If you’re like me.. you’ll remember the excitement and the anticipation of walking into a CD shop or a record store and flipping through the latest releases of Albums, EPs and Singles.. Do you remember the feeling it gave you, when you first looked at the image that was in front of you.. the album art?.. Many of you may still get this feeling with physical records, CDs or other types of media.
Now for a moment, think to your Spotify playlist (or whichever platform you use to listen to music).. When you choose a song, have you noticed the artwork associated with that song.. does it contribute to making you feel a particular way about that music?
In this article, we will explore, with the help of a couple of experts, what it takes to make great cover art for your music.. some of the things for you to consider when putting it together.. so that you can be deliberate in the result you are trying to achieve.
Why is your cover art important?
In order to truly answer the question about the importance of cover art, I have enlisted a couple of experts..
Jonah Primo is an Album Artist, as well as a musician himself.. He explains that “so much work goes into the writing, the performance, and production of a single or album, so your cover deserves to look beautiful too. Art is the first thing people see when they click on your track, and the first thing they see in their minds eye when they think about your track.”
Michelle Grace Hunder is a Melbourne, Australia based Photographer, who specialises with assisting musicians with photography for their album cover art.. She explains “I always think of cover art images as the thing that represents the artist to people who have never heard them before. Fans will already know what an artist looks/ sounds like, but for emerging artists you have an opportunity to catch attention by imagery. Think of back in the day flicking through records in the shop or CDs in the store, there is something about imagery that will make people want to listen if they have never heard of you before.”
The below summarises what well designed cover art can do for your music:
- Catches the attention of your audience
- Makes you stand out from the masses
- Helps a potential fan to decide to listen to your music
- Provides insight and representation into who you are as an artist
How to begin to create eye catching cover art
Before you begin, it’s a good idea to create an idea of what you’re wanting the outcome to look like.. Ask yourself:
- Who am I and what makes me, me?
- What is my music about?
- Who is my audience?
- What existing album art am I drawn to?
- What are the keywords in my song(s)?
- What feelings or messages do I want to portray to potential fans?
- Do I want to include a picture of me.. create a scene.. or something different?
- What is something about me that I can share with my fans through the art?
- Do I want to create my own cover art or would I like to enlist the help of a designer and/or photographer?
Michelle Grace Hunder says “eye catching and representative of the music is the two key things I always strive for when doing this kind of work with artists. Trying to be unique and not following trends I think can also make you stand out from the crowd!”
Jonah Primo suggests “be vibrant, adventurous, take risks and commission something different, surreal, scary. Something that makes people try and explore how the art connects to the sound. The more time your fans are engaging with your cover art, the more time they are engaging with your music.” Â
Get down to the nitty gritty creating
Once you have asked yourself the above questions and you have an idea of the direction, you want your cover art to take, you need to decide how you are going to get the art physically created.. There are so many options and below, I have laid out a few:
1. Enlist a photographer
If you have decided that you would like to include a photo of yourself, within your cover art, you will want to ensure that you have high resolution, well laid out photos to use.. The best way to ensure that you have quality photos, is to use the services of an experience and creative photographer, who understands the results that you are trying to work towards.
2. Work with a cover art or graphic designer
There are many services advertised all over the web, providing you with an option to have your cover art designed for you.. A designer will work with you to create the end result you are looking for, for an agreed fee. The benefit of using such service, is that they are experienced in this area and can provide you with details that you may not be aware of, or have the experience to do youself.
3. Use pre-made cover art
There are services, such as Coverartworks.com, Melodynest.com or Grafiksbox.com, where you can browse a series of pre-made designs.. the benefit of this, is that you can see exactly what is in front of you and decide if it’s a good fit for you.. it’s also a cheaper option than having your art designed from scratch. The potential downfall of this method, is that you may find another artist has the same cover art.
4. Make your own
These days we have access to so many resources.. and.. with a little creativity, we can design some pretty good looking cover art.. Think about using tools such as Canva, or similar services, to put together designs, with images that you may have.. or using an existing template.
The psychology behind your design
Whichever, method of design you choose, the below will give you a few things to think about.. It will arm you with some knowledge about what makes people tick and captures their attention.. and.. ultimately leads them to listen to your music
1. Limited Awareness
As humans, we have a limited scope of awareness, that only allows us to focus on particular elements at any given time. Below is a video, which provides you with a test so that you can see how good your awareness in a situation is.. have a look:
Why is this beneficial for you to know when you create your cover art?.. Ultimately, if you have too much happening within your image, it won’t be noticed by the majority of potential fans.. Why not use this to your advantage and emphasise the things that you want the viewer to focus on.. draw their attention to the key elements and discard the clutter.
2. The Psychology of Colour
Businesses have been using colour to ignite a feeling for as long as marketing has existed.. There are some cues that we, as artists can take from their expertise.. after all, we are looking for a similar outcome.. we want people to be attracted to our music, via our cover art.
The below image comes from thelogocompany.net and I have included it, so that you can see, firstly, some recognisable brands and the colours they have chosen to use, but also the effects that different colours do have on how we feel.
When you answered the earlier questions, you may have decided that you are trying to create a happy, bubbly, summery feeling.. in that case, you may decide that you use orange within your album artwork, to ignite that cheerful, friendly vibe.. Have a think about the feelings you would like to generate within your potential fans.
If you would like to take this further, there is a lot of research on colour psychology.. you may find it interesting to see how the attractions to particular colours change over different age groups.. you can find the research here.
3. Facial Expressions
Did you know that facial expressions are universal? This means that you can convey a message, through emotion to the individual checking out your work, despite their background.
As well as this, scientists have discovered that when you view one of these universal expressions in a picture, it tends to arouse the feeling and emotion within you.
Therefore, if you decide to include your face or the face of another within your cover art, consider the expression being used.. make it intentional to arouse the feeling that you are looking for.
Finally..
Plan out your cover art.. it is often the first element of your music that a potential fan will see before they decide to listen to your music, which makes it an incredibly important piece of the puzzle.. have fun with the process!
Contributors:
A big thank you to our contributors, Michelle Grace Hunder, Melbourne based Photographer and Jonah Primo, Cover art designer.
Karen Harding is a Melbourne, Australia based singer/songwriter, founder of Sounds On The Couch, and founder and operator of boutique music PR service for emerging and independent artists, Rise Indie.