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Album covers are a great source of fresh inspiration for your graphic design work. Not only are well-designed album covers artistic, but they’re effective at marketing as well.

The best designed album covers:

1. Give you a clear representation of what the content will be
2. Sell you on the content by looking great itself

In other words, what a great visual design should be.

Think about it: how many times were you intrigued by fantastic artwork, and when you put the music on, it was how you’d imagine it would be like? That was a well-designed album cover at work.

So next time you need a fresh source of inspiration for your design work, take a look at well-designed album covers. And the following list of the 20 best designed album covers will get you started.

Disclaimer: Best Designed vs. Best Looking

Before we dive into the list, know that it’s best designed, not just the best looking.

The best designed album covers not only look great and are eye-catching, but they do an amazing job representing the content: the band, the brand, the music. You’d be able to tell what the music, artist, and vibe is like just from looking at the cover.

There are plenty of sweet-looking album covers that don’t relate to the band or music. Sure, it’s a nice piece of art, and that’s totally fine, but it’s not well designed. And that’s what we’re focusing on here. Your design should not only look impressive but represent whatever it is you’re designing for.

Anyway, without further ado, here are the 20 best designed album covers for inspiration:

20 Best Designed Album Covers

Weezer – Blue Album

Weezer didn’t look like other rock bands in the ’90s, or sing about the same party-hearty or angst-ridden topics, and this cover starkly and boldly showcases their geekiness.

Having a solid single-color background just put the focus on the band even more – as did having them lined up side by side, rather than posing rock band-style (which their later Green Album did, hence lessening the effect).

Autechre – Tri Repetae

The Designers Republic, the adored design outfit from Sheffield, was famous for designing most of Warp Records’ material – where they could really let loose.

This was perhaps TDR’s boldest cover they ever designed. A shiny golden-brown sleeve, nothing else. No text, no logos, nothing. But the genius is in the detail – by having the color be an industrial-esque color, as well as being shiny (alas, not visible on a digital screen), you could tell that what’s inside is a) electronic music, and b) stark and machine-like.

Plus, having this bare of a cover using a never-used color created mystery – you’re intrigued by the enigmatic nature of the content. Which was true of the music.

Autechre – Draft 7.30

The complete opposite of Tri Repetae, The Designers Republic went to the other extreme of visualizing what Autechre’s music sounded like. Abstract, machine-like, enigmatic, and unpredictable – the chaotic and industrial nature of the design. But at the same time: breathing, human, and emotional – TDR used rounded corners and flowing lines instead of square corners and blocks.

Daft Punk – Discovery

The stark silver text implies electronic – of which the music was just that. But the subtle rainbow colors underneath implies a bubbling of fun, disco, and ’70s and ’80s funk – of which the music was also just that.

Jay-Z – The Black Album

This was a mature, classy, and bold statement of an album for the popular rapper, and the cover perfectly reflected that. The black and grey colors and classic font represents the “I’ve moved beyond the bling rap and gangsta posturing” classiness of the music. But the baseball cap still reminds people that this is rap music.

Ramones – Ramones

Ramones’ music was very monochromatic, and so was their debut album’s cover. Black and white all over. And the clothes and location assures you that this is New York City punk music.

But the Ramones were a no-nonsense band, which the cover also reflects – no graffiti, no wearing of countless accessories, no posturing. Just Converse, jeans, jackets, long hair, and rock ‘n’ roll.

Boards of Canada – Music Has the Right to Children

Boards of Canada makes warm yet distant and hazy music. It sounds familiar and foreign at the same time. This cover represents that dichotomy perfectly. The blue hues, the ’70s image, the people, the location – all warm, all familiar. Yet, there’s something hazy as well – the blurred out faces, and the image seeming like it’s being seen through an unclear filter.

Boards of Canada – Geogaddi

A continuation of the Music Has the Right to Children direction. For this album, BoC added kaleidoscopic sounds to their palate. And—you guessed it—the kaleidoscope is literally on the cover. The tree and orange hue makes it feel warm and familiar, but the kaleidoscope makes it not so crystal clear.

The Rolling Stones – Sticky Fingers

Never has the Rolling Stones’ sex drugs and rock ‘n’ roll been portrayed as effectively as this infamous cover, designed by the famous pop artist Andy Warhol. The grungy stamp of the text, the grainy black and white image, the tight jeans with the suggestive bulge, the choice of the shot itself being so close up – all prepare you for what the songs inside contain.

Yet at the same time, there’s a certain reserve. This isn’t sleaze for shocking-sake. The Stones were a super-professional band, and Warhol didn’t cheapen the band’s brand by using cheap thrills on the cover.

(And yep, as many of you no doubt already know, a real zipper actually unzips on the vinyl cover.)

Gorillaz – Gorillaz

Stylish animated “band”, grungy yet bouncy, Japanese anime yet Western? Check. Fun yet serious music? Check. Is it all packed into the debut album cover, along with the graffiti logo elegantly placed? Yep.

Aphex Twin – Selected Ambient Works 85-92

Aphex Twin’s music contained in this album is stark, bold, and alien yet familiar at the same time. The cover reflects that. The design expertly uses only his logo, and it fills up the entire space with it. The statement is bold, that you’re about to get a bold dose Aphex Twin.

The design also achieves that by literally getting out of Aphex Twin’s way. The logo is enough to convey the content – no tweaking of it is required. The logo itself is stark, bold, and alien yet familiar.

Aphex Twin – Windowlicker

One of The Designers Republic’s most notorious album covers. Aphex Twin’s tune “Windowlicker” is twisted, sleazy, futuristic, and sexy at the same time.

That combination is wrapped up and perfectly presented in the cover: twisted because of Aphex Twin’s head on a female body, sleazy but sexy because of, well, the female body, and futuristic because of the font choice.

Bjork – Homogenic

The metallic background, falling snowflakes, and icy (not to mention awesomely weird) appearance of Bjork are all balanced and evenly arranged. Which is exactly how the music is – Bjork’s weird-but-great voice, sharp icicle beats, and a cold vibe throughout.

You can’t get a much better designed album cover – slick artwork that also perfectly represents the content inside.

Blur – Modern Life Is Rubbish

Blur’s songs on this album yearn for a simpler British life of yesteryear. It’s spelled out in the album title, in the song titles, in the lyrics, and even in the instruments (think less loud guitars, more horns and keys). But yet the songs are utterly modern and the recordings sound clean.

So while the album cover uses a classic font for the title and features a painting (rather than digital artwork) of an old-fashioned train, the Blur logo is sleek and modern. Like with all of these best designed album covers, you know what you’re getting when you look at this one.

AC/DC – Back In Black

Like the Ramones’ self-titled debut album, AC/DC’s Back In Black is very monochromatic. Simple riffs, beats, and melodies. Black and white all over. But the music is harder and stomps louder. Hence the stark black canvas but with the strong logo loudly stomping over it. You know what you’re getting with this album: loud and heavy rock ‘n’ roll.

BT – ESCM

BT’s album is mystical and new age-y while being futuristic and cutting-edge. The serene shot is new age-y, the monolithic block is mystical, and the text on the top is futuristic (the underscore between the words implies technology). ESCM stands for Electric Sky Church Music, and the cover expertly evokes that.

Burial – Burial

Burial’s tunes are ghostly, foggy, late night South London dance music. The beats are hazy and buried underneath layers of rain and pirate radio crackle, the melodies mournful yet hopeful, and vocal fragments echo into the distance. This is music for listening to at night, on a night bus or late walk home on the street.

The shot of foggy, late night South London not only evokes that feeling you’ll get when hearing the music, but the far-away distance of the shot itself hints at the distant melodies and vocal fragments contained within. Even the text has a foggy glow, like a street light glowing in the rainy night.

Pulp – This Is Hardcore

The music on this album, like the title, is sexual and aggressive yet only suggestive. It’s coy instead of explicit.

The cover does the same by being suggestive – the woman in a dark room is in a possibly sexual position, with supposedly something aggressive going on. But you never know for sure what’s happening in the scene. Even the body reveals very little – the arm covering much of it, and only from the waist up is visible.

Tricky – Maxinquaye

Tricky’s debut album is like a box of mystery. You don’t even know where to start opening it – ie. what to make sense of the tunes. Yes, there’s beats, rapping, and singing, but it all sounds so mysterious. The album cover is literally that box of mystery. The design is the box itself.

Royksopp – Melody A.M.

Royksopp crafted these tunes to be the perfect soundtrack to the morning rise – or the early morning return from a late night. Breezy melodies and groovy beats with a hint of melancholy. Oh yeah, and the duo is from Norway, so the coldness of their winters inevitably creeps into the music.

The morning photo in the cover perfectly evokes that feeling. It’s that undefined state of late night and early morning, where the sun is just beginning to rise, and it’s still cloudy. And that oh-so-intentional white border creeps the feeling of winter and snow into the otherwise warm vibe.

Best Designed Album Covers for Inspiration

Hopefully these 20 best designed album covers provided some fresh inspiration for your graphic design work. Remember: the best designed album covers not only give you a clear representation of what the content will be, they also sell you on the content by looking great itself.

That’s how the best designed album covers can inspire your graphic design work: to not only look fantastic but do a great job of branding and marketing as well.

What’s missing from this list? Cheesed that favorite your album covers didn’t make it? Share more well-designed album covers in the comments below.

By using textures in web design you can turn your websites into a masterpiece. Today’s article will showcase some amazing designs that utilize textures. Enjoy!!

elpassion

fingerbilliards

culturalsolutions

dshigdon

twofishillustration

krillbite

janploch

iphone-icon

getcorpus

ruhotenuf

amandastevens

ibuypink

le-tipi

colingrist

code23

taebo-stuttgart

threepennyeditor

dolectures

smallhelpings

bronco

thisismedium

sisumedia

cxxvi

andrewnorell

electricpulp

oliver-lubecks

capitalcamp

helikopterdesign

elless

artefactgroup

quoteroller

cantilever-chippy

mobeldesign

frecklesandhandsome

aribeo

Website designers are always looking for that extra piece of spark to liven up their pages. This often comes in the form of background images, vector artwork, and more recently popularized icons. Small icons give your user interface an extra boost in usability and clarity. It helps to categorize links and portions of your webpage without using text.

For those creative enough I’ve included 33 exclusive icon tutorials below. These are prominently targeted for Adobe software such as Illustrator or Photoshop. Adobe Fireworks can also be used for some, but can be more difficult if you’re not familiar in the tools palette.

On a similar note I’ve included a few free icon sets towards the bottom. These are 100% free to download and use anywhere on your websites. Feel free to include links to similar icon sets you know and use in your daily projects.

Roll of Film

Battery Core

Suitcase in Illustrator

Create a 3-D Lollipop

Mailbox

Photoshop Trophy

Cute Piggy Bank

Twitter Badge

First Aid

Drink Glass

Vintage Television

Chinese Food Carton

Paint & Paintbrush

Gamepad

Circus Tent

Making an Icon Tutorial

Open Book

Glasses

Juicy RSS Feed

iTunes Icon

DesignFloat Logo

Military Cap

XP-Style Monitor

Magnifying Glass

Magic Wand

StumbleUpon Icon

Pencil

Panda Bear Face

Magician Hat

Chalkboard Screencast

How to Design Mini Icons

Shiny Metal Buttons

Creating Social Media Sets

Freebie Sets

E-commerce set

Designer Icons

Mobile

Replacement iOS

Payment Set

Coded

Hand Sketch

Glyphs by GSIX

Conclusion

This brief collection should get your mind drifting towards abundant creation. Building icons from scratch can be difficult and requires a lot of precision. Even skilled digital artisans spend years of time working on complete icon sets.

Although this isn’t a complete list these tutorials are great for beginners and intermediate designers. Those interested should really spend some time studying to grow their imagination. After all, in the field of web design practice truly does make perfect.

Most web designers and developers do not need any instructions for dealing with character encoding. In general the process is done within the browser and isn’t often a topic of discussion amongst programmers. However the tools and regulations used to enforce such strict document types provides leverage for debugging and creating professional typographic aspects to a website.

Although the topic is brief I’ve gone over some of the quick highlights and important notations. You should be able to breeze through these topics if you have at least a beginner’s understanding towards digital documents. Basic HTML isn’t required although these techniques mostly apply to web files such as HTML, CSS, and PHP.

Along with encoding types there are many standards for digital typography. These become more convoluted as you work towards web projects and websites in general. We’ve written on great CSS techniques which may also be of use to any frontend developers.

Document Character Encoding

For a proper introduction character encoding must be explained as a digital phenomenon. This means we do not face similar problems with type written on paper or other canvas.

This is because each character in a font set is assigned a specific symbol. This is also appointed as a numerical value within the computer’s storage system language. After saving any type of web document you must choose a character encoding (generally UTF-8, ANSI, ASCII).

The apparent flaws with character encoding come with missing blocks to your page content. Lettering such as the copyright sign may be misinterpreted with the wrong encoding and you’ll get a missing character symbol. This may be a small black triangle, empty rectangle shape, or any number of symbols.

As HTML developers understand we have shortcuts for implementing special characters into your page. These are often known as HTML entities which are reserved under special numerals or lettering. For example, © will display the exact same character as ©. The numerical value demonstrates which placeholder the symbol will be stored under – in this case value 169.

Importance for Designers

You may still be questioning why this is so important? Well as a developer you may not run into much trouble under the Roman alphabet. For English speaking countries we have the advantage of running many popular character encoding sets. But consider pages written in languages not only different through lettering, but entire alphabets!

You may only need a universal encoding for languages such as German or Spanish. The case for special characters are often held in reserve which means you may combine English and foreign characters together. But consider languages such as Japanese or Russian where you’ll need an entirely new set of glyphs.

It may not be all too often where you’ll be writing Chinese webpages. However if you can understand how the technology works you’ll be better off in the long run with your practices as a webmaster. The HTML character encodings wiki page should answer a few more obvious riddles.

Prime Examples

If we can begin to examine HTML pages in-depth you may be surprised at just how little is required. We may set a simple meta tag towards the heading of any web document which supports defining the character set, or charset. Below is a brief example:

<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" />

The attribute for charset is defined within the content attribute. This may sound a little confusing and thankfully represents an older way of defining doctypes. However it’s not a bad solution and will still be processed properly with older and modern web browsers alike.

Although you may not be too interested with charsets there isn’t all too much to remember. If you can keep the names of important sets on-hand as code snippets you may end up saving loads of time on project work. For those interested research ISO 8859-1 charset details which outline the various elements in table format.

If you’ll be creating an XML or XHTML document then a simpler tag may be placed before all other code. This line of code defines all further elements and typography down the page. Within XHTML it’s possible to define your character set based on newer XML tag principles.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>

The defining XML element above sets any webpage to XHTML standards. XML 1.0 is the finest revision containing standard nodes for HTML placement and manipulation. You don’t need to understand the tag all too well, but understanding the UTF-8 encoding style may shine some light on your other options.

Conclusion

The concept of page encoding is absolutely an important one. It may not be required to build a basic website but after some time you will certainly run into trouble with typography. It helps to understand just how each letter is constructed and where the computer is reading this information from.

You may find it difficult to choose a character set without further guidance. The system isn’t all too complicated and just requires a bit of study time on your part. Ultimately you hold all the tools you need within whatever development environment you’re currently using. Both Mac and PC offer viable solutions for character sets even with Notepad and TextEdit as your default.

What are your thoughts on character sets and digital reference guides? We’ve got a small collection of tips for improving your webpage typography. If you know of similar resources or fantastic designers please share your ideas in the comments below.

Typography is a very important part of web design. By using different types of typography like big headlines and bold fonts web designers are improving the look and feel of websites.  So in this post we have compiled some beautiful typography for your inspiration.

kylemkramer

wakwaw

denisechandler

moresoda

eeharbor

steedicons

visualrepublic

foreverheavy

threepennyeditor

inflicted

adoreyou

convergese

losttype

sasquatchfestival

phase2technology

openpublicapp

collisionlabs

blakeallendesign

dotvita

gerrenlamson

rxbalance

unitedpixelworkers

wmcfest

kylesteed

hungarianwinesociety

pineapplethief

ipolecat

woodinvillewhiskeyco

amazeelabs

abutler

madebywater

bottlerocketcreative

rainypixels

pieoneers

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