The document provides an analysis of two different album covers. For the first album cover: - The layout is plain with the artist and album name at the top in a simple font. - The cover features a gradient from light to dark blue to give a calming effect. - The image of a man diving raises questions about if it is the artist Ben Howard. The second album cover: - Features a mechanical hand holding different people, relating to the album title "Hand Built by Robots". - The font is mechanical-looking to match the theme. - The dark blue sky background contrasts with the mechanical elements. - Conventions like the song list and repeating images are

1. First Ancillary Task
The layout of this album cover is very
plain. The artists name is at the top of
the cover, which is very conventional
for a music album. The name of the
album is then just below it in a small
font. The simplicity of the writing and
the way it is laid out, I think reflects
type of music Ben Howard produces.
The font is very bold and a lot bigger
than anything else on the cover,
making it stand out so that audience
instantly sees whose album is it. I
think the best thing about this
particular cover is the gradient in
colour, from the top going down it
gets darker and darker, starting off
white, then going to a dark blue, this
gives a calming effect on the whole album, and gives the impression that this album is
going to be relaxed. I like the image that has been used for this cover, purely because it
raises the question on whether or not the man diving into the water is in fact Ben
Howard.
The back of the album, which is the
image below, is clever in the sense
that it is showing the person
swimming back up to the surface of
the water. This is actually a very
common feature of an album cover.
A lot of artists like it to look like a
book. So with this, at the front of the
‘book’ Ben Howard is diving into the
water, then at the back of the album,
he is swimming back up, its almost
like he’s set off on his journey,
listened to the songs that come in
the middle of the ‘book’ and now he
is going back again.
There isn’t really much that can be
said about the mode of address, as the only text is simply who the artist is and what the
album is called, however I will say that if this album was aimed at a young audience,
there would probably be more writing on it to make it eye catching for them. When a
product is quite plain and simple like this, then usually it is aimed for an older audience,
as they do not need specific things to attract them to a product they like.

2. This is the second album cover that I have chosen to analyze. The layout of the album cover is quite
conventional in the sense that there is a main image in the middle of the cover, and then it shows the
name of the artist, and name of the album itself above it I think how the picture goes well with the title,
‘hand built by robots’, the image shows a mechanical hand, with different types of people in the palm
of it. The font has been chosen to look quite mechanical as well, the big and small letters next to each
other are examples of how it can be mechanical, mixed together with the rounded letters and different
types of boldness, I think this is a good style of writing to use on this album cover. The colour of the
background on this album is meant to connote the sky, the dark blue with white clouds in the middle
represent the calm feel to the album, and this then reflects the hectic mechanical style that is originally
seen.
The back of the album cover is probably what you would expect to see on this sort of album. The list of
the songs that are included are placed in the middle, so it is the very first thing you see, the font is still
the same as the font that was used for the title of the album on the front, and so this makes it all come
together. The astronaut that is pictured on the left of the cover, is the same one that was shown in the
same place on the front, I think this was used to remind the audience that the album is called ‘hand
built by robots’ therefore is probably set more in the future than anything. Another big convention of a
album cover is the barcode at the back, and this is something I need to consider when designing my
album cover because it is an important factor when trying to make it look realistic.