CD cover design

I don't mind the title being at the bottom, it's the treatment, or more so, lack of treatment given to the title text. Your example highlights my point:

Jacksonbrownedebut.jpg


Can you see how 'Jackson Browne' bosses all of the other text? Whether it's by the stroke, the colour, the arch of the text, the difference of font that stands on its own but it still relatable; it shows it is top of the food chain of text. It has been treated in a way different to all of the text to show it is unique to the other fonts. 'Unique' I think that is the key word.

Now if you were to remove 'Jackson Browne' and replace it with your 'Timber Framed' (literally copy and paste), yes it will still be seen as the title, but it just doesn't have that same Umpthhhh.... There is no treatment of the text to make it any different or special to any of your other text.

I do like your album cover btw....
 
I don't mind the title being at the bottom, it's the treatment, or more so, lack of treatment given to the title text. Your example highlights my point:

Jacksonbrownedebut.jpg


Can you see how 'Jackson Browne' bosses all of the other text? Whether it's by the stroke, the colour, the arch of the text, the difference of font that stands on its own but it still relatable; it shows it is top of the food chain of text. It has been treated in a way different to all of the text to show it is unique to the other fonts. 'Unique' I think that is the key word.

Now if you were to remove 'Jackson Browne' and replace it with your 'Timber Framed' (literally copy and paste), yes it will still be seen as the title, but it just doesn't have that same Umpthhhh.... There is no treatment of the text to make it any different or special to any of your other text.

I do like your album cover btw....

Ahhhhh, I get where you're coming from now :)

I don't know how relevant it is to your thoughts on the matter, but it is perhaps worth noting that although the album in the example was intended to be self-titled as 'Jackson Browne' it is usually referred to as 'Saturate Before Using'.
 
In light of your comments I'd be interested to know if you think the reformatted text here works any better?

For me it looks more 'title-y' but maybe less 70s album cover...

text reformat.png
 
It might be the two rules, does it need them? Looks good, though I would try the title
in pale orange and your name in white?
 
I love the back cover design you posted on the last page, http://www.graphicdesignforums.co.uk/threads/cd-cover-design.24228/#post-171429

For me though the latest cover photo you are using here just doesn't grab me, I liked the larger postcard version you posted, though it wasn't quite there yet, I thought it was more engaging.

Also though looking again the smaller top photo you've used on the back cover looks a more dynamic/interesting image - have you tried that for the cover?
 
The first one with the orange title for me.

Remove the black stoke, correct the kerning, give it a tad more leading, expand the tracking of 'Framed' slightly, try 'Pistol Pete Wearn' in another colour other than black or white; you could maybe experiment with a complementary colour of the orange.
 
Remove the black stoke, correct the kerning, give it a tad more leading, expand the tracking of 'Framed' slightly, try 'Pistol Pete Wearn' in another colour other than black or white; you could maybe experiment with a complementary colour of the orange.

You're forgetting, it's supposed to look like the naff designs one saw on 70s album covers and from memory, that looks perfect to me! Although saying that, the pic with you inside would match the title more.
 
I like all the pic's but the one on the tracks seems to have something extra.
It looks very authentic in a way that's quite hard to achieve.
Seems to tell more of a story.

I think the studio pic would be best served somewhere else like on the inside/reverse, maybe to complement a bio.

The text has really come on too.
I think the colour depends on the placement as the solid black is a little too stark and the white isn't as legible sometimes.
I'm inclined to go for the orange but without the black border although I know why you've used it.

Another way of pushing type forward is to use a drop shadow but it's all in the experimentation.
This is where Illustrator excels over Photoshop.

Out of interest.... Is your first name really "Pistol"?
 
I like all the pic's but the one on the tracks seems to have something extra.
It looks very authentic in a way that's quite hard to achieve.
Seems to tell more of a story.

I think the studio pic would be best served somewhere else like on the inside/reverse, maybe to complement a bio.

The text has really come on too.
I think the colour depends on the placement as the solid black is a little too stark and the white isn't as legible sometimes.
I'm inclined to go for the orange but without the black border although I know why you've used it.


Another way of pushing type forward is to use a drop shadow but it's all in the experimentation.
This is where Illustrator excels over Photoshop.

Out of interest.... Is your first name really "Pistol"?

This is basically the explanation behind my suggestions...

You're forgetting, it's supposed to look like the naff designs one saw on 70s album covers and from memory, that looks perfect to me! Although saying that, the pic with you inside would match the title more.

I know but at least be 'consistently inconsistent' with the text like the 'Jackson Browne' text up top. Actually, you know what, looking at it with fresh eyes this morning, I think it will just be a matter of removing the stroke.
 
Out of interest.... Is your first name really "Pistol"?

It's kind of an honorary title.... ;)

So the reason I had the stroke on the text was because I just couldn't get orange readable enough on that background. Here I've added a dropshadow using a brown from the ferns in the background, which I think works?

I've also put my name in an earthy yellow, but although it's better than the orange was, again I'm not sure it's readable enough...

version6.png
 
I'm not suggesting to go with this, it is just an idea but have you experimented with introducing a block of colour behind that bleeds over to the back cover, as per my quick example below? Legibility often needs to take priority over aesthetics.

Screen Shot 2017-10-03 at 13.14.52.png
 
So... after trying everything suggested, poring over a load of old album covers, starting again, and again, this is where I'm at.

  • I think I prefer red to orange (sorry @Wardy).
  • Adding a coloured background to the text looked too contemporary for me.
  • I've lowered the brightness of the left hand side of the image just a touch to help with legibility.
  • I've got rid of the widened tracking on 'timber'. Having looked at a shedload of old LPs in the last few days, aligning text at both ends of the line like that just isn't something anyone did until photoshop came along.
  • For what it's worth I also added the entire track listing to the front for 70s authenticity & then got rid of it again because it was ugly.

So - I think the red could get a little brighter to make it pop out of the background more but, apart from that, I'm 80% sure this is the final version.

version7.png

Thanks to you all for taking the time to offer your thoughts & opinions. It really has been useful.
 
Back
Top