The document summarizes the graphic design styles and approaches used for album covers from various artists over several decades. It profiles many pioneering graphic designers in the field and provides examples of their work designing album covers, including experimental typography, minimalist aesthetics, and appropriating styles from art movements like Constructivism and Futurism. Overall, it shows how album cover design has evolved alongside changes in the music industry and been an important initial representation of the music for listeners.

1. TYPOGRAPHY
+ MUSIC
PACKAGING

2. an album cover is
the initial moment
of the record. it’s
a doorway into the
music. peter blake

3. jamie reid
British graphic designer born 1947
Attended Croydon Art School with Sex Pistols
manager Malcolm McLaren
Influenced by student uprisings in Paris during
May 1968, + the accompanying Situationist-themed
posters/graffiti

4. never mind
the bollocks
10/1977
First + only album by
the Sex Pistols
Used the ‘ransom
note’ typography that
Reid developed while
art directing radical
political magazine
Suburban Press

5. barney bubbles
Alias of British graphic designer Colin Fulcher,
born in Middlesex, 1942
In-house designer for independent label Stiff
Records
Very publicity-shy, + never signed his work
Suffered from depression, + committed suicide
in 1983 at the age of 41

6. this year’s
model
03/1978
Second Elvis Costello album
Sleeve intentionally
designed to look misprint-
ed, with letters cut off on
left side + printer’s colour
bar appearing on right

7. get happy!
02/1980
Fourth Elvis Costello
album
Overkerned, con-
densed typography
Ring wear not genuine,
but printed on sleeve

8. peter saville
British graphic designer born in Manchester, 1955
Became in-house designer for independent
Manchester record label Factory Records after
graduating from Manchester Polytechnic
Greatly influenced by Constructivism, Futurism,
+ Jan Tschichold’s New Typography
Notorious for missing deadlines

9. 06/1979
First Joy Division album
Sleeve had neither band
name nor title visible
Removed from the normal
process of commerce
“It quite plainly didn’t care
if you bought it or not”
unknown pleasures

10. always now
09/1981
First Section 25 album
All type set in Bembo
Very high production
costs due to marbled
sleeve paper
“An object exercise in
over-design”

11. movement
11/1981
First album from the
former members of
Joy Division in their
new incarnation as
New Order
Design appropriated
from a poster by
Futurist painter
Fortunato Depero

12. 03/1983
Fourth New Order single
Production costs of
complicated sleeve design
greater than retail price
Became the best-selling
12-inch single of all time
blue monday

13. neville brody
British graphic designer born in London, 1957
Attended London College of Printing
Art director for culture/fashion magazines The
Face (1981–86) + Arena (1987–90)
Designed sleeves for industrial bands Throbbing
Gristle, 23 Skidoo, + Cabaret Voltaire
Founded Research Studios in 1994

14. 11/1984
Sixth studio album by Sheffield micro-phonies
industrial band Cabaret Voltaire
Artwork used custom typeface
designed by Brody

15. vaughan oliver
British graphic designer born in Newcastle-
upon-Tyne, 1957
Founder of studios 23 Envelope + v23
Best known for work with British indepen-
dent record label 4AD, home of US bands
Throwing Muses + The Pixies
His highly conceptual work did not always
appear to relate to the subject matter

16. throwing
muses
08/1986
Self-titled first album
from Throwing Muses
Screened typography
using multiple typefaces
+ hand-drawn lettering

17. doolittle
04/1989
Second studio album from
The Pixies
Access to album lyrics al-
lowed Oliver to tie artwork
more closely to content
Uses surrealist + abstract
images

18. tomato
British art/design/music collective founded
in 1991
Founding partners include Karl Hyde + Rick
Smith of electronic duo Underworld
Graphic designers include John Warwicker,
Jason Kedgley, + Dylan Kendle

19. 01/1994
Mixing music + design—Tomato/Underworld
Renavigating concept of authorship
dubnobasswithmyheadman

20. 10/2007
Tenth Underworld album
Layered, fragmented black+white typography
typical of John Warwicker
oblivion with bells

21. ian anderson
British designer born in Croydon (London), 1961
Founded Sheffield studio The Designers Republic
(tDR) in 1986
Self-taught designer with a degree in philosophy
Best known for his work with Sheffield electronic
music label Warp Records, home of artists such as
Autechre, Aphex Twin, + Boards of Canada

22. 03/1995
Album of remixes by industrial band Pop
Will Eat Itself (PWEI)
Deconstructed + fragmented visual aesthetic
two fingers
my friends

23. 09/2003
Third album from
Leeds-based electronic
duo LFO
No paper in packaging
except adhesive strip
with track listing
Custom typeface
screened onto clear
plastic CD case + clear sheath
outer sheath

24. 03/2010
Tenth Autechre album
Sleeve almost entirely typographic,
using a custom hand-drawn sans
oversteps serif typeface

25. mark farrow
British graphic designer
Started his career working for Manchester’s
Factory Records + The Haçienda nightclub
Launched his own studio in 1995
Work characterized by minimalist aesthetic
Voted “the most important graphic designer
working today” by Creative Review in 2004

26. ladies + gentlemen
we are floating
in space
06/1997
Special edition featured
twelve 3-inch CDs in foil
blister packaging similar
to pharmaceuticals
Only 1,000 copies of this
edition were ever made

27. dylan kendle
British graphic designer , born 1971
Studied design at the Camberwell College of Art
in London
Was in-house creative director for independent
record label Peacefrog
Currently a partner with Tomato
Known for hand-drawn typography

28. 08/2004
First album from French musical
collective Nouvelle Vague
Bossa nova-style reworkings of
punk + post-punk classics
Hand-drawn type + illustration
nouvelle
vague

29. bande
à part
06/2006
Second album from
Nouvelle Vague
Stencilled type +
illustration

30. taylor deupree
American experimental electronic musician,
photographer, + graphic designer , born 1971
Self-taught designer—graduated from NYU
with a degree in photography
Founded record label 12k in 1997
Music emphasizes abstract atmospherics

31. Tra
07/2006
Collaborative venture
between Taylor Deupree
+ Richard Chartier
Minimalist design using
photograph by Hiroshi
Sugimoto
specification.fifteen

32. Tra
let’s make
better mistakes
tomorrow
06/2009
Third album from
Polish experimental
musician Tomasz
Bednarczyk
Sleeve is primarily
photographic, with
minimalist typography
(FF DIN)

33. Tra
moss
05/2011
Collaboration by
sound artists Molly
Berg, Olivia Block,
Steve Roden, +
Stephen Vitiello
Type set in FF DIN
Transparent CD

34. re-p
Vienna-based collective, consisting of
expatriate Swiss artists/designers Nik
Thoenen + Maia Gusberti
Focuses on interdisciplinary projects that
lie between art + design
Best known for their work with Austrian
record label Mosz

35. Tra
05/2005
Solo electronic music
from British experi-
mental saxophonist
Boris Hauf
Sleeve design uses
pixelated typography +
wireframe boxes for a
retro-electronic feel
soft
left onto
westland

36. Tra
05/2006
Fifth full-length release
by US post rock musi-
cian Pan·American (real
name Mark Nelson)
Minimalist, condensed
sans serif typography
for waiting
for chasing

37. Tra
till the old world’s
blown up +
a new one
is created
11/2008
Project from Austrian
experimental musicians
Christian Fennesz,
Martin Brandlmayr, +
Werner Dafeldecker
Sleeve uses layered,
translucent paper stock

38. Tra
always
breathing
monster
11/2009
Experimental MIDI-enhanced
organ music from Düsseldorf
trio September Collective
(Stefan Schneider, Barbara
Morgenstern, + Paul Wirkus)
Custom typeface (based on
Akkurat) using extreme forced
hyphenation

39. non-format
Anglo/Scandinavian studio, consisting of Kjell
Ekhorn (Norwegian) + Jon Forss (English)
Founded in 2000 in London
Offices currently in Oslo + Minneapolis
Focus on editorial design + music packaging
Particularly known for hand-drawn + computer-
altered variants of existing typefaces

40. Tra
07/2009
Remix of 1975 album
by French disco artist
Bernard Fevre’s new
project, Black Devil
Disco Club
Avant Garde, with
hand-drawn Modern
elements
the
strange new world
of bernard
fevre

41. Tra
acolyte
01/2010
First album from Manchester-based
alternative dance band Delphic
Heavily-cropped custom typeface

42. Tra
04/2010
Fifth album from London-
based experimental pop
band The Chap
Uses typeface constructed
from shapes
well done europe

43. i’ve never believed
you can listen to
music devoid of
visual references.
julian house

44. 10/2011
CHRISTOPHER
MOOREHEAD