Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way” and Rihanna’s “Loud” present extreme close-ups of each singer, as if they’d been designed with iPhones in mind. The cover art for the new Arctic Monkeys album and the Zac Brown Band’s “You Get What You Give” amount to titles set against white backgrounds they resemble signs more than record jackets. Those CD covers now feel like keepsakes from a Renaissance compared with recent releases in the social-media era. Even with such restrictions CD designers came up with memorable images: the underwater baby on Nirvana’s “Nevermind,” fans scouring record store bins on DJ Shadow’s “Endtroducing,” the homage to ’70s blaxploitation films on OutKast’s “Aquemini.” Almost overnight their canvas shrunk to a roughly five-square-inch pamphlet. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” immersed themselves in the sci-fi worlds created by the artist Roger Dean for Yes jackets or examined every photographic detail in the street panorama on the Beastie Boys’ “Paul’s Boutique.”Īrt directors took their first creative hit during the early ’90s, when the compact disc overtook the LP. Fans pored over every celebrity image crammed onto the Beatles’ “Sgt. Starting in the late 1960s the album cover developed into an art form unto itself. (The graphic is a far cry from the dual-mermen, maritime-psychedelic illustration on the front of its previous album, “Crack the Skye.”) (The art is far less ornate than the intertwining profile illustrations on the cover of their classic “Blood Sugar Sex Magik” 20 years ago.) “The Hunter,” the late September release from the thinking man’s metal band Mastodon, presents a single image of a multi-jawed beast’s head. 30) features a no-frills photo of a fly perched on a sleeping pill. The cover of the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “I’m With You” (out Aug. The evolution reflects the way in which more and more fans will be staring at covers on their smartphones, iPads and other mobile devices, on which record jackets are now roughly the size of a postage stamp.Ĭoming releases by two major acts point toward this new direction. Album covers appear to be growing simpler and less detailed than those in the past. The digital revolution has already reduced record sales, and its impact is now being felt in packaging.
Carney’s straightforward design is an example of what appears to be the latest industry casualty of the Internet age: album art. “The marketing people said, ‘This is our dream!’ ” Mr. Carney’s fears were ultimately put to rest.
Although its label, Nonesuch, was initially perplexed, Mr.
Carney recalled of the bare-bones cover, which he also felt reflected a new boldness in the Black Keys’ music. “We thought, ‘Are we allowed to do this?’ ” Mr. The name of this album is Brothers” - set against a black background. Carney devised the simplest of covers: two sentences - “This is an album by the Black Keys. Seeking a change from their previous, illustration-driven packaging, which he’d also designed, Mr. WHEN the album designer Michael Carney submitted his proposed cover for the Black Keys’ album “Brothers” last year, he and the band were a little anxious.