Album Art Research

I decided to research the Album Art for Hey Monday and The Veronicas.

Although Hey Monday are not an all female band, they have a female vocalist and pop-punk. Their band consist of a lead vocalist, lead guitarist, rhythm guitarist, bass guitarist and a drummer, similar to our band. They recorded their debut album in 2008.

• The front of their album builds up a lot of suspense, we do not see any images of the artist and the genre isn't given away either. This could intrigue customers into picking up the album and looking at it in further detail. The band and album name are very prominent in a bold font. 
• The image of the band in then seen on the back with an image where they are all roughly equal in size and positioning, this could connote unity in the band. Many of the conventions for back covers are met, including a bar-code, copyright information and record label details.  
• Over the two covers, a very synergistic style and colour scheme has been created. The lined paper, ink stains and sketchy image connotes a work-in-progress, an unfinished and unpolished product. This would appeal to their fans who are likely to want a band who seem real and relatable.

The Veronicas are a female rock duo, also twin sisters, and produced their debut album in 2005.

• The front of their album cover provides a similar suspense to the Hey Monday album. The two lipstick marks reveal the fact they are a duo but again, genre is not too apparent. The band name is very central in a bold font, but the album name, 'the secret life of...' is a lot smaller. However, it is still very clear and it creates a clever overall image with the central band name finishing off the sentence. 
• The artist identity becomes very clear on the back cover with two images of the duo. Again, the conventions are kept to with the bar-code, track list and other information. 
• There is a very clear style to this cover, almost scrapbook-like. The front is crumpled paper with prints and doodles, and the back contains lots of layers images as though they have been cut out and stuck on. (Even the track names have been scribbled out and re-written!) There is also a synergistic colour scheme with a pop of pink. These all collate to instantly attract their target market, predominantly young females. The idea of the scrapbook is instantly memorable and relatable, and like the Hey Monday album, the untidy finish adds a sense of realism to the artist. 

Final Thoughts

I was quite surprised that the two artists I chose at random to look at had a similar style to their debut albums, and it can be considered quite unconventional. Often with a debut album, an artist image features on the front to attract an audience and help to feed them information about the genre and artist. However, this was definitely achieved on the back covers, and I think the approach which creates suspense could be very beneficial.