ANM 324 Project 5
Creating a CD cover/back brings together all the design and technical skills we’ve studied this semester. These are small works of marketing art that, if successful, demand attention and help sell the artist they represent.

Here’s my general grading criteria for this project:

95-100- CD cover, spine and back is complete and artwork is challenging. Type has resonance and is very readable. The CD has excellent shelf appeal and demonstrates your clear command of the Illustrator toolset. Production info/upc included. The CD cover is a work of art!

90-95-CD is very well done but there are some minor flaws in concept or execution. Type styling may not resonate with the content or theme of the product or you may have created a less than spectacular composition of image and text. Omitted production info/upc.

85-89-CD is good but may not completely communicate the essence of the artist in either type resonance or design elements. Production notes missing.

80-85-Label has obvious technical and design issues that will prevent it from having good shelf appeal. Type doesn’t fit or image is too complex to be clearly understood by shoppers.

70-80-CD cover is not effective is communicating the essence of the product and major requirements are missing. There are significant technical flaws.

70-below very late work

Note: Late work will be downgraded by 10 pts

Anita Kunz Group

Pam Redlew
-Quite timely that you picked Donna Sumer for your artist…I was certainly surprised to hear that she died this week. Since she was the “Queen of Dico” it’s very appropriate that you have a disco ball linking the front and back as well as the array of lights. The picture of the artist is very low resolution…wish you could have found something in higher quality..the pixilated colors just don’t look very good. I don’t know any other way to say it. I can also see a transparent object in the lower center of the cover…looks odd. The type you chose for the title doesn’t resonate disco to me….where’s the energy. Tracks on back are very readable but you’re missing the production notes, which were required.

Liubov Voronina
-I like to see variety in the CD artists and your Vivaldi cover does it!
The gondola adds a very romantic look on the front. You’ve added continuity with a duplicate gondola on the back. My main concern is the variety of type styles and the lack of a strong layout for the type. It looks very arbitrarily placed…the placement of type should help you lead your viewer from front to back and through the composition. On the cover I would scale the Antonio Vivaldi up quite large to establish visual hierarchy. On the back…I would omit the gondola and perhaps enlarge the portrait and fit the remaining type adjacent to it. Don’t be afraid to use the white (empty) space as an important part of your composition. UPC and production notes are excellent!

Jamie Ly
- I really like the cover image on your CD. The crop adds energy that’s consistent with the title Whirlwind. I assume you put the highlights in her hair? That’s really well done and the word Whirlwind swirling compliments the theme. I almost wish you had not depended on a stock image of her singing as your whole background on the back. How could you communicate the Whirlwind theme into the back with color or just text? Perhaps the swirling patterns in her hair could be used (without her image) just to link the front to back with tracks also swirling? Just a thought. Front is strong but back distracts. Upc..did you make it? It’s cool!

Rosenwald Group

Vicky Chen
- I haven’t heard of LaRoux but I like the CD cover you’ve designed. The posterization technique adds style and would make the cover standout. You’ve also established good continuity between front and back
with similar style that transitions from spine to back. I especially like the font you’ve chosen. It’s very edgy and contemporary and works well with his name. Type is also very readable on the back where tracks have excellent contrast. There are a couple of improvements I’d suggest: the alignment of the track numbers is rather odd. Try left alignment to at least get the 01, 02 etc to align…it just looks a bit too irregular to be designed this way purposefully. You also omitted the required upc and production notes.

Michelle Naas
-Your CD cover looks great! You’ve established the mood of the Twilight Saga with the split images and dark sinister background. Font looks great and further communicates the theme. I especially like the addition of the cross highlights which add style to the font. The track names are very readable…glad you didn’t highlight those too. Production notes and barcode look great. My only comment would be that the text on the spine is just a touch too large with descenders p and g’s going below the baseline…minor but important in the print production process. Excellent work!

Steven Tuck
- I wasn’t sure if you were going to go with the “hand-drawn” look that you showed in the rough design. It’s actually “growing” on me and as an overall composition it looks very good. The cover is playful and consistent from front to back. The thin font style definitely fits the hand-drawn linear style and it’s very readable. I would suggest using more consistent spacing between track names or even putting a tiny icon in there to separate titles. Good production notes and upc.

One of the most creative solutions in the class..keep up the good work!

Deborah Maqrques
- I typically get holiday themes for this project in Fall so it was a unexpected to see your Jazz’n Santa
CD cover. Hey, who doesn’t like the santa season? The large belt is a clever way to transition from front to back and the little elves…well, they’re cute but I’m wondering why you didn’t mix it up a bit and have some changing direction or at least going over the top of the buckle. I’m just asking.

Your choice of font, especially for Jazz’n, has excellent resonance and rhythm that fits a jazz album. Tracks are very readable and upc and production notes fit the requirement. Nice work..HO HO HO!

Kroencke Group

Mary Urtz-I really like the simplicity of your cover. One of the most difficult design skills is to effectively incorporate white space…the urge to fill a cover like this is very strong. Thanks for resisting. I especially like the before/after visual that’s created with the spilled milk and the obvious link with the title. So the artwork is very well done. The track listing is very readable but, as you can see with my presentation, the list is too tight to the left edge. This can happen when you work with a white document on a larger white window..you just don’t realize how it will look when completed. Missing the upc and production notes….oh dear! Very creative!

Scott Lockhart-The road disappearing in the distance is a strong visual metaphor for Journey and their greatest hits. The cover is strong and has continuity
with the spine and back with the road map. The Rest Area might be better as Curves Ahead as we move to the back. The idea of using the track names as waypoints is very clever. I think would even stronger if the path was a dashed yellow line, which further strengthens the intellectual link with the front. Folds could be enhanced with some shadows…maybe I’m asking too much. Upd and production note meet requirements! Like the them a lot!!

Melissa McGregor-Your cover certainly is dramatic and demands attention. The gun, cityscape and blood spots all read danger and mystery! This seems very appropriate for the Your Favorite Weapon title. The cover is very compelling and the red transparent band leads the viewer to the track. The semi-transparent box helps readability of the track names. My only suggestion would be to tone-down the production note area with transparent gray. As is, it just looks quite harsh and inconsistent with the overall composition. Excellent work!

Frazier Group

Andrew Jozwiak-Storms are very engaging design elements so the addition of your “hurricane” on the cover would be attractive. It certainly fits the switchfoot CD title. The font style for Hello Hurricane is rather playful. Is that the message you want to communicate? I’m just asking. The artists look pretty happy on the back so maybe they’re getting a good storm gig? The transition from front to back is not as strong as it could be…how could you show the concept of hello hurricane on the back? Maybe you could add storm clouds or at a minimum get some of that dark ominous color into the back. This was one of the challenges I wanted everyone to consider with this project. Tracks, production notes and upc all look very good!

Ken Rathbun-Your cover is very conservative, which probably fits Mumford and Sons.
The color palette, type style and layout all work but don’t exactly scream, “Buy Me” off the CD rack. OK..I can live with that because a likely buyer would be familiar with the group. Tracks are very readable and I like the way you’ve alternated the name colors…that’s a great technique. UPC looks good but production notes are missing. I know, I’m being picky. Your work is very precise!