Graphic Design and Beatles’ albums
It is evident that graphic design covers our entire environment. This is because graphic design is a tool that improves the form we communicate as a society. It serves to convey ideas in a way that is not only effective, but also attractive to view. This topic is within all professions and businesses, and art is one of them. Within art, graphic design is a transcendental element, since what art seeks in a concise way is to demonstrate the beauty of something in particular.
This essay will analyze the way in which graphic design in art is involved, specifically in music. The text will focus on the design used for the covers of musical albums, which have very peculiar stories. You will talk about three iconic albums for the history of music, belonging to the most famous band in history, The Beatles. This band caused a substantial change in the design of covers, and will be demonstrated in this trial.
The first album analyzed, revolver, gives a lot to talk about in design. This is one of the first albums of the psychedelic era, it was launched in the United Kingdom on August 5, 1966. To design the cover, the band recruited Klaus Voormann, a friend they met on her first tour in Hamburg. The collage of drawings and photos of Voormann complements several of the songs that reflected the Beatles LSD experiments during their production (Wikipedia, 2019). On the cover we can observe several elements that were not very common for the time in which it was disseminated, such as collage and edition of photographs with a psychedelic character. The sensation drawn by hand and simplicity are really comforting. Klaus manages to create new characters with a distinctive resemblance to four of the most famous faces in the world with a simple use of line and shape. Another interesting aspect is the use of black and white colors, which reflect simplicity, but at the same time imposing. Typographically, the text of the word revolver fits with the style of the entire cover. It is in a simple source of Sans Serif, and maintains that handmade feeling somehow. The album won the best cover award at the Grammys of the year 1967.
The next album analyzed is SGT. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band. This is probably the most famous and best design album. This cover design was created by art director Robert Fraser, one of the greatest representatives of modern art in Great Britain, and photographed by Peter Blake. It was formed by a collage full of iconic cardboard characters. Design contains pop art and psychedelic art movements, and again Collage (Fandom, 2019). The collage is made up of characters that admire the Beatles and also contains a photograph of the members of the band in the early 60s. All the characters are in front of a grave with The Beatles written in Flores. The idea is that the first version of the band is dead and buried, to be replaced by a more significant. The name of the album, which is shown in the drum, is a psychedelic stamped style. The variety of colors makes the striking album in sight. The album cover is one of the most famous and has a feeling of overcrowding and accumulation. It is full of symbols and meanings, and at the same time it is original.
The last album, The Beatles, or better known as the White Album, is one of the most peculiar. This album has a minimalist appearance and concentrates on subtle printing techniques to make it special. The music inside was written and in most cases recorded in one shot and the design of the roof makes an echo class of this simplicity. Presents a deep contrast with the bright colors of his predecessor SGT Peppers. It gives us a feeling of relaxation and a new stage. The design was produced by the renowned pop artist Robert Whitaker, and experiments with the minimalist artistic movement that existed at that time (The Atlantic, 2018). The original design consisted of the name of the band discreetly recorded with texture, it also contained a serial number to distinguish which album number was acquired. Typography is as simple as design, and uses a source similar to Helvetica.
In conclusion, we can intuit that the Beatles and their art designers were a great influence for several of the albums of the current era. Although they did not create new art avant -garde, they made highly interesting mixtures that not only worked as images for the album, but transmitted a meaning based on the songs and the content of the album in general. Finally they fulfilled the objective of graphic design, transmit a message and attract the attention of the public.
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