of them insert the album's identification code into the inside front cover.
The spine of every CD included the artist's name and the title of the album. This convention is most likely to be used so when buyers are browsing through CDs, they can identify the album and artist almost immediately, so they don't have to check the front cover if they don't wish to.
Decoding an Existing CD Digipack
Having already completed a task where I had to identify the conventions of six CDs, including the Scissor Sisters and Ben Howard's album. I was given another challenge to complete which required me to go through a similar process to the previous task; however, this task required a lot more detail and I had to analyse the codes present on JP Harris and The Tough Choices CD Digipack "I'll Keep Calling".
The screenshots above show the extent to which I analysed the codes on the front cover, the back cover, and the inside front and inside back cover. Through this task, I have learnt how important an album's codes are, how they represent their genre and subsequently what effect they have on their target audience.
For example, a potential buyer can easily decipher that "I'll Keep Calling" is a country/folk album due to the many codes on the album cover; the man on the cover on the phone looks forlorn and sad with his eyes downcast and a glum expression on his face. Sadness and melancholy is a theme and subject very frequently explored within the country/folk genre of music. A person who is a fan of rock and roll will most likely not be tempted to buy this album, as the albums cover does nothing to suggest that it is indeed a rock album. A rock album's front cover would most commonly have a much darker colour palette - codes such as colour, font and imagery have a massive effect on an audience and can determine whether the album will be to their taste or not.
This task will greatly influence how I approach the creation of my own CD Digipack. I will not be able to make choices based on the appeal they have to me - the target audience and the people who would buy the artist's CD must be my primary focus. Consequently, it limits the amount of choices I would be able to make. For example, the album cover could not feature a lot of dark or ominous colours as it would be misleading to the audience as to what genre the artist's music and would not be a correct representation. Therefore, lighter colours would be more suitable and appeal to the target audience more. "Selfies" is taken from Nina Nesbitt's album "Peroxide". Many of the songs on that album are written from the artist's experiences and many of them contain elements of social commentary. The songs and their lyrics could effect the audience and they could apply it to their own lives; keeping this in mind, once creative choice I could make is having an artist's "thank you" notes on the inside of the album in cursive writing. Cursive writing looks like somebody's handwriting which adds a deeper level of personality to the album.
Independent Research: CD Digipack
I am approaching the stage where I can begin to consider how I will design my own CD Digipack. The previous task of analysing the codes of JP Harris and the Tough Choice's album 'I'll Keep Calling' was useful in the sense that it got me consider how in depth and thorough my thought process behind designing my Digipack must be. However, JP Harris and the Tough Choices have a completely different target audience to my chosen artist, Nina Nesbitt, so I decided to pick three artists who have a similar genre of music and near identical target audience and analyse their album covers for codes. This task would give me a greater understanding and the critical importance of constantly keeping in mind the target audience, and whether they would respond to the Digipack design.
Most importantly, I analysed Taylor Swift's album '1989' for its codes - both artists share similar audiences, but also the aesthetics of the '1989' album cover has close links with my music video for Nina Nesbitt's single 'Selfies'. The album cover is great inspiration and a perfect visual reference point for not only my music video, but subsequently the CD Digipack and accompanying Music Magazine Advertisement.
I will not directly copy this CD Digipack, but there are certainly some elements that I could incorporate into my own design. For example, the grainy polaroid feel is something that I hope to emulate and feature in all three of my creations; the music video, digipack and magazine advertisement. This will create an artistic flow within all three forms of media and subsequently create an immediately recognisable and identifiable look for my artist, and help appeal to the target audience of young adults.
My next task will be to start planning and producing my own designs for my artist's CD Digipack and present my ideas to the target audience. From their feedback, I will be able to make any necessary changes or firmly decide on a design.
Audience Feedback
The next step in creating my CD Digipack was to make three potential designs. Each design differed from the other considerably, and I created the front and back cover for each of them:
CD Digipack 1:
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| Front cover. |
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| Back cover. |
The front cover is divided into 12 sections: the actor in my music video will have to be photographed in order to achieve the image. Later in photoshop, I will divide the photo into twelve sections. Five of them will show the actor as the artist, but the remaining seven will detail the artist's name, the title of the album and photos that represent or have connotations of my chosen artist. For example, I have a stack of polaroids occupying one section of my cover - not only does this give the audience a strong reference back to the music video for "Selfies", but it also subliminally states that the album will be personal and contain details about the artist's life - the lyrics will be honest.
The visual themes of polaroids are continued on the back cover, as a cropped polaroid features in the right hand corner. The artist will appear in the polaroid, and the polaroid may even be one that has appeared in my music video. The tracks are displayed in a list - the font has not yet been decided. The background and colour scheme for both the front and back cover will be the same colour of a polaroid and boast a vintage look.
CD Digipack 2.
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| Front cover |
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| Back cover |
The back cover is relatively simple - the artist's face does not appear unlike CD Digipack 1, and the polaroid theme is continued; the track listing appears to have been photographed. The 'caption' area of the photograph will be reserved for other information such as the record label and the bar code. Dissimilarly to CD Digipack 1, the track lit also features the length of each track.
CD Digipack 3.
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| Front cover |
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| Back cover |
The back cover continues with the theme of simplicity and minimalism - the image shows the artist with her back to the camera, implying it is the back of the photo seen on the front cover. The tracks are listed horizontally as opposed to vertically unlike the other designs, and they are all in bold.
After creating these designs, I decided I should show them to members of Nina Nesbitt's target audience and receive their thoughts and feedback. Ultimately, the aim was to end up with a definitive answer as to which design I should develop further, or whether to create a new idea altogether. The results were unanimous - every person I asked said that CD Digipack 1 was their favourite design and therefore I shall develop it further.
CD Digipack Designing - Evolving Ideas
Although I thought the concept for my CD Digipack was inventive and suited the artist's vibe and would appeal to the target audience, I continued to explore further with different ideas. As my music video relies heavily on the usage of polaroid photographs, I considered having the front cover of my CD Digipack look like a polaroid, which is similar to my second potential idea for the Digipack.
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| The levels had to be altered to the image. |
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| The image edited and placed within the frame. |
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| Finally, I added the artist's name and album title to the bottom of the polaroid. This is the place I would include text if I were to use this design for my CD Digipack design. |
Inside Front Cover Design
Now I have decided on a design for the front cover of my digipack and aim to make the back cover here the track listing will be displayed fairly simple and uncomplicated, I started to think of several designs that could be used effectively for the inside cover of my digipack. I found this image online and thought it was very inventive and tied in nicely with the polaroid theme that I have running through all three of my media pieces:
I found several photoshop tutorials online that would help me achieve a look similar to the design above. This tutorial was the first one I attempted to follow:
However, I encountered some issues when it came to a particular step of the process, as the existing polaroid frame I had created would not duplicate itself without the image inside it remaining, meaning I could not create the desired effect. I re-tried this video several times to ensure I was not making any mistakes prior to the incident, but found that I was following the steps exactly as the video instructed. Therefore, I decided to find another video which would help me achieve the same design:
This video tutorial was noticeably shorter, however, this was because the method they used to create the polaroid montage effect differed slightly compared to the first video tutorial I attempted to follow. Although, this method was quicker and I was able to complete the effect. One noticeable difference between the tutorials was the duplication of the group which allowed me to move duplicate the polaroid frame and move it to another sector of the image:
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| These were the number of layers I ended up duplicating so the polaroid frames covered every inch of the background. |
After completing the montage, this was the final result. I am happy with this effect and will definitely be using this idea on the inside of my CD Digipack. Next, I aim to plan a time when I can meet up with my actor and take the necessary photos which will be included in the CD Digipack and the Music Magazine Advertisement.
Further Practice with the Polaroid Montage Effect
As I have firmly decided on using this design for the inside front cover of my CD Digipack, I practiced the creation of it further. However, due o being familiar with the process, I was able to experiment with different effects in photoshop and try different ideas.
Instead of using an image of the actual artist, I took a screen shot from some of the footage I have already filmed which includes my actor standing in front of the white back drop wearing red lip shaped sunglasses and holding several red heart-shaped balloons. Using an image of my actor from the production stage means that there is a visual tie in with the CD Digipack and the eventual completed music video.
This was the chosen, unedited screen shot:
After applying the polaroid montage effect, this was the result. However, I changed the background colour to red to match the colour of the balloons, glasses and actor's lips. In addition, I didn't apply the montage effect to the entirety of the image:
Next, I decided to apply a filter to my image, and chose 'Cutout' from the 'Artistic' category. I chose to add a filter as it provided a more pop-art and playful image. Plus, it creates a sense of virtuality as the filtered image looks distorted and not a true reflection of the artist, which is one of the themes I have incorporated into my music video for 'Selfies'.
I plan to experiment with different effects on photoshop to achieve an aesthetic I am satisfied with. On the other hand, I may still adopt the unfiltered look as not to create too much of a visual contrast within the flow of my CD Digipack.
CD Digipack Front Cover
The front and back cover of my CD Digipack will be in a polaroid frame. Although there will not be an image on the back cover of my Digipack, an image of my actor will feature on the front cover. However, I have yet to decide what kind of photograph I will capture and subsequently use. Therefore, I decided to look on the internet and social media websites for inspiration and potential ideas. Actress Willow Shields' Instagram account provided some interesting ideas:
This image is more simplistic as it is a portrait, but in this image you can see the whole of the girl's face as opposed to the first image where her face is obscured by the two iPhones. Once again, it would not be photographed in black and white and the image would have a polaroid effect.
Text
As I intend to follow the conventions of a CD Digipack, my artist's name and album title will be featuring on the front cover of the CD Digipack. The text font and size will have to be taken into careful consideration. However, in order to create a more realistic polaroid effect, I decided to personally write the album and artist's name using a graphic pad on photoshop.
There were some issues with this method. One issue was writing neatly and coherently within the small white space below where the image will be placed. As evident below, the text is not incredibly straight, nor neat. However, with practice writing in the small space I will eventually be able to create a neat and sufficient album and artist's name.
I chose this font because it gave the impression that the text was hand written, which was the effect and aesthetic I was aiming for. As well as deciding on a font, I have added a background into my Digipak:
The background that I have included in my Digipak resembles that of a vintage polaroid. To achieve this effect, I had to alter the curves in order to create the worn out and aged look - I chose the "Magenta" channel and proceeded to alter the curves until I was satisfied with the result.
FRONT COVER - in order to complete the front cover, I have to take a photograph of my actor that is starring in my music video. I will take this photo on the same day I film the second part of my music video in order to achieve a visual thread that will run through all of my media pieces.
BACK COVER - the only thing left to do on my CD Digipak back cover is to include the record label details, which will be placed on the frame of the polaroid.
INSIDE LEFT - the inside left panel of my Digipak will feature the polaroid montage of my actor.
INSIDE RIGHT/DISC TRAY - my artist's logo "NN" is placed right in the middle of the disc tray. The logo can also be seen in the right hand corners of the front and back cover, and will also feature on my Music Magazine Advertisement. Behind the logo will be a photograph of a vast amount of polaroid photos, strewn randomly on the ground. Not only does this continue the visual themes of polaroids and photographs but it also relates back to a scene in my music video, where my actor is lying atop of hundreds of polaroids.
Completing my CD Digipak
I completed all of the necessary filming for my music video, and during the process, I took the photographs that I would feature in my CD Digipak. The image below depicts my actor, who features in all three of my media forms, standing in front of a white backdrop and smiling whilst holding a red love heart shaped balloon. The image is very basic which allowed me to utilise Photoshop's tools effectively.
Similarly, I used the MagicWand tool to remove the white backdrop, so I was just left with the image of Lydia. I followed the same procedures by altering the saturation and opacity of the image so it faded in nicely with the faded and vintage background positioned inside the polaroid frame. Next, following the tutorial titled "Create a Collage of Polaroids from a Single Photo with Photoshop CS6" I placed polaroid frames on top of the image of Lydia to create the polaroid montage effect.
The image of the pile of polaroids needed little editing; I altered its saturation and re-sized it to fit into the polaroid frame. However, I placed "NN" on top of them, a logo I have designed for my artist. this logo appears three times altogether in my CD Digipak; in the right hand corner of the front cover, in the right hand corner of the back cover and in the centre of the disc tray. I intend to feature the logo in my Music Magazine Advertisement, so an audience will quickly associate it with my artist, Nina Nesbitt.
"Selfies" Nina Nesbitt Completed CD Digipak
The front and back cover of my CD Digipack will be in a polaroid frame. Although there will not be an image on the back cover of my Digipack, an image of my actor will feature on the front cover. However, I have yet to decide what kind of photograph I will capture and subsequently use. Therefore, I decided to look on the internet and social media websites for inspiration and potential ideas. Actress Willow Shields' Instagram account provided some interesting ideas:
Although I would not photograph my actor in black and white, I like the idea of including iPhones within the photo, as iPhones are devices which people usually take selfies on, which therefore references the title of the song I am creating a music video for. Ideally, I would like the image to have a polaroid, vintage effect which I could alter in photoshop after capturing the image.
This image is more simplistic as it is a portrait, but in this image you can see the whole of the girl's face as opposed to the first image where her face is obscured by the two iPhones. Once again, it would not be photographed in black and white and the image would have a polaroid effect.
Text
As I intend to follow the conventions of a CD Digipack, my artist's name and album title will be featuring on the front cover of the CD Digipack. The text font and size will have to be taken into careful consideration. However, in order to create a more realistic polaroid effect, I decided to personally write the album and artist's name using a graphic pad on photoshop.
There were some issues with this method. One issue was writing neatly and coherently within the small white space below where the image will be placed. As evident below, the text is not incredibly straight, nor neat. However, with practice writing in the small space I will eventually be able to create a neat and sufficient album and artist's name.
I chose this font because it gave the impression that the text was hand written, which was the effect and aesthetic I was aiming for. As well as deciding on a font, I have added a background into my Digipak:
The background that I have included in my Digipak resembles that of a vintage polaroid. To achieve this effect, I had to alter the curves in order to create the worn out and aged look - I chose the "Magenta" channel and proceeded to alter the curves until I was satisfied with the result.
FRONT COVER - in order to complete the front cover, I have to take a photograph of my actor that is starring in my music video. I will take this photo on the same day I film the second part of my music video in order to achieve a visual thread that will run through all of my media pieces.
BACK COVER - the only thing left to do on my CD Digipak back cover is to include the record label details, which will be placed on the frame of the polaroid.
INSIDE LEFT - the inside left panel of my Digipak will feature the polaroid montage of my actor.
INSIDE RIGHT/DISC TRAY - my artist's logo "NN" is placed right in the middle of the disc tray. The logo can also be seen in the right hand corners of the front and back cover, and will also feature on my Music Magazine Advertisement. Behind the logo will be a photograph of a vast amount of polaroid photos, strewn randomly on the ground. Not only does this continue the visual themes of polaroids and photographs but it also relates back to a scene in my music video, where my actor is lying atop of hundreds of polaroids.
Completing my CD Digipak
I completed all of the necessary filming for my music video, and during the process, I took the photographs that I would feature in my CD Digipak. The image below depicts my actor, who features in all three of my media forms, standing in front of a white backdrop and smiling whilst holding a red love heart shaped balloon. The image is very basic which allowed me to utilise Photoshop's tools effectively.
I used the MagicWand tool to remove the white background, so the image of my actor, Lydia, is independent and isolated from it. I then re-sized the image and placed it on top of the polaroid background on a separate layer. However, I found that the image of Lydia looked out of place and too modern in comparison to the aged and faded background effect of the polaroid. Subsequently, I changed the saturation on the image of Lydia and made it lighter and then proceeded to change its opacity which resulted in the finished front cover, which can be seen above. I also feathered the image of Lydia so it faded into the background for a more pleasing aesthetic. In order to complete the back cover of my Digipak, I need to source information in regards to the artist's record label etc, information which will be placed under the track listing on the back cover. However, once the appropriate information is sourced, the task will be very simple and quick to complete.
For the Digipak's inside left cover, I took a picture of my actor, once again standing in front of the white backdrop smiling. Although, in this photograph she is holding a polaroid camera. This creates a visual link for the audience, as that same camera appears in the music video for the song "Selfies", which features on the album Peroxide.
The photograph I took that would feature in the disc tray was also very simple - I took a photo of a pile of polaroids that were thrown randomly onto the white backdrop. Once again, this is another visual tie in for the audience, as those same polaroids appear in the music video for "Selfies".
Similarly, I used the MagicWand tool to remove the white backdrop, so I was just left with the image of Lydia. I followed the same procedures by altering the saturation and opacity of the image so it faded in nicely with the faded and vintage background positioned inside the polaroid frame. Next, following the tutorial titled "Create a Collage of Polaroids from a Single Photo with Photoshop CS6" I placed polaroid frames on top of the image of Lydia to create the polaroid montage effect.
The image of the pile of polaroids needed little editing; I altered its saturation and re-sized it to fit into the polaroid frame. However, I placed "NN" on top of them, a logo I have designed for my artist. this logo appears three times altogether in my CD Digipak; in the right hand corner of the front cover, in the right hand corner of the back cover and in the centre of the disc tray. I intend to feature the logo in my Music Magazine Advertisement, so an audience will quickly associate it with my artist, Nina Nesbitt.
"Selfies" Nina Nesbitt Completed CD Digipak






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