Project Overview
Download a PDF of the creative brief for Project 2.
You’ve been hired by a popular musician’s marketing team to design their latest album cover. The artist has decided that the cover art should take inspiration from the Blue Note Records album covers from the ‘50s and ‘60s. You should look at and study as many of those as you can for inspiration and guidance on how to develop the look of the album cover, while also trying to maintain a sense of the artist’s personal style.
Target Audience
During the making of the album, the artist recorded several tracks with up-and-coming jazz artists whose audiences may not overlap with their own. The album cover must feel connected to the artist’s own visual style, but it also must feel like a slight departure from what they may normally do. They want people to know they are an evolving artist who is willing to go wherever their music takes them.
The Deliverables
The designer will need to turn in three (3) deliverables by the due date:
1. The finished album cover in PDF format, 2000 pixels x 2000 pixels, at least 200 dpi, RGB color space. You can use either Photoshop or Illustrator to create the final product as long as what you turn in conforms to the specifications above. The cover should feature the following pieces of information: The artist/group name, the album title, the Blue Note Records logo, the names of 4-5 people who contributed to the album. All of these pieces of information should
be integrated artfully into the design of the cover.
2. An 11”x17” promotional poster for the album, either portrait or landscape orientation, in PDF format. Think of a creative way to adapt your album cover design to fit this format. Don’t just “stretch” the visuals.
3. Spotify Canvas artwork for the album in PDF format with notes on animation ideas. It should be 405 pixels wide by 720 pixels tall, portrait orientation. It DOES NOT have to be animated, but you need to think up some ideas for how it COULD animate in a loop. Think of a creative way to adapt your album cover design to fit this format. Look to Spotify’s website for examples. The PDF should have an image of just the artwork, as well as an image of the artwork with notes explaining the animation.
Due Date
All deliverables for this project should be emailed to the instructor in a compressed .zip file by 5 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2024.
Artist/Album Suggestions
If you can’t think of an artist to use, or if you want to try something different, pick a classic album to redesign from the list below:
- Nirvana, “Nevermind”
- Pink Floyd, “Dark Side of the Moon”
- Mariah Carey, “Emotions”
- Motorhead, “Ace of Spades”
- Dr. Dre, “The Chronic”
- Public Enemy, “It Takes A Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back”
- The Rolling Stones, “Exile on Main Street”
- Sex Pistols, “Nevermind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols”
- Lauryn Hill, “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill”
- Bob Marley and The Wailers, “Catch A Fire”
- The Clash, “London Calling”
- Slayer, “Reign in Blood”
- Wu-Tang Clan, “Forever”
- Devo, “Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!”
- Nine Inch Nails, “The Downward Spiral”
- The Beastie Boys, “Paul’s Boutique”
- D’Angelo, “Brown Sugar”
- GodFlesh, “Streetcleaner”
- Tangerine Dream, “Phaedra”
- Black Flag, “Damaged”