Cover Design Critique . . .
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- schjetne
Posted this on Yayhooray, but I guess I can post it here as well:
So me and a friend called Roar Leren (aka Jaap) are doing the cover design for his one man band called Mooie Garage. The music is a bit on the experimental side, and clearly inspired by 60's and 70's rock music.
This is the first page of the sleeve:
Second and third page:
Fourth page:
Back of tray card:
Inside of tray card and the disc design isn't done yet. The design is supposed to have a tad of "old school" album art feeling. Like the great albums of the 60's... So what do you guys think about it so far? I know there's not too much connection between the different designs, but I want it to be that way. Unpretentious kinda.
Oh and nevermind the blue lines, they are just my guides. These are screenshots from Illustrator, and I forgot to turn off the guides.
Looking forward to hearing what you think about it!
(And yes, that's Death he's shaking hands with on the first page...)
- schjetne0
No?
- sexypixel0
I love it, the main photo reminds me of arriving home on a cold sunday morning, coming down off a trip and knowing Im going to have to sit down and humor my folks over breakfast while high, but not really caring cause the trips were great. You've defenatly captured the 60's raw feel, even the mossy green roof gives a great edgy raw feel to it.
Something about the type thats bugging me though, maybe its just looking bad on screen but will look crisper on print.
- schjetne0
Thanks, sexypixel. The lettering is all fucked up because these are all screenshots from Illustrator, and my Illustrator shows lettering really weird at small sized, the spacing is wrong, and the letters look like they are scrambled here and there...
- schjetne0
More NT Love please?
- Stanton0
It looks nice, but I don't like the font on the first page of the sleeve and the mushrooms disturb me too.
- schjetne0
Basic reactions on NT and YH:
1. lettering on first page = fucked
2. Mushrooms look "fake"
3. Blur on spread is too abrupt
4. Type on page 4 is bent wrong
5. Other than that, it looks greatAny more?
- stewart0
point 5
"Other than that, it looks great"
is a typical american reaction, added to a long long list of complaints.
- unknown0
looks good...
but why did you use illustrator? surely that must of slowed things down.
- schjetne0
Why I used Illustrator? Are you serious? You mean I should add text and crop marks and stuff in Photoshop? That would make really bad output. I want the text and vectors to be sharp and crisp...
Well, we decided to ignore some of the stuff you guys suggested, and just go ahead and say "It's finished"... Here's a link to all the artwork:
http://www.schjetne.net/mooh/moo…
- unknown0
same here : great picture and the overall atmosphere is going good with the music u said u werre doing..
but the fonts... arghhh
- ok_static0
looking good Jan, except i would prefer the center label as black.
i can't really "looking at" the inlays as they're screen cap from illustrator though.
i think the mushroom should be looking fake. otherwise what's the point with them?
- schjetne0
The font thing:
I didn't really want to do it that way at first either, but then we started looking at old albums I have, and I understood EXACTLY why the fonts were right for this album. And the placement of the logo on the first page, it's really growing on me. It loks casual and unpretentious, just the way I wanted it to look... Like someone just drew it on the photo, while waiting for the bus.
- piperboytoy0
I love the image for the 2 and 3rd. it's great.
- schjetne0
Me too :)
- schjetne0
Anyone else?
- sexypixel0
i cant believe this work isnt getting any attention. Look at the composition. i know its friday but respect where its due.
- schjetne0
Thank you, sexypixel. That's kind.
I really want to hear more opinions/comments before I burn it on a cd and send it to the printer.
- silver0
check yr head jan. and mail. other than all that shit, I loooove it!
- schjetne0
Yeah, I know, silver. I'll remember that the next time I do something like this. Gonna do another cover for Harponella soon, and will def take your tips with me...
I've really always done it this way except for brochures and stuff, and never really needed anything else...
But I will try to do it different next time.
- schjetne0
Oh, in case anyone got confused by my last post:
silver pointed out the same as phubar did earlier: "Why the hell did you use Illustrator instead of InDesign or Quark or something?" and I have to admit it is pretty stupid.
I'll start using InDesign for everything layout from now...