C'EST HORRIBLE! DESIGNING A CD COVER

Sure you can download music off the internet, and CD's (as a physical product) may become a thing of the past. But designing a CD package is a good project for new designers.

Even if you download an song off the internet, the artist and album still is represented by an image. So graphic designers will continue to work with musicians to visually represent their products.

THE CD SLEEVE TEMPLATE

A cd cover is typically 4.75 inches by 4.75 inches. This is the area where you will put your design. but you will need a "bleed" so you have to let your design spill over to actually at around 5.25 inches.

Giving yourself a .25 or quarter inch "bleed" off of the paper for "trimming".

You also need to give yourself a good quarter inch or half inch border all around the edges of your cover. You never want a design elements or text to be too close to the edge of the actual cover.

COLOR REQUIREMENTS:

• If you are making a piece for PRINT, you must use CMYK.
• if you are making an image for the INTERNET, it must be RGB.

FILE SIZE REQUIREMENTS:

• If you are making an image for print, it must be at least 300 dpi.
• If you are making an image for the web, then it must be 72 dpi.

If you are making an actual printed CD Sleeve, you will have a back cover. So leave room for a logo, address and a barcode as well as the title and list of songs.

CREATING YOUR CD DESIGN:


Keeping with the ideals of "Good Design" as presented by Dieter Rams, speak with the Creator of the music about their visual thoughts and feelings about the music.

1. Make sure you ask about the "Target Market" for this CD; meaning "who" will be most likely to purchase the CD. Meaning; what is the sex, and the age of the people most likely to be purchasing this CD. This is called, "identifying the Target Market". Once you have identified your, "Target Market" get some input from the musician. Discuss a few ideas with them.

2. Do they want to use a photo of themselves or any other photo on the cover?

3. Do they have an existing image that represents their music? (if so make sure the dpi and the color requirements are met with this image. Open it up in Photoshop).

4. Is this going to be the first cd in a series? Will the design have to be repeated with slight changes? Does the image lend itself to multiple changes? Or will it run out after 2 - 3?

5. What will be the overall tone they want to communicate:

• Do they want something dark and dramatic? 
• Light and airy? 
• Colorful? 
• Or sedate and calm?

See if they are receptive to any of these ideas. Based on the Creators input, and your knowledge of the "Target Market" begin your design.

Don't be afraid to look online at other examples of cds that are aimed at your target market. Sometimes you have to consider a popular design to quickly sell a project to a certain market.

CREATING YOUR 3 DESIGN PROOFs for a CLIENT:

You need to make as many different CD Cover Designs as possible and then present your best 3 to the client.

Being "FAST" is what is good in this business. Being able to interpert what a client wants and what a target audience might find interesting is your real challange.

Here are some CD design examples that I created based on my knowledge of a Target Market and what the artist wanted.

His requirements were:

Deep/Dark Blue and something Celtic.
Also, something that reflected how the music might be used, for church mass, spiritual reflection or artistic interpretation.

Make sure your image is RGB for the Web, or CMYK for Print. 

All of these images are 72 dpi and RGB for viewing on the internet.

FYI - make sure you get the TITLE CORRECT or you will be WASTING YOUR TIME!!!

I showed these to my boss and he said, "You know, the actual title is, "IN BEAUTY WE WALK" and his name is IAN CALLANAN."

(See- I MAKE ALL THE MISTAKES FIRST. SO YOU DON'T HAVE TOO!)

Okay - Make sure you write down the title and double check the spelling of those names!

Besides the obvious mistakes, we also decided my first designs were pretty uninspired. I also needed to try something deep blue and celtic, instead of just interpreting the music and the market.

So I came up with these two images. These got the approval of the artist and my boss.

Now notice how simple these designs are. How clear and clean. They are also very easy to read. Customers will not have problems reading the text.

Both of these images were made in photoshop with simple effects and fonts.

After some discussion my Boss and the Artist wondered if I could combine the cross image with the light image. So I gave them this:

And this is what he chose.

I strengthened the cross and made it more symetrical. But everything else is basically the same. Except I took the slant out of the dimond/dot of the i in the title. It still bothers me so I may work on it further.

So, I am just showing you, how you cannot become emotionally attached to any design. And every project is a great opportunity to actually make 3 - 5 different designs!