Iconography of the album cover - Lewis Shooter

Paragraph based on the iconography of the album cover

The iconography of the album cover used to be huge, and now days it is belittled by itunes, album covers are a type of media that involve photos, graphics and typography. The cover artist works closely with the music artist or band to find out what type of a cover they want, and what inspirations are needed for the cover. When they are creating an album cover they have to consider the following things. Who is the audience? And how will the audience respond to the cover.
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Notes on the iconography of the album cover

Are album covers dying due to the up rise of things like itunes?
Album covers have been incredibly influential on our cultures for many years
Album ideas are pitched to clients to show them the work as opposed to win the cover
Its best to have people that approach things different ways to each other so you can get a good umbrella of cover designs
Album covers have a brief that tells if the artist needs to be on the cover, who the demographic is. The record company describes the brief. The artist gives most direction in the design of the cover
To get direction from the artist they sit down with them and talk about the cover, then the make the first conceptual covers
The different genres don’t directly affect the design, but the covers have their own jobs to get the design correct
Things that can affect cover designs: underground films, world events, punk fanzines, pop art, early video art, and horror films.
There is a need for visual accompaniment with music that is why album covers are downloadable from itunes
Best to develop relationships with the band so they can trust you
Album covers use photos, graphics, typography or any combination of these
Who the audience is for the cover?

How will the audience respond to it?

Denotation: identifying the elements in the image

Connotation: examining the meanings and associations the image links to