conventions of album artwork.

 Albums need to have certain aspects to them in order to be sold to the correct audiences. There are different things needed on the front and back covers for reasons as simple as the name of the artist. Firstly, the front cover consists of having things that are there to catch the eye of the audience. It has the title of the artist’s name which is usually bigger than the actual name of the album. This is because the album is selling the artist as its primary goal, not the music. 

Secondly, they would establish the genre of the music. This can be shown through colour, font, imagery etc… for example, pastel colours may be associated with pop/ indie music, whereas black may be associated with more heavy metal/ rock music. This is also the case with imagery, for example, most pop albums have the artist themselves on it as the main focus of the album like Rihanna's album 'loud.' 

However other rock albums may have more violent symbolism on them like blood, or someone playing guitar. This imagery may be more subtle once the artists becomes big, however when they first start off, the imagery in the albums are highly stereotypical, as the album is selling the artist, and the artwork will directly reflect what the audience thinks of this artist. 

Finally, the album may have a ‘parental advisory sticker on it. This is more for legal reasons, as it is a legal requirement to have that sticker on any album that has any form of swearing in the songs in the UK.

On the back cover there is more information on the music itself. For example, there is the track list which tends to be the most prominent aspect of the back cover. There is usually 12-16 tracks on an album, each different. 

The font and names themselves are also conventions. They indicate genre and target audience, much like the imagery on the front cover. For example, if you have a very bold slick title, it may be classed as pop, but if you have a title that looks like graffiti that may be considered as hip-hop. 

The album will also include legal info at the bottom of the cover at the back and may include the studio logo. Finally, it would have a barcode on it because it is a product that can be bought.