The Lost Art of Album Covers

Long long ago, before the digital age of music, there was a little thing called vinyl. Rather than being able to sample the actual music itself, often times it was the album cover art that persuaded the purchase. I know that sounds insane by today’s standards. Who would purchase an entire album without being able to listen to a single song? You’d be surprised.

Invented in 1938 by Alex Steinweiss who worked at Columbia Records as an art director, album cover art became one of the most important design disciplines in the world. Suddenly, there was a medium that reached millions of people, a blank canvas for designers and artists all over the world; Andy Warhol, Storm Thorgerson and Roger Dean to name a few.

While cover art, and vinyl for that matter, still exist today, it has become secondary to the music it represents, which I suppose is the order it should be, but there’s nothing quite like Saturday morning thrift store excursions, thumbing through crate after crate of old vinyls in search of unique cover designs to take home and display. Ninety percent of the time the actual record is missing or in less than stellar condition, but just to be able to own a piece of design history is reason enough for me.

Images (C) Various Sources

Information (C) Awwwards.com