To Design or Not to Design
The article I chose was http://www.cddesign.com/covertalk/archives/to_design_or_not_to_design_t..... Of course it is not directly applicable to our project, it has some good ideas. They initially pose a question about the value of design. The writer of the article places a high value on design and makes a reference to McDonald's, Nike, Apple, Target, etc.
I definitely agree that the value of design is very high, however I believe it is a scaling value. The value of design starts at a very high level and is in general inversely proportional to the current popularity and advertisement of your band. In the case of designing a CD case and cover for an unknown band or a compilation CD, the value is incredibly high.
The article continues by asking if it is better to design an album yourself, or to have a professional design it. Clearly only the artist of a work can be able to accurately express his or her feelings on the CD cover or album. The artist who spent months tweaking music and lyrics knows exactly the message or idea of the album, and therefore knows exactly what the message of the CD cover or album should be. However using a professional designer is simply another tool in creating a great work of art. If the artist is with the designer throughout the entire creation phase, then the final result will be the best it can be.
In my opinion a band shouldn’t design a cover for their album unless they have as much knowledge in design as a graphic designer has. Musicians have trained years to perfect their abilities to create music, not design album covers. While graphic designers have practiced years to perfect their ability to create a particular emotional feel in a piece that a musician is looking for.
Graphical designers can be thought of as a translator between the musician and the design for the cover or any other promotional piece. The musician can inform the designer on what they are looking for and the feel they want to portray in their cover. Graphic designers can then help the musicians come up with more effective designs that the musician may not have ever considered.
I feel it is just foolish for a musician to try to design their own cover. Their ability is in music and rarely in design. Think of it this way, would you want a foot doctor who has spent his whole life perfecting his ability of foot surgeries to work on your heart?
Submitted by aculp on Sun, 02/10/2008 - 21:20.But I think it still all ties back in to your audience. The value of design is high, but only for your specified audience. You wouldn't expect a punk listener to like and respect the design of a country album. So, while design is very important, it mostly matters in respect to its audience.
Submitted by physicschic on Sun, 02/10/2008 - 21:35.I agree that I wouldn't expect a punk listener to like and respect the design of a country album, however a punk listener will care about the design of a punk album. A punk listener would most likely enjoy would the message a punk artist would write music about. Also a punk listener would enjoy the message a punk artist would like to portray on his/her CD album. So I agree that the value that an album cover seems to have relative to different audiences changes, but what I meant was that the value of the design is important in getting a complete message across to a observer.
Submitted by lcsnare on Mon, 02/11/2008 - 01:25.I totally agree with your last sentence of your blog. The interdependent act of working together as the designer and the music artist seems to be way more understanding or constructive. Not only does the designer get to design the cover as they may, but they get constant feedback as to whether the design is reaching its' intended audience based from the music artist(s) input. Through a process like this their would be much more cohesion from the design and the content the design is trying to communicate.
Even though now, with designers creating cover art by themselves and pitching it to the artist for finalization they do tend to succeed. I mean taking a look at The Coalition DVD cover (http://www.cddesign.com/covertalk/archives/cd_packaging_design_case_stud...) was pretty amazing since it was based off of a few client requested implementations. From those requests the designers created the final product themselves.
Submitted by colgrunt on Sun, 02/10/2008 - 23:39.As most people are saying, it is better for the musician to work with the graphic artist than against. One thing I think of is the fact that the musician has perfected their art via sound stimulation, while the graphic artist has perfected their art via visual stimulation. So when a musician tries to advertise using their album, they really need to use a graphic artist or at least have someone trained in visual nuances assisting them, because what may seem to be a cool effect to the band could be subconsciously sickening.
Submitted by Silento on Mon, 02/11/2008 - 08:18.I agree that an artist should work with the designer, but only after the album is finished. Throughout the album, the artist should be writing down ideas for what they think the album could look like, they could even draw sketches if they are artistic enough. Then once the album is finished, they should give their ideas to the professional designer and see what he comes up with and whether or not it meets their vision. But the musical artist should take what the professional artist has in mind and listen to the reasons for why he/she has done before saying, "No, that does not match my vision." If a compromise can not be reached, then maybe another artist should be brought into play. That's just my opinion though.
Submitted by matt33172 on Mon, 02/11/2008 - 08:59.I believe that the decision depends on the artists' resources.
Submitted by aalbert on Mon, 02/11/2008 - 10:58.I think it is a hard decision for them to decide. First of all, to let professional designer do the cover is expensive. If the band has just started, they might not have a lot of financial support to hire professional designer. It takes time and effort to communicate what the artist intends the cover to be. They might be conflict between them. The amount of time and efforts puts in is better of used to design the cover themselves.
However, I believe they should go for professional graphic designer if they can overcome it.