As part of my research of digipak I also decided to take and auter approach to researching album artwork which is looking at works by artist rather than genre. One of the main artists I looked at was Storm Thorgerson
Thorgerson is a British designer and artist responsible for album artwork for artists such as Pink Floyd and Muse. During his exhibition in 2010 Thorgerson highlighted the process of designing album artwork
The Brief
First of all the designer gets inspiration by listening to demos of the music, reads the lyrics and has conversations with the artist. By doing this it creates what Thorgerson calls a ‘Brain Soup’ from which he could draw ideas from.
Roughs
After several conversations with the artist Thorgerson would try to decide on a main theme or ideas. From these several ideas or ‘Roughs’ would be made.
Tests
Once a rough and a budget has been agreed, prototypes are created to make sure the idea works.
Shoot
A location is researched and booked, which can take a long-time if outdoors and in uncertain weather. Models are erected and positioned, with help from volunteers if the shoot is big and complex. A wide range of photographs are then taken, under varying light/weather conditions and filters
Editing
This could be called ‘selection’, where the best shot from the shoot is chosen. This can take several days, if hundreds of similar shots need to be compared.
Artwork
Finally, having chosen the perfect shot, any cleaning-up or final computer editing is performed, before handing over the final product
Joe Cooper Music Video 