Case Study’s of Nirvana’s album ‘Nevermind’ and The
Leisure City’s album ‘Into The Murky Water’
Personal Response: The first thing that catches your attention from looking at this cover is the naked baby with little William hanging out. The colours used are very cool and calm which is totally opposite to the genre of the band which is Alternative Rock\Grunge giving the buyer a totally different perspective to what the band are actually like. I think the baby in the water is supposed to represent and unborn baby so representing innocence. Then the dollar bill on the hook is what is supposed to drag him into the world. For example he will be entering a greedy world that is driven by money thus the use of the dollar bill on the hook. The name of the album ‘Nevermind’ could link to the weirdness if the front cover and thus telling the listener/buyer that it has nothing to do with the music in the album. When you first look at the cover it may put people off it but if you put some thought into the meaning of it is actually a very clever cover.
Form: The colour palette that is used is a gradient of very cool colours and none of the colours clash making it enjoyable too look at for the eye. The baby’s body is the bit that stands out the most, all the other colours are neutral blue and greens and then the baby’s body is a neutral skin tone thus meaning it will stand out from the background making the contrast between them work very well. As you move down the album cover the writing starts to get distorted, for example the albums name ‘Nevermind’ has been squashed and stretched to make it seem like it is deep under water just like the album cover is trying to imply. The writing is also in black font for 2 reasons, 1 to make it stand out on the black background and 2 to again imply the effect of the under water. The typography used is a very easy font to read that contains wings making it flow better for the eye. The content is very ordered on the cover as the first thing that catches your eye is the baby and then the dollar then last of all your eyes move down to the name of the band.
Context and content: the audience for this album will be mainly alternative rock/grunge fans thus being the genres of the band. At the time when this album was released nearly all teenagers in very emo clothing and listened to either punk or heavy metal music. This album was aimed to make teenager rebel against older people just like The Sex Pistols album ‘never mind the bollocks’ was aimed to make people rebel against the law and lots of other things. And for example if this album had just come out now and was trying to get in the charts because the majority of teenagers in the 20thcentury listen to pop auto tuned rubbish, so it just wouldn’t sell any records.
Process: The process in making this album is very simple. It primaly uses the process of using a professional underwater camera and a computer. For example they first take the picture of the baby and then secondly upload this onto a programme such as Photoshop fist editing it to make it clearer and then finally adding a typography layer on top of it to finish it off. The album picture must of took a lot of shots to do to capture the perfect picture showing that a lot of time and effort was put into making this album cover.
Personal Response: My first opinion to this album cover is that it is very eye catching. The first thing that catches your eye is the giant albums title in bright yellow colouring. The colours are very bright and in your face with a high contrast difference on the black background. The black background and then the silhouette of the diver works really well linking to the name of the album ‘murky water’ which makes you think it’s going to be dark and spooky just like under the sea. As this album is a digipak it is made of cardboard and paper compared to nirvana’s where it is made from a plastic shell. The digipak version works a lot better because the pullout sleeve inside which you see on the picture above positioned inside the silhouette is a full side of an underwater scene. The writing works and links really well with the setting of the cover all the writing has been distorted to make it look like your reading it just like it would be underwater.
Form: The colour palette used is both dark and bright, the colours used are at different ends of the spectrum so as well obviously don’t go well together for the eye it also makes it much more appealing, drawing you in and making the listener want to buy the album. These colour choices make the text stand out so straight away you know what the album is called so you remember it. Just like Nirvana’s album ‘Nevermind’ the text used in this one has been squashed and stretched to make it seem like you are under water which is just like what the album is trying to imply with the name ‘Into the murky water’ the dark background is used on purpose to again imply that it is deep underwater and into the ‘murky water’. The typography used on this album cover is okay the font is not a very clear font to read but with all the letter in an upper class font this helps and makes the text easier to read. The quashed and stretched font technique also works because the bendiness of the font helps it to flow for the readers eyes. The content on the cover is fairly ordered with the name of the band at the top left and then as you make your way down the cover the name of the album appears and then finally the diver silhouette which finishes off the cover.
Context and Content: the preferred audience for this album would be folk, rock and pop thus them being the genre of the leisure society. This album was released in 2011 so not very long ago compared to Nirvana’s album so the people whom this album is aimed at will be a lot different from one another. There is a theme running through The Leisure City’s albums for example in at the start of 2011 ‘Into the murky water’ was released and then later into 2011 ‘The leisure society’ released the album ‘Out of the Murky water’ thus showing that the album I am writing about is part of a sequel of albums. The album may have been produced for the sake of imagination and creation by the artists as looking back at some of their older albums they seem to follow the same sort of pattern.
Process: the process in the making of this album cover is fairly simple, for example firstly you would cut out the shape of the diver on the cardboard thus making the diver silhouette. You would then add the font to this using Photoshop and by morphing the text you would be able to get the right squished and wobbly look you’re looking for to get the right effect of being underwater. And then finally to get the background behind the silhouette you would create a pattern using underwater sea life.
