My Thoughts

My final thoughts on this project.

After scouting through many different CD cover designs by different genres and artists:
- Rap: 50 Cent, Eminem, Notorious BIG
- Pop: Lady Gaga
- Jazz: Peter Cincotti
- Indy: Cold Play, Kaiser Chiefs
- Techno: Daft Punk, Basement Jaxx

The various CD cover designs did their best to try and reflect the kind of music each artist was trying to portray.

I have always been a fan of abstract art, such as the likes of Andy Warhol. I thought it would be a great and different idea to maybe try and portray Andy Warhol's methods into the design of a CD cover. So I had that idea, but what kind of genre music would fit into that?

After a few days of research into more CD covers and artists I came to the conclusion that the two best artists to use as inspiration to the likes of Andy Warhol's abstract art in addition would be Calvin Harris and Sam Sparro (both two very unique, abstract, techno-indy-electronic artists).

I am quite happy with the final outcome. However if I could change one or two things it would probably be the quality of the photographs taken. Because I didn't generally have any ideas as to what my final design would look like I was probably somewhat careless with my photography. So if I could change the photography to a higher quality I would but use it in the same manner.

Andy Warhol Inspiration

Sam Sparro Inspiration

Calvin Harris Inspiration

CD Back Cover

This is the CD Back Cover design I have used through the use of PhotoShop and original photography.
As you can see it has almost the same direct design on the front cover, with the exceptions of the text and the image of the artist.
The text is in a black font to stand out from the contrasting colours of the back cover. I have used a green drop shadow to keep the original abstract feel of the opposing side.
The artist in this image is also this time behind the green-background layer instead of in front. The reason for this was mainly down to experimentation. The image I had was blurry after being resized. I went through different methods of making the image look sharper but to no avail.
However I do agree that putting the artist behind the layer with a green-hue is a nice addition to the abstract feel of the CD Back Cover.

CD Front Cover

This CD cover that I have designed using PhotoShop was made with original photography, taken by myself.
During the design for this CD Cover I decided to split the photo in two and have them parallel to each other on each side of the CD Cover to create an abstract feel. I then created a new layer on top of the original making this layer black & white.
To add a further abstract feel to the image, I painted two different colours into the hair on each side of the image (green and orange).
I split the background in two, placing the two opposing colours next to each other (as you can see, on the right where he has orange hair, the background is green and vice-versa on the opposite side).
I then decided to texturise the split-coloured background giving it a slight stained glass feel, followed by the text "same DIFFERENCE" which is the name of the artist and the album. The name came during the creation. I was going for an abstract look and feel as stated earlier.
The people I have used as inspiration for this design is the music artists Calvin Harris and Sam Sparro. They have very abstract music and CD Design. The image inspiration has come from the artist Andy Warhol (famous for his abstract images of Marilyn Monroe).