Hard Format
January 19th, 2010 by Jason Hardy
[caption id="attachment_516" align="alignnone" width="540" caption="Cabaret Voltaire - I always liked this cover."]
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Hard Format is a wonderful site dedicated to "reaching for the sublime in music design," as curated by a couple of guys named Justin and Colin. The site is clearly a reflection of their personal tastes rather than a compendium of the standard "greatest album covers of all time," which is what makes it so compelling. They also do a great job of photographing the pieces so you get a real sense of the packaging as a whole rather than just cover designs. I've personally never seen a lot of these sleeves and covers, nor have I heard of many of these musicians, so its a real treat to see such an array of great design. Click through the fold to see more images that stuck with me.
[caption id="attachment_527" align="alignnone" width="540" caption="Hard Format"]
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As a designer of cover art for films I often think about the differences between designing for films, as opposed to books and music. With a film there is a visual style, tone and story that is set by the director. With books there is a story that needs to be hinted at without giving away the ending.
With music (in general) there seems to be more of an opportunity for artistic interpretation and the artwork can work on its own or as an addendum to the music. As I look at a lot of the album art on Non Format I find myself looking at albums that I haven't heard and trying to imagine what it sounds like. What the visuals tell me about the music. If there was one thing that I'd love for the fellas to add to the site it would be the ability to listen a track from each of the albums they profile, to see how the the music works with the visuals.
But mostly I just like this site because they include cassette tapes. And The Match Factory loves tapes.
[caption id="attachment_525" align="alignnone" width="540" caption="Sum of R, The Vulture Club"]
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[caption id="attachment_524" align="alignnone" width="540" caption="Seaworthy – 1897, Map In Hand"]
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[caption id="attachment_521" align="alignnone" width="540" caption="Miles Davis - Tutu"]
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[caption id="attachment_522" align="alignnone" width="540" caption="Various – Until Human Voices Wake Us And We Drown"]
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[caption id="attachment_518" align="alignnone" width="540" caption="Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words"]
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Hard Format is a wonderful site dedicated to "reaching for the sublime in music design," as curated by a couple of guys named Justin and Colin. The site is clearly a reflection of their personal tastes rather than a compendium of the standard "greatest album covers of all time," which is what makes it so compelling. They also do a great job of photographing the pieces so you get a real sense of the packaging as a whole rather than just cover designs. I've personally never seen a lot of these sleeves and covers, nor have I heard of many of these musicians, so its a real treat to see such an array of great design. Click through the fold to see more images that stuck with me.
[caption id="attachment_527" align="alignnone" width="540" caption="Hard Format"][/caption]
As a designer of cover art for films I often think about the differences between designing for films, as opposed to books and music. With a film there is a visual style, tone and story that is set by the director. With books there is a story that needs to be hinted at without giving away the ending.
With music (in general) there seems to be more of an opportunity for artistic interpretation and the artwork can work on its own or as an addendum to the music. As I look at a lot of the album art on Non Format I find myself looking at albums that I haven't heard and trying to imagine what it sounds like. What the visuals tell me about the music. If there was one thing that I'd love for the fellas to add to the site it would be the ability to listen a track from each of the albums they profile, to see how the the music works with the visuals.
But mostly I just like this site because they include cassette tapes. And The Match Factory loves tapes.
[caption id="attachment_525" align="alignnone" width="540" caption="Sum of R, The Vulture Club"][/caption]
[caption id="attachment_524" align="alignnone" width="540" caption="Seaworthy – 1897, Map In Hand"][/caption]
[caption id="attachment_521" align="alignnone" width="540" caption="Miles Davis - Tutu"][/caption]
[caption id="attachment_522" align="alignnone" width="540" caption="Various – Until Human Voices Wake Us And We Drown"][/caption]
[caption id="attachment_518" align="alignnone" width="540" caption="Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words"][/caption]
