Sqwink Album Art Blog

After the almost iconic album art for their First Album ‘Silent Alarm‘, Bloc Party have returned with A Weekend in the City. This article is all about the Album Sleeve Art for this second album. Although I’m an avid fan, this blog isn’t really about the band or their history either, although you can assess that information on Wikipedia here.

First impressions

The image number 1 (shown below) is the album cover art that was released (at least in America and the UK). I’ll talk on this one first. As a Graphic Designer myself, I appreciate good CD sleeve design. My first impressions of this cover art as a Fan was “Wow, great…this album cover does the job”..sort of thing. However, my reaction as a Graphic Designer was something like “Hmm, I suppose it IS appealing, the mood DOES represent their music style, the typeface/logo continues-in-theme from their last album, BUT it’s in no-way Iconic“.

True - an album cover design doesn’t need to be iconic, but because their first album’s was, you’d think a great progression in sound and music-style would AT LEAST muster album art of equal quality. There are literally hundreds of Stock Photo Libraries around the world who can supply images of this nature. Yeah, it looks good, but in my opinion it says little about the music of Bloc Party - who have a unique sound. Surly this should be represented in the Album Cover Art for A Weekend in the City?. As is, the ONLY identifier of the music-style and ‘legacy’ of the Bloc Party sound is the Type Font. The typeface stating ‘Bloc Party’ and ‘A Weekend in the City’ is THE SOLE connection to ‘Silent Alarm’ and subsequant CD single releases.

Now, about image number 2 (shown above). This is NOT the album art for the new Bloc Party Album - but I wish it was! It may even be mock-up by a fan? When I first saw this image I thought “Wow! Brilliant, excellent, exciting and memorable…and ICONIC!!”…and THAT was my impression as a Fan AND Graphic Designer! I found this image on MusicTimes, an Australian site.

Why is THIS album sleeve iconic? In my eyes, it represents emotion similar to a paradox. Uh? The album art depicts a city street lit-up in all it’s glory. The light on the road surface glimmers; it reaches out to the viewer of the image almost saying ‘come closer and let me draw you in’. Isn’t that what music is all about - What the music of Bloc Party is all about? The ‘No U-Turn’ sign in the centre of the image is basically stating the the viewer ‘no turning back’, but the paradoxical question is: why would I want to?

Conclusion

The album cover art is the gateway to the music. The Bloc Party album art ‘does the job’ and will bring success to the band. It is appealing to the key demographic (about 16-24ys) and will not harm CD sales. It’s also ’safe’ and is to some extent eye-catching, although it will NEVER make it onto a ‘100 greatest CD covers’ list!

Since writing this blog, I have learned that image 2 is probably unofficial. Now that I know this, my opinion still remains the same. Although presumably fan-generated, it’s more eye-catching, represents the music and sound of Bloc Party and is more iconic. Yeah, the type needed to be larger and implemented more adequately and the U-turn sign should match the colour scheme, but in my opinion, the actual concept is better than the official one.
If you have any information, questions or comments on this article, I’d be all too happy to hear from you.

>>Article by Andrew kelsall, Sqwink Design

After the almost iconic album art for their First Album ‘Silent Alarm‘, Bloc Party have returned with A Weekend in the City. This article is all about the Album Sleeve Art for this second album. Although I’m an avid fan, this blog isn’t really about the band or their history either, although you can assess that information on Wikipedia here.

First impressions

The image number 1 (shown below) is the album cover art that was released (at least in America and the UK). I’ll talk on this one first. As a Graphic Designer myself, I appreciate good CD sleeve design. My first impressions of this cover art as a Fan was “Wow, great…this album cover does the job”..sort of thing. However, my reaction as a Graphic Designer was something like “Hmm, I suppose it IS appealing, the mood DOES represent their music style, the typeface/logo continues-in-theme from their last album, BUT it’s in no-way Iconic“.

True - an album cover design doesn’t need to be iconic, but because their first album’s was, you’d think a great progression in sound and music-style would AT LEAST muster album art of equal quality. There are literally hundreds of Stock Photo Libraries around the world who can supply images of this nature. Yeah, it looks good, but in my opinion it says little about the music of Bloc Party - who have a unique sound. Surly this should be represented in the Album Cover Art for A Weekend in the City?. As is, the ONLY identifier of the music-style and ‘legacy’ of the Bloc Party sound is the Type Font. The typeface stating ‘Bloc Party’ and ‘A Weekend in the City’ is THE SOLE connection to ‘Silent Alarm’ and subsequant CD single releases.

Now, about image number 2 (shown above). This is NOT the album art for the new Bloc Party Album - but I wish it was! It may even be mock-up by a fan? When I first saw this image I thought “Wow! Brilliant, excellent, exciting and memorable…and ICONIC!!”…and THAT was my impression as a Fan AND Graphic Designer! I found this image on MusicTimes, an Australian site.

Why is THIS album sleeve iconic? In my eyes, it represents emotion similar to a paradox. Uh? The album art depicts a city street lit-up in all it’s glory. The light on the road surface glimmers; it reaches out to the viewer of the image almost saying ‘come closer and let me draw you in’. Isn’t that what music is all about - What the music of Bloc Party is all about? The ‘No U-Turn’ sign in the centre of the image is basically stating the the viewer ‘no turning back’, but the paradoxical question is: why would I want to?

Conclusion

The album cover art is the gateway to the music. The Bloc Party album art ‘does the job’ and will bring success to the band. It is appealing to the key demographic (about 16-24ys) and will not harm CD sales. It’s also ’safe’ and is to some extent eye-catching, although it will NEVER make it onto a ‘100 greatest CD covers’ list!

Since writing this blog, I have learned that image 2 is probably unofficial. Now that I know this, my opinion still remains the same. Although presumably fan-generated, it’s more eye-catching, represents the music and sound of Bloc Party and is more iconic. Yeah, the type needed to be larger and implemented more adequately and the U-turn sign should match the colour scheme, but in my opinion, the actual concept is better than the official one.
If you have any information, questions or comments on this article, I’d be all too happy to hear from you.

>>Article by Andrew kelsall, Sqwink Design