The Motto Record Cover

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Intro

The rise of digital music threatens one of the greatest canvasses of art seen in the 20th Century - the record sleeve. It evolved into something for artistic expression. Many cover designs from the 1970s –1990s and elements thereof have become iconic, creating a culture around and beyond them, adding to consumer value and reflecting subversions of their time. Some of these are still present in our current visual culture. Recently in the age of music streaming and digital albums there has been a revival in record collecting and a nostalgia for the crafted physical object of the record sleeve.

The Brief

In this project, I looked at potentially designing for one of two record labels: Young
God Records and Sacred Bones Records. I decided to design a record cover for Sacred Bones Records. I focused on crafting a standout gatefold record sleeve that will be informed and designed for Sacred Bones Records.

There was strong emphasis placed on the exploration of different media, mediums and processes to create the final cover art. I was able to choose any artist and one of there singles or albums for the record cover.

Concept

My concept is all about celebrating life and living in the moment. It’s all about living by your life’s motto and celebrating the highs of life, and celebrating after hard work and hard times. It goes through ideas of wealth, fame, celebrations and, the key symbol, champagne. I used champagne as my main symbol to visually communicate “A Celebration”. I wanted to feature Ava Max in my design. She has a very iconic appearance and beautiful features to display in the record cover. “The Motto” has become visually represented by Ava Max and I feel that it is import to display that.

The Record Cover

Front & Back Cover

The Design Process

I sketched a portrait of Ava Max and a champagne bottle with graphite pencils. I then added gold leaf for the champagne popping effect. I then scanned and edited my sketches.

The dark shades showcase the genre of music and the tone set by the artists. The gold symbolizes wealth & success, as well as looking like a pop of gold confetti.

After scanning my sketches, I took them into Photoshop and enhanced the contrast and darkened the image by decreasing the brightness. I added the champagne bottle over Ava Max with decreased opacity. I added a black multiplied layer over the image and added noise. I added the scanned gold leaf and edited the colour, brightness & contrast. I duplicated the gold leaf over the image to create a larger pop/splash of champagne.

This cover emulates the minimal & limited colour palette designs of Sacred Gods Records. When I placed my images into the record cover template, I made majority of the type white and the SBR number and Album name gold. I duplicated the type and sent it backwards, then added a black outer glow so that the white and gold type stood out more. The back cover displays side A and B’s contents. The inner covers have the
singles name and the lyrics to the song. Lastly, I finished it off with a black spine.

This record cover both visually and audibly communicates my concept. When I see it,

I can imagine Ava Max dancing, singing and popping champagne, and most importantly, I can hear the song!

Inner Covers for Gatefold

Rationale

For this project, I was tasked to design a record cover for Sacred Bones Records.

I chose to design a cover for Tiësto and Ava Max’s hit single, “The Motto”.

My concept revolved around celebrations & living in the moment. I used champagne as a main iconic symbols , as well as colour psychology. Due to the song being a darker electronic/dance genre, I used dark shades of black and grey with only one other colour, gold. Gold is the colour of extravagance, wealth, riches, and success!

My aim was to create a record cover that both visually and audibly communicates the song and my concept.