DCEmulation

Here are some album covers I've put together for a friend's musical project.

These are samples for webposting. Obviously, the printed ones will be a much higher resolution. I know the text is a bit hard to read, but they print out looking great.
Front: http://www.screamcast.net/forumfun/ctb_front_web.jpg
Back (ver 1): http://www.screamcast.net/forumfun/ctb_back2_web.jpg
Back (ver 2): http://www.screamcast.net/forumfun/ctb_back3_web.jpg

I'm curious to know what type of music people would guess this is. Also, I'm wondering about the legibility of the artist's name.

They look great! - This one I like better than the other version:



I'd imagine the music to be pop with guitars, a bit like Weezer perhaps.

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I reject the reality and substitute my own.

Some things to consider:

1. The logo is awesome. Simply awesome. No, it's not really that legible, but reinforcing the name on the spine and back cover will fix that. The logo has enough pull to bring someone to the CD with curiosity, causing them to look at the back and discover the name. Great, great logo. Don't worry about legibility of it, for the sheer interest of it will bring the audience to the CD.

2. The biggest thing that bothers me is the Illustrator look. It just screams it, and I believe the reason is because almost every line is the same width. I notice you are going for a hand/bear shape relationship. It took me a while to even notice that, so I believe most people would have put the CD down before even catching it. Maybe a thicker line around both would help reinforce that. I think that's why the back cover seems more successful imagery-wise. The bear is thicker than the hand and therefore feels more natural and less computerized.

3. Version 1 of the back is better. The 2nd version has some severe leading issues and the valley that is created with the track names totally distorts your 'clean' look. The 1st version feels more natural to the overall theme of your design. I think the leading between song titles needs to be widened a bit, but other than that it's fine.

Emo.

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I would say scene.

Looks good but theres no real identity in it. All of the indie hipster bands albums look like that.

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Bush and Hussein together in bed
Giving H-E-A-D head
Y'all motherfuckers heard what we said
Billions made and millions dead

Thanks for the comments, all. Mel, I'm pretty proud of the logo - especially the "ea".

I'm trying to interpret that.

I can understand that to some extent, but I think I've carved out something unique. The name of the artist is Catch The Bear, and I think I've found a way to express that visually while adding a neat visual analogy. The general idea is to feel a bit of tension on the front, but relief on the back.

The genre is indie acoustic, more artsy than folksy.

I was guessing indie.

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It's thinking...

I love both the title logo and the bear-hand art. Unlike Mel, I was first drawn to the bear-hand symbolism. What a great idea!

I'm not very fond of the font you used for "Liars in Love" on the front cover. I don't know what it is exactly, but it just doesn't mesh with the rest of the art on the cover. Maybe it needs to be smaller, I'm not sure.

I prefer the first back cover, but I think the copyright information either needs to be made MUCH smaller (so small you need to squint to read it) or taken off the back completely. If you can, consider decreasing the amount of green space, and lower the font size.

I also agree with Mel that you need to widen your leading for the song titles. Whenever you have a letter with an over-hang, it nearly runs into the letters from the song underneath it. Even if you have to lower the font size, an increased leading will do wonders for read-a-bility.

You could use the second back cover if you aligned the text to be justified the same for both columns. I really don't like the look of the gutter the way it is now.

That said, the covers do look really nice! Like I mentioned earlier, I love both of the logos!



edit: this might just be me, but I think it would look really nice without the off pink/flesh coloring and with plain white instead

i like the choice of fonts, illustration and colour scheme. Don't go crazy with changes, it's rocking already.

I think the graphic on the front is very silly considering how serious some of the music sounds. I'm biased since I've listened to most of the tracks. I think something that would be cool is that photo of him in black and white - keep the top bar though with text - it would look like the beach boys' pet sounds LP!

As for the back. I prefer the songs listed at the top, but they seem kind of crowded.

Nice though.

- Fuzmeister

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The Official Steve Thompson Site, S+F Software

Yesterday I got a handful of the CD's in the mail. It turns out he decided to distribute copies using both back covers, which I think is pretty neat.

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@VforVashaw

http://catchthebear.screamcast.net/ - Currently listening to it. I think it's very good. I think I am gonna order me a CD or two...

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I reject the reality and substitute my own.