Album Artwork: Anywhere But Here

    The artwork that has always inspired me to become a graphic designer is the album artwork I have always seen in my collection of CDs I own. There have been many designers I enjoy that work in the music industry, but one in particular I enjoy is Kyle Crawford. He has done many band t-shirt designs as well as album artwork designs. One band he has worked with multiple times is Mayday Parade, whose last two albums artworks have been designed by Crawford. Mayday Parade’s latest album is title “Anywhere But Here,” and the main part of the album artwork I am focusing on is the cover of the album. The cover features mostly dull colors except for the red throughout it, which has been a color featured in their previous album. It also has a large figure of a man with a suit on, that has the tie turn into a road that another man with a suit on is walking on holding a red umbrella. Beside the figures in the design, there are also black, red, and white swirls throughout it and typography of the band’s name and title of the album. If you zoom in on the design, you can also see that it looks like a city-night backdrop behind the large figure. The large figure also has no face, which is similar to the pervious album. As far as the hierarchy in the design goes is that you first notice the title of the band’s name at the top. Then you notice the large figure and following the tie down to the smaller figure, then noticing the title of the album at the bottom. This is a good form of hierarchy because it flows from top to bottom smoothly. The composition in this design is used well, and even though there is not much negative space, the little use of it works well in the piece. Overall, the shapes are kind of irregular with the swirls and curves, and the design itself is abstract.
    In this artwork, the intent and goal of it is to show the meaning and overall theme of the album, while advertising and bringing some focus on who the band is as well. I believe the artwork accomplishes this in several ways. First, the images and figures used in the design. The faceless man in a suit is the same figure used in their previous album artwork. As seen in the first one there is a faceless carrying a red umbrella. In this album there is a man walking with an umbrella towards the faceless man, which actually seems to be the same man. These figures help fans create a recognizable image that they can relate back to the previous album. By seeing this in two different albums now, the images will always be associated and recognizable with Mayday Parade. I believe the faceless man also creates the mystery the band has in some of their lyrics with who they are really talking about. The city-night backdrop also plays as a recognizable feature because in the last album, there is a city backdrop in the cover as well as the artwork inside of the booklet. With the tie turning into a road and the swirls, it creates a feeling of traveling, which is a strong theme in this album as well as part of the themes in their previous album. Many of the songs talk about escaping and traveling to different places, and the road connects that idea to the lyrics. The road also has a crack in it, which shows the imperfection on the travels they write about. Another strong theme is love, which the crack also shows the hurt and brokenness in the love they write about for their lyrics. I believe the idea of the man walking towards the same man, creates that idea of the self destruction that you can create with love when you keep turing towards the same person that keeps hurting you but can’t let go of or just by holding onto them when you need to let go. Next, the color really works into the intent and goal of the artwork as well. There is not much color going on throughout the piece but the dull colors create that heartbreak feeling that occurs in the album’s lyrics. I believe with how it is light where the small man is walking from and walking towards the dark has meaning too. Darkness associated with hurt or depression, and by the man walking towards the darkness it goes back the that self destruction theme. With the red being in it, it also creates a recognizable color used before for the band, and it I believe is shows the romantic theme because red is often associated with love.
    Kyle Crawford did a good job at showing the meaning and intent behind the album artwork. I believe it is portrayed well with the use of the images and color in the design. The initial impact of the artwork brings the romantic and traveling thoughts to my mind, as well as, reminds me of the band right away. This design is a very good one that fits the band and their album.