Prior to the 1950's, the 12 inch Vinyl was a format that allowed artistic expression and visual experimentation. The size of it gave designers a lot of room to work on. For instance, there is an incredible amount of detail in Sergeant Peppers Club artwork.
After 1985, compact discs as we all know took over and Vinyl started appearing in junk sales or charity shops. The smaller canvas was more limiting to work for designers to make album artwork on. The cover sleeve became more commercialised as it was managed by publicity departments in record companies who concentrated on revenue from album sales. Often large obtrusive stickers covered up the cover art. The cover sleeve became a marketing surface rather than a medium used to as artistic expression.
This is why I am interested in cover work and making work based on music. It's about bringing back the emotion to visual communication of music.
"Most people buy records because they are emotionally or artiscally engaged by them and the sleeve plays an important part in formulating this response"
- Sampler: Contemporary Music Graphics.
- Sampler: Contemporary Music Graphics.
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