One of my favourite album covers is "Unknown Pleasures" by post-punk pioneers Joy Division. This album sleeve; designed by graphic designer Peter Saville. The iconic design is simply a white image of the radio waves from a pulsar CP 1919 on a black background. It is one of the most recognizable album designs of its era. I think what makes this design successful is the way in which it is a single fairly complex graphic/pattern on an otherwise very simple layout. This makes the single feature of the design standout as a singular thing rather than as part of the design. I also believe this design is successful in that it reflects the music; dark and simple but with a complex theme and a very different sound compared to anything before it. 
Another one of my favourite album covers is "London Calling" by Punk icons The Clash. This is another very iconic album cover; designed by Ray Lowry. It features of a photo; taken by photographer Pennie Smith, of bassist Paul Simonon smashing his bass guitar on-stage in New York. I believe this design is successful as it is such an iconic photo that fully captures the spirit of the band and the album. Another interesting feature of album design is that Lowry purposely designed the text around the photo to look like that of Elvis Presley's debut album; reflecting the introduction of elements of rockabilly and early rock,n,roll introduced on this album. This is therefore quite a post-modern design as it inter-textually references Elvis's first album or could even be seen as a pastiche of the original design. This is therefore an idea that I may take into account when creating my own design. 
Another design that I am a fan of is the album art for "Too Much Pressure" by Two Tone ska band The Selecter. This design; by David Storey, features the conventional black and white checkered theme and colour scheme of the genre which I need to take into account when creating my own design. However what I feel stands out about this design is how the main image of the man collapsing against the wall reflects the lyrics of the title track. This is one idea I feel I could particularly play on; continuing my "backwards" theme used throughout my video. The other strength of this design is that is again features one main image on an overall very simple design; which is a common theme amongst my favourite album covers.
Another of my favourite album covers is "The Velvet Underground & Nico" by The Velvet Underground. This is again a very simple design solely featuring the artist's name in black text and the image of the banana on a white background designed by pop-artist and the albums producer Andy Warhol. This is one of the most recognisable designs in music history and is another great example of how a very effective design can be created by using just one image or pattern on a blank coloured background. It is therefore in many ways similar to the design of "Unknown Pleasures" in that it takes this one feature or image as its main focus. Seeing as though many of my favourite album covers such as this one use this technique, I think it is definitely something I will consider using myself when creating my own design. I also beleive this very standout and different (but not extravagant design) reflects The Velvet Underground's ground-breaking and challenging musical style.
Another of my favourite album covers is "The Velvet Underground & Nico" by The Velvet Underground. This is again a very simple design solely featuring the artist's name in black text and the image of the banana on a white background designed by pop-artist and the albums producer Andy Warhol. This is one of the most recognisable designs in music history and is another great example of how a very effective design can be created by using just one image or pattern on a blank coloured background. It is therefore in many ways similar to the design of "Unknown Pleasures" in that it takes this one feature or image as its main focus. Seeing as though many of my favourite album covers such as this one use this technique, I think it is definitely something I will consider using myself when creating my own design. I also beleive this very standout and different (but not extravagant design) reflects The Velvet Underground's ground-breaking and challenging musical style.
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