analysis of album covers

1. Album Cover Analysis

2. The typography used for
the title of the album
“My Everything” is
written in a very
feminine and delicate
font. The way the text is
written also links into
the emotion of the text
itself. The title of the
album gives fans the idea
that the content will be
about “everything”
that’s important to the
artist, which
stereotypically links to
the way females talk
about their feelings.
The female artist is captured on the front
cover wearing a minimal amount of clothing,
including very short shorts. The text goes
through the artist’s midriff, drawing the
audience’s attention to her torso and below.
‘My Everything’ was released on August 22nd 2014, following her previous album’s
success (Yours Truly), which features famous artists such as: Big Sean, Nathan Sykes
and Mac Miller. My Everything has sold around 700,000 copies in the US alone.
The background of this
album colour is almost
black. The darkness of the
background highlights the
main focus- the artist in the
middle. The black and
white colour scheme of this
album cover gives it a very
sophisticated and classy
look.
The camera angle used to
capture the main image
makes it easier for the
audience to view the
artist’s feminine pose. So
the audience are able to
identify this album as quite
girly.
In this particular album cover,
females are represented as
very girly and that they care
about their appearance. The
artist is pictured wearing high
heels and a matching set of
shorts and a bralet.

3. This album was released by Miley Cyrus to re-establish her music career on the 4th of October 2013. The
album ‘Bangerz’ features artists such as: French Montana, Future and Nelly. The album sold 270,000 in the
first week of its release and also allowed Miley Cyrus to receive a Grammy nomination for best pop vocal
album.
The artist’s name is
written quite boldly
and spaced out
across the top and
bottom of the album
cover, which allows
the audience to
clearly identify who
she is. The colour of
this text is
appropriate to the
rest of the colour
scheme, red and blue
are vibrant and fun
colours.
The title of the album is
‘Bangerz’, which implies that all
of the songs on it are upbeat,
good vibe songs. The typography
of the title is very creative, it
styled and edited as a wall light
and stands out on the cover.
The background has a gradient colour of
peachy orange and purple, it also include
images of trees. This background is quite
colourful, but dark enough to still make
the artist the main focus. I think that the
background is unique and not as simple as
others, which reflects the artist well.
The image of the artist looks
as if it’s been cut out and
stuck onto the album, which
gives it more depth and
makes it look more 3D. The
fact that the artist is wearing
red lipstick makes the
emotion on her face stand
out more. Her facial
expression is quite fierce,
which could link to some of
the songs on the album.
Miley is posed in a position
that looks as if she’s
confident with herself. Her
fierce facial expression which
is staring directly to the
camera makes her look like a
strong woman. In addition to
this, her outfit also makes
her appear like a strong
female artist. This represents
females positively because it
shows that they’re not timid,
girly girls like they’re
stereotyped to be.

4. Tattoos is Jason Derulo’s third studio album, released on 20th September 2013. Jason
Derulo wanted this album to be different to his other albums and for the growth in his
writing to show. This album features famous artists such as: 2 Chainz and Jordin Sparks.
The artist’s name is
written in quite a rustic
style, but still bold. The
white on yellow
background makes his
name a prominent
feature on the album
cover and will enable
people to notice it
straight away. The
colour of the font also
compliments the white
highlights in the
background extremely
well and makes the text
and background come
together successfully.
The background is a mix of darker and lighter tones of yellow as
well as white highlights around the artist’s face. The vibrancy of
the background makes the album cover as a whole stand out a lot
and become extremely recognisable. The yellow of the
background also compliments the yellow in the graphics on the
artist’s neck.
This hairstyle is often associated with
stereotypical African-American
males, so this image adheres to that
stereotype. The tattoos on the
artist’s neck directly link to the
theme of the album’s title and even
has ‘tattoos’ included within the
tattoos.
The camera angle used to
capture the image of the artist is
effective for this album cover
because it reveals the tattoos on
his neck and patterned hair style.
It’s important that the tattooed
side of his neck is on show
because it includes the title of
the album.

5. Artpop is the third studio album by Lady Gaga, released on November 6th 2013. Artpop
includes the famous single ‘Applause’ and features vocals from artists such as: R Kelly, T.I
and Twista.
The typography for the
title of the album and
the artist’s name is
extremely bold in
regards to the font itself
and the colour of the
font. The artist’s name
is bright pink, which is
very effective in regards
to standing out from
the background. The
colour of the title is
white, which looks bold
against the blue object
that it’s in front of.
Considering this is Lady Gaga’s third studio
album and the fact she’s frequently in the
media because of her unique style means that
most people know who she is. This means that
her name doesn’t need to look particularly
clear for the audience to know who’s album it
is if it’s accompanied by an image of her.
The background for this album
appears to be a collage of historical
images, broken up. There’s no clear
colour scheme for this album, but
this can be forgiven because the
title is ‘Artpop’ so it can be seen as
abstract and creative.
Lady Gaga is styled to look like
a statue, which links to the
historical background. Her
facial expression and body
language is very stiff and
emotion-less to capture this
role.
Lady Gaga has been made
to look doll-like and out of
proportion, like a work of
art. This ties in with the
title of the album ‘Artpop’
because it’s supporting the
art theme.
The album name is
pop art in reverse, so
everything has been
made to look
distorted and very
colourful.

6. Poster Advertisement Analysis

7. This is a poster advertising Kasabian’s album ‘Empire’. The
main theme of the poster is power. The single image in the
middle of the poster is made to look dated and features a
man of power carrying a woman. This image links in
extremely well with the name of the album because it
could be inferred that this man featured in the image runs
an empire.
Additional images on the poster are the logos that
represent King of Clubs from a pack of playing cards. This
links with the theme of power as well as the main image
and the name of the band. When the main image is
accompanied by the King of Clubs symbol, it makes the
word empire seem so much more important, and makes
the man in the main image look like he’s a king. The Ks on
the King of Clubs symbol could also link with the name of
the band, whose name begins with a K- this makes the
poster look memorable.
The name of the band is placed in front of the main image
in a font that’s a bit more modern but not too modern that
it distracts from the theme. The slightly yellow outline of
the font ties in well with the background of the image and
makes the text look less bold and more a part of the
image. The font used for the album release date is placed
at the bottom of the poster so that it doesn’t distract from
the theme or the main image. The font of this information
is designed to link with the theme because it’s not too bold
and it’s quite simple.

8. The poster to promote Ben Howard’s album ‘Every Kingdom’
features an image that covers the whole background, which is
effective for catching the audience’s attention. The image is of
someone diving into the sea, so the background is various
shades of blue. This is effective because it gives the poster
texture and allows it to look calming. Ben Howard belongs to a
genre that creates soft and calm music, which the background of
this poster perfectly demonstrates. The sea that the person is
diving into is still and empty-looking, which could demonstrate
them getting away from their chaotic life. The main image could
also represent the person diving into another “kingdom”, to make
reference to the album name.
The typography is extremely simple and compliments the
background well. The artist’s name is written in bold white and
larger than the other text so that it stands out and the audience
is aware of who the album is by. Also included on the poster is
the name of the album and the release date. This information is
also written in white to keep it simple, but they’ve not been
made bold because they’re not as important as the artist’s name.
The release date has been made the smallest of all the text
because it’s the least significant piece of information on the
poster, they have to ensure the audience know who the album is
by and what it’s called because notifying them about the release
date.

9. This is an advertisement for Green Day’s album
‘21st Century Breakdown’. The background image
features a man and woman kissing against a brick
wall at night time. Both of these people are
wearing black with black hair and this supports
the genre of music that Green Day produce.
Green day as a band dress very gothic-like and
dark, so the two people in this image represent
the band and their style.
The brick wall behind the two people add colour
to the advertisement and also highlight the two
people in the image. The typography used in this
advertisement links with the genre of music that
Green Day belongs to. The font used to design the
name of the band is edgy and made to look like
it’s been graffti-ed onto the brick wall and the
other text on the poster are bold and look very
abstract .
Included on this poster is information about the
release date of the album as well as the band’s
name and album name. An effective way that the
poster has grabbed the audience’s attention is by
the text at the top that says ‘the wait is finally
over…’, which will give them a sigh of relief and
make them more eager to purchase the album.

10. This poster is designed to advertise the Killer’s new
album. Within this poster they’ve included the
name of the band, the title of the album, what the
poster is advertising and what popular single is
featured in the album. It’s effective to mention a
popular single that will be included in the album
because if someone has grown to love that song
when they’ve heard it on the radio, they may
purchase the album so that they can listen to that
song as much as they want as well as getting
familiar with more of their songs.
The background of this album features an image
that’s designed to look like mosaic and a peaceful
sunset over a mountain. The colour of the sunset is
created using different shades of purple which is
quite unique and gives the poster a bright and
attractive background. The colours used to make
the desert-like mountains below the sunset are
created using shades of orange and brown which
compliment the purple shades nicely to make this
poster look extremely well put together and
appealing.
The background of this poster is very appropriate
to get the attention of the Killer’s target audience,
which is mainly adults. Adults will appreciate the
artistic flare of the background and will understand
that this album will appeal to them more than
teenagers.