My Personal Collection

For my research into CD packaging, I thought I would dig out the CD's I have bought and pick out ones which appeal to me and have a little showcase, research into the designers that made them and see what I can unearth.

This Blink 182 'Greatest Hits' album was designed by S.A studios, and is a two colour print throughout all the packaging. It's not my favourite packaging, quite the opposite but this is a sign of the times in terms of publishing an album for maximum profit with little outgoings. At this time, the band had split and so the record company and management had taken over to gain as much capital as they could while the name of Blink 182 was fresh in the memory. The only reason I still have this and will forever more is due to it being signed.

On the other hand, this other Blink 182 album named 'Take Off Your Pants and Jacket' is a nice piece of design. There is a strong theme running along the album and the singles. The iconography relates to each song and each single features the icon attached to it. The digipak features a flat black background which has a matte coating. To me, this is a real simple, yet effective piece and showcases a high quality print job, which help the graphics no end. I particularly the die cutting on the inside which show off the icons on the back of the booklet. It helps to separate these icons and makes them more desirable in doing so. The booklet itself is a slight let down due to it just being photographs of the band but it goes in line with the target market, and probably more like what the record company, MCA, wanted.

The next item is a special edition digipak release from The Subways. It was designed by Mat Maitland for Big Active. Big Active lead the way in design for music for me and this is another fine example of their work. I always like to see that a project has had some sort of art direction from the band, because this product has to suit them as it contains their music. Some artists may not get involved in that side but I think its just as important as the music so to have a band involved in that side of the music is really credible. This digipak is as close to vinyl as you can get I feel. The restriction on size has, in the past, made it difficult for designers who have refused to take notice of the CD format, but this gatefold feels right to me. The imagery, type and layout all fit nicely without the need for more space. The booklet, again, is full of band photography but the photo Brian Sheffield has used a more traditional style of photography which compliments the vinyl feel of this album and its artwork. The photograph on the front is of american stuntman Spanky Spangler. What a great name!


Next up is an E.P for Fightstar entitled 'We Liked you Better When you were Dead'. The graphical content is a little dated seen as this was released in the 6 years. However, the thing that I like about it is desire for a decent finish, even though this is just an e.p. I think it shows a lot of dedication. For an upcoming band to achieve this quality of finish or to persuade a small record label to put the money up for this type of product shows that they wanted fans to have something they could keep for a long time. This was never meant as a rushed job or published cheaply. Released in Feb 2005, the band were rewarded as a reprint of the album was needed in march 2005.

The artwork features sketches by Bass player Dan Haigh, and the other design work was minimal. The typeface used was 'Birch Std' which is a standard font readily available on all our home computers. The print job must have a more costly alternative to a standard jewel case print job.

This album by Feeder is yet another special edition CD/DVD combo designed by Blue Source. The contents are packed into this robust plastic case, which feels much more like DVD case in terms of materials used. The reason for selecting this packaging is simply for the stock used and the printing method. All my CD's have a varnish coating of some sort to make them more durable presumably, but this has no print finishes applied. The booklet feels as though its printed on some sort of hammered finish or cartridge paper stock. This could have been done to compliment the artwork and I feel it works rather well. Because of the nature of the artwork I feel a coating could have damaged the feel of the product and its impact on the shelf. Leaving this without any kind of finish on the surface makes it feel more like a fine art piece, or atleast something more personal than the usual.

Although this packaging for Ash's album 'Meltdown' looks pretty good in the photos, I'm less impressed with it, although there is a few interesting print methods been used in the production of the album. The clear plastic outercasing, although it isn't user friendly has either been printed using screen printing or flexography, I believe. This outercasing acts as frame for the contents and this use of layering does work quite nicely. Inside reveals a firery theme which covers the card slipcases as well as the booklet. You seem to get a lot for your money with this release, its just a shame that everything looks the same.

Below are other examples of my CD collection including another Big Active design for The Futureheads, packaging for Manic Street Preachers with a highly politically charged layout, and a limited edition that I have not opened since I bought it a few years ago, because I am convinced it will be worth a bit of money in a few years.