I.T Services

This album cover interested me because of the effects and editing that were applied to this image, this would have been most probably done on photoshop using one of the artistic filters and also changing the light intensity and shadows. The text on this album cover is interesting because I think this is the main part that reflects the artists music genre. The text looks quite like graffiti which would reflect, hip hop, r’n’b and electro…which is what this genre of music is. The album cover is very bright and colourful, which I think reflects the music which is also very upbeat and lively.

I chose this album cover because I think that is quite an interesting one to analyse. The skills and effects that would have been applied to this image are again, most probably one of the artistic filters in photoshop. The idea is pretty simple, yet , in my opinion very effective. I like how the face of the artist is made to be the focal point of the album cover because of its placement in the centre to its bright and extravagant colour. I think the reason that they have made the artist face this colour would be to suggest that the artist is loud, extrovert and lively, this is definately also reflected in the artist music. The text on this album is quite subtly placed across the artist face, it is almost in a way dominating the album cover. I think this looks effective because it is different to most album, which again could then reflect the music, giving the idea that this artist is new, original and exciting.

This album cover is very bright and loud. I think that is also, like all of the other album covers so far very representative of the artists genre of music. The font used in this piece is quite hard to read, and is also very unusual. There is also a bit of foreign writing around the circular part in the middle, this shows that M.I.A is bringing her culture and background into her music. The colour choice in this album cover are very bold colours that stand out and don’t necessarily go together but still look good. There are also lots of different patterns which have been put together in the background of this album cover, this is a zebra print pattern which has been coloured in different shades of purple. The image in the centre of M.I.A is also used four times around the centre image. The centre image is a simple black and white image, which has been manipulated on photoshop initially using the b&w artistic filter. The four images around this one however would have most probably been changed to black and white like the one in the centre and then manipulated further with the curves tool.

The way that this album cover would have been created would have been on photoshop using layers, there would have been an image taken of gold glitter and the other of the artist, this would have been created with separate layers and the gold glitter one would have been edited and the ‘multiply’ effect would have been used to make it look like it is part of the background. This is also done with the text. The text is quite different, the colour is simple, just like all the other parts of the album apart from the gold glitter, making this the main focus of the album cover. Overall I think that this album cover was created to give the viewers and potential buyers something to think about, its almost a slight talking point as the image is quite odd and different.

This album cover is made to look very handmade, the image looks like it has been drawn. It alsmost looks like it is a ‘doodle’ that someone has done…this could give the viewer/customer the impression that this music is easy listening, laid back and new. Which is exactly what this genre is. I think that the colours used are quite good, they are very natural. The images in this are also showing birds, leaves, butterflies etc, which is all to do with nature. So I think that the overall image that was wanting to be created would be fresh and natural. I don’t think that the font is a very good choice, the font should have been a contrasting colour or style to make it stand out more and make the album cover more eye catching. The skills that would have been used on photoshop would have been having a white background as the background layer and then simply creating another layer and adding this image, then using the multiply selection to flatten the image. In my opinion, this album cover is one of the weakest when it comes to design and originality. I think that this could have been manipulated on photoshop a lot more and therefore looking much more effective and eyecatching.

I think that this album cover is one of the most effective and creative ones. It is also one of the most eye-catching and bright ones too. I think that the font and the choice of its colour is the strongest of all the fonts in the albums I have analysed because it stands out. The designer of this album cover has used the same colours in different parts of the cover to make them stand out, for example the purple in the shadow of the font is used on the man on the right, the woman in her bikini and the bats. The yellow has been used in various parts of the album also. I think that this album cover very much sums up the artists style of music. It is loud, bright and fresh. This genre of music is new and exciting and this is what Major Lazer has wanted to show its potential customers. I think in terms of how this album cover was created is quite difficult to say as the image could have been very cleverly manipulate to be cartoon effect with one of the filter or it could of simply just been drawn. Either way, I think this album cover is a definate favourite of mine.