Mood Board

Before I get into producing the digipak, I need to research albums of a similar genre to Crystal Castles and gain an understanding of the conventions in indie and electronica album covers. I would also like to take inspiration from these albums/digipaks I have chosen by paying attention to the details of the album covers that make them unique. I have created this mood board to help me find inspiration because the album art for the cover is one of the most important things to pay attention to; they help establish genre. I will be going through the conventions that both follow up to them or challenge them.

The main trend that the majority of these albums have in common is having the artist or an actor centrally on the album cover. Most covers do not go into much detail. The covers that feature a figure at the front has little editing done as seen Bjork's Debut and Lana Del Rey's Born to Die. Most also have the title of the artist and/or the name of the album featured on the artwork noticeable. This is to ensure the sales of the album would be successful, with having the stars' names featured clearly on the cover.

   However, some of the album covers I have picked out go against that usual convention. An example of this is Bjork's album, "Debut" where the cover features only her in a black and white colour effect. This has been done for a more artistic route, as Bjork has been known for having artiste traits in her songs, music videos and album covers. Another notable album, which features no text, is Purity Ring's album, "Shrine." Not only does the album cover not feature any text, telling us the artist and album name, but the cover does not feature the duo, instead it features simple artwork. This suggests that Purity Ring chose for an album like this to show they are not a mainstream act and want to be seen as an artistic music act, instead of the usual "star image" artists in mainstream music that features the artist's face, their name and the name of their album.

   Some albums I've chose have went for a very simplistic route. An example is the self-titled album by FIDLAR. This band chose to just repeat the name of their band on their album cover, which is another unusual aspect of album artwork but can also be used effectively as it makes sure consumers know the artist. Another simple looking album is Arctic Monkey's, "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not." Though this album features a figure on their album cover (in black and white) that is the main attraction, the man smoking on the cover is not a member of the band. Arctic Monkeys also don't feature the name of the album on the cover, like Diamond Ring's album Special Affection. This would make the focus of the album be the "star image" whether they are in the band or not.

Broadcast's Tender Buttons again, follows the simplistic convention of other artists on the mood board by having the lead singer only on the album cover and in black and white effect and with clear black writing, but with some of the writing backwards. This would make this simple looking album stand out from the other ones as along with the visual effect of moving part of the lead singers face, the text is very unusual and can grab the attention of people.

Unlike most of the above albums discussed, some of these albums do feature the "star image" and went for a more artistic route rather than simplistic. An example from the mood board is Mark Ronson's third album, "Record Collection." On this cover, the artwork features Ronson's face created by different record covers. This album cover unlike the others, is a lot more scattered, with the name of the artist and album name positioned very differently at different places (unlike the usual artist's name at the top and album name below it).

Other artistic albums seen are David Bowie's "Aladdin Sane" and Schneider TM's "Zoomer." Out of every album on my mood board, these two album covers are the ones that arguably follow the most conventions of mainstream artists.
-Both albums feature the "star image" clearly visible on the album cover, making it the main attraction.
-Both have the artists name directly above the album name.
-Both feature much more artistic and heavily edited album covers. Both have visual effects that make them stand out.

Overall, these albums are very different but follow similar conventions in order for theirs to stand out. The genres are not mainstream and so don't usually feature the star image on the cover, but feature more of an artistic image for their artwork.