This site rates CD cover / liner information for the following things:

• clarity
• spine
• graphics
• information
• track numbers
• times
• readability

Many times the "artwork" overtakes the liner notes, killing readability. Other times, poor colour bleed and font choices ruin the graphics. I feel that by making this information public, a better general level of design may emerge. A lot of time I just wonder: what were these people thinking? How can anyone read this stuff. Like 4 point fonts. (Betcha can't read that eh?) I believe that by keeping graphics simple is the best bet. Anyway, here goes. I'm not trying to pick on anyone in particular - these examples were just chosen from CDs that just happened to be on my desk at the time. They are not reviewed in any order at all - whatever order they decided amongst themselves in the pile they were stored in was good enough for me. I have only one vendetta, and that's against poor CD optics - period. I have also not commented on the artistic concept merits of the covers unless they help or inhibit the display.
 

I've rated the covers 1 - 5 with 5 being excellent and 1 being really bad.

Lastly, I have chosen not to display examples since they just don't translate on line at 75 dpi.

Steve Fruitman

John & The Sisters - 2004
Designed by A Man Called Wrycraft
Digipak, 3 panels, no book

Almost everything about this kind of packaging and design is minimalist in nature while very artsy. A great front cover worthy of LP status - A great back cover with excellent graphics. However, unlike most digipaks, since this is a double folded three panel job, there are actually two spines - so why is only one used? The other is used to the fullest, orange letters on black text, you won't miss this CD in a pile. The inner panels are exclusively used for photos of band members and some wooden deer in a room - so other than the back cover, only one panel is actually used for text. This one's kept simple, light, bright, pleasing. An excellent example of how it can (and should) be done!

Rating: 4.5

I can't understand it: here we have an experienced designer, an experienced record company, and a somewhat botched CD cover! So what went wrong? Let's start with colours that are absorbed by their backgrounds. Bold orange on rose, white on yellow, light pink or orange on rose. It's a busy cover - granted - but there is no excuse for clashing colours that evaporate before the reader's eyes. The inner panels are b/w with some interesting usage of text that makes each page interesting. The b/w layout and design is great! But the back cover - while handsome - uses small bold rose lettering over orange/pink for the numbering of the tracks. Otherwise, a very nice package. Spine: you know who's CD it is from a long way off.

Rating: 3

Hayden knows how to use a spine! He also knows how a good, tasty package should be designed. While there are always slight problems because of the small size of CDs, these can be overcome if you've got money behind you. When others on tighter budgets attempt to do the same, they screw up. Good camera optics mean everything when attempting projects like this: Japanese linen background throughout and everything works beautifully. Why he failed to put times down for his songs I can't begin to explain. The only real foil in this healthy feeling CD cover. But that's it - the only flaw I can find.

Rating: 4.5

Since this is an instrumental album there are few requirements about the tracks required. Where these are presented inside the digipak it is very nicely done - very easy to read in white boxes with a yellow bg. The problem with this expensive cover is on the outside: mostly black, white and silver. The silver on black only shows up when properly angled to the light. Otherwise, forget it! The spine: same. But the real evil is on the back cover: the songs in tiny silver on black print without numbers or times. Okay, so it's all done nicely on the inside but I think the outside cover is an important part of the project. The back cover is as good as the inside (remember, there are 6 panels to this digipak). Half excellent / half useless.

Rating: 2.5

Great front cover and spine! The back cover is very well laid out incorporating all necessary info in the right places. Slight problem on the inner panels: too much stuff in too small a space. Sometimes artists insist on having all this stuff but don't want to spend the extra to get more panels to make it work properly. This is not the fault of the designer from what I see - it's laid out nicely and very legible. The only problem I have with the layout are the songwriting credits beneath the song titles - tiny font in italics condensed. Otherwise a good job.

Rating: 3.5

A great front cover! The inside panels use dark blue on white which works well, but I'm not big on putting lyrics to songs in paragraph form - one big paragraph per song. Some important font size is too small in italics for easy reading.  The spine - as one member of the band mentioned to me when she sent the CD - is much too underutilized to mean much. You would never notice this CD among others. Let's face it - most people store them that way. The back cover is a little busy with the questionable use of a blurry photo of band members walking from behind leaving little space for other needed info like song titles (too small). But they did number and time them - put the web address prominently at the bottom.

Rating: 3

This is a mostly b/w job, but wherever there is colour it falls apart. I have absolutely no problem with any of the b/w part of the cover - the inside panels of the insert, all nicely laid out and displayed. Even where busy it doesn't spoil. But why use orange on grey background? Albeit the title is grey county, these two colours clash badly, especially on the back cover with the shiny jewel case cover to look through - the graphics get obliterated. The pertinent info - like web site and songwriting credits - are nearly illegible. The spine: Orange on Grey through plastic - not there.

Rating: 2

While the front cover is nothing to look at - it fails to tell you anything while the script is difficult to read - the simplicity of the b/w inner panels is great. Even the script that doesn't seem to work on the front cover works here for song titles while the words themselves are extremely easy to read. The layout is a little off though - too close to outside borders while utilizing double columns with plenty of white space in the centre isle - some of which could have been used to bring the outsides in. A big flaw: That same script used exclusively on the last two panels for the credits - much too difficult to read as text. Back side of the insert also in this script also suffers with white (black under shadows) on purple - which is also the identical artwork used on the back cover. Hard to read his web address. Spine is plain but useless in that script!

Rating: 2.5

This is a great cover! One of the best I've seen Wrycraft do in a long time. The spine on this thing is huge because of the inner panel pullouts of the digipak and Wrycraft uses just about all of it. You'll spot this CD anywhere. A smart black background on all but one of the 8 panels. The different panel is great: just parts of Carlos's hand and a very large text quote easy to read. Back cover panel uses some very fancy font but it works because it's bold, bright on black without hurting the eyes, matches the skin tone of Carlos face to the right. Great photographs! All kinds of information on the inside including harp keys Del Junco uses, but everything is so well laid out and easy to read. My biggest complaint about Wrycraft's work is the busy artwork beneath the writing: here that isn't a problem, in fact, it's a plus. One of the best covers I've ever seen.

Rating: 5

While the spine is weak, the rest of the Cover is mostly safe. I question the use of the Band's name not being listed on the actual cover of the insert. While you see it head on, the actual name is written on the back cover's see-through panel at the side. Good band photo and the lyrics on the inner panels is easy to read - mostly. There are places where the blurred colours of the background photo clash with the red used for titles and writing credits. The web site really should be listed on the back cover but instead appears on an inner panel.

Rating: 3.5

This is a busy but tasty CD cover with a few design flaws. While songs are clearly marked and timed, they are presented in paragraph form which makes it more difficult to pick out a certain track. The web address is very prominent on the back where it should be. The spine isn't bad but the use of the band's name - being a long name - in fancy handwriting script makes it difficult to decipher. The inside panels of the booklet are full coloured and easy to read (French only). A very smart use of photos and information: neither gets in the others way.

Rating: 4

A digipak without a book leaves a lot to be desired. You get a really good album on the CD but little else here. What graphics there are are very well done, especially the spine: nice and big and clear. No addresses at all - web or otherwise. Very sparse - in fact too sparse for my liking. While the songs are timed, they are not numbered. How many songs are on this CD? Looking at it you'd think probably 12 (there are 13). Really bad for radio folks.

Rating: 2.5

While the designer is not listed, I think it's probably safe to say that Larry Towell who is credited with photography might have had a hand in it. But that's just a guess. There are a few things wrong with it though - while most of the graphics are white on matte brown, very easy to read in most places, the use of scratch pen song titles in black doesn't show up enough on the brown background. The back cover redeems most of the problems by listing the song titles in easily legible graphics. But the artist's names are dark red on black! Why? Same as on the spine: red on black - only the CD title is clear in white. Lots of web info and other relevant info in easy to find places. This could have been a lot better though.

Rating: 2.5

An interesting and innovative concept that just doesn't work. What kind of band is this, what do they do, why should you buy this product? All these questions go unanswered by this cover. While most of the info is easy to read, black type-writer print on white, some panels are wasted on nails, jar lids and empty space while the inside 3 panels contain the words to 12 songs all typed in tiny font in one large paragraph. Very useful. The spine is not bad but nothing really noticeable either. While the songs are listed twice, once on the back cover, neither place gives the times of the tracks. Laid out in lower case also hampers the noticeability of important things.

Rating: 2

A cheaply made cover consisting of one panel - both sides. The back is simple with a band photo, songs listed below in large, white font. Numbered and timed - Web addresses right there too. And a big MAPL circle! I thought those went out of style or something. Very basic info on the inside but everything you need to know I guess. Not interesting at all, but if you don't bother putting the song lyrics in the package, what the hell! He tells you to go to his website for that. The spine is poorly utilized though.

Rating: 3.5

A great front cover - just a blue smudge of ink on a yellow-orange sponge painted wall. But one thing Pierre Schryer knows is how to do things economical and right. Therefore the backside panels of the insert are b/w and uses blue, gold and white on the colour side. Lots of information and a good back cover. All songs are numbered and timed. All I have to say is that this is not the best looking cover I've seen. That said, I've seen some very beautiful ones but you can't read much on them. This one uses simplicity to its advantage, however some layout flaws could have been better. The spine is okay - could be better.

Rating: 3

A funky cover reflecting the funky nature of the music contained within. Front and back designed like a pack of fire crackers complete with a warning label on the front. Everything's okay here - the photo on the back of the insert is good with nice graphics. The use of script font inside is risky but it works. The songs are listed like a set list for a live gig with symbols that are really neat. All is legible and clear - no eye strain so far. One major omission is the lack of web address on the back cover. But wait a minute! Is the back cover upside down or don't I get it? You flip the jewel case over like you normally would and it's upside down. Why? If it's to be funky, it just doesn't work. Why confuse a radio programmer doing a live show. And the use of vertical block printing down the spine - again: risky. But it's tall, clear, b/w - you notice it from a good way off which is what it's really supposed to do. Too bad about that back cover though.

Rating: 3.5

A very interesting thing is the tricky use of photos, dark purples, small font and a limited use of a third colour: orange/gold. And yet it works. While the back cover contains all the relevant information, song titles, band members and eight photos, it's easy to read. It doesn't feel cluttered. Everything's in order. The spine is okay, large enough but could have been more contrasting. Lots of info inside the 6 paneled insert but always easy to read and well laid out around various faded photos of instruments. Sounds confusing but it works! This was a tricky cover to make, could have been a disaster and yet I have very little to find wrong with it.

Rating: 4

First: the spine is really good. The front cover, however doesn't do the CD justice. A blurry golden panel with a font that looks like it's stamped in gold for the title. While the tracks are numbered on the back panel of the insert, they aren't on the back cover. Neither are they timed, anywhere. This back cover suffers from too much information that would have been left better on the insert (in fact, a lot of it is doubled there). The credits panel is aligned sometimes right to left, sometimes left to right, sometimes centered in big white, legible but ugly white font leaving a bewildering look of a scrap book. The inside panels contain the song lyrics - obviously a highlight of Nix's art, and yet white on near white? This happens in the sky part of the middle photo of a man swinging an axe. Again, the use of bold white lettering aligned all over the place.

Rating: 1.5

This is as fucked up as they come! The concept for the entire cover - back, front, insides - is black ink on a red-brown matted paper bag material - albeit flat! The only places where it differs is the use of faded silver/gray type-writer font that's hard to read - no song times. Whatever is written on the very bottom of the back cover is impossible to read with or without microscope. But the worst is yet to come! The inside panels are divided into two columns in the same, but much smaller type-writer font - thick, black and smudgy on that same background. You have to be really dedicated to bother reading any of it. It doesn't come much worse than this and yet, the spine falls into the same sphere of existence as the rest of it. And it's released on True North Records - how could they?

Rating: 1

I happen to know that this is a late release, probably 2004. The spine is terrible - almost impossible to see the very thin white lettering on a light, sky blue background. Ditto the front cover. The back is better. Although no times to songs are given. The web address is too small. Inside the 4 paneled insert are wasted b/w identical but mirrored photo collage of the band members faces, somewhat Pink Floydish. Back cover of insert is okay but very skimpy details. And it's a really good CD! Go figure.

Rating: 1.5

Some big, foolish mistakes tarnish this tasty designed package. What is Villanelle? Well, that's all that you find on the spine. If you're looking for a Paul Reddick CD... well, do I have to say more? The back is nicely laid out but font could have been larger, especially the times which are tiny. Inside are photos. The layout of the booklet is very nice looking until you try reading anything. All capitals in one column per page is a little difficult even if it is black on red. While the web address is prominent on the booklet's back page, it's not the best place for important information - that should be on the back cover. And what label is Reddick on? Nothing on the spine, nothing on the actual CD. No serial number anywhere in sight. Just a Northern Blues logo on the back cover along with three other industry logos. Really too bad.

Rating: 2

There are some saving graces to this package: the spine use is good, graphics are easy to read but that's where the good stuff stops. No times are given and yet the back cover and the back of the booklet are nearly identical. It's the lack of information that bothers me. While this CD is a compilation of previously recorded material from an earlier age, the cover is so cheaply done that it doesn't do justice to this band and its long history. You have no idea which musicians are performing an any track - no words to songs - a short bio of the band that would be better suited to their web site which, fortunately, is included atop the back cover. No years are given, nor which earlier album the material comes from. This is too bad. This could have been a real nice package.

Rating: 2

The trouble with Digipaks is that they only offer one spine so use it wisely. This CD doesn't quite do that. While the name of the CD is clearly seen, the artist's name isn't. The front & back are professional looking enough, but the song titles could be much easier to read. Perhaps the use of all lower case lettering doesn't help. Other pertinent info is where it should be. The booklet is neat - easy to read with lots of info.

Rating: 3

A cheaply done cover with clear graphics. The front is handsome enough but the back fails to utilize the space wisely. Songs are listed in two columns in very small, faint type face. Includes web info. The inside is b/w with dark gold song titles that work just fine. Space is used nicely. Credit page is very easy to read and contains all pertinent information. Use of the spine is terrible: dark green with tiny print action.

Rating: 3

Very simple but very clean. Colour cover but inside b/w. Very plain but clearly written, large text. Nothing interferes with what's written - everything is right where you want it. Nicely reproduced. Could have given more technical information for guys like me, but for the buying public nothing is missing. Back cover design flaws: for the sake of not messing up Machura's hair, song listings are clearly written but in too small a column so that the times of three songs don't fit on the same line. Why ruin a good thing for vanity's sake? Excellent use of the spine - website listed prominently on the back.

Rating: 4

The Deluxe job with a lot of colour - actually works in most places, but like a lot of Wrycraft's designs, they tend to spoil the script in important places. Light green credits on orange, and small white point sized fonts on orange are hard on the eyes. In other areas, white on blue or green works well. Decent use of the spine but could be less busy. Web site is easy to find on back cover. Lovely looking but...

Rating: 3.5

Michelle Rasky - Your Love's Like Spring - 2004
Designed by Kurt Swinghammer by dan@bryk.com
Standard jewel case

Colour is well reproduced but by transposing the lyrics in white over a photo of green, small font almost hurts the eyes. The spine is poor - barely showing up from a distance. The tracks are numbered includes times. Web address is poorly defined - too small. The back cover is crappie - thin white on orange. Lots of space for a larger font in places

Rating: 2

A very traditional design with colour graphics but good, clean clarity. Fancy font is easy to read. All tracks are numbered and timed. Web info prominent and very good use of the spine. Pertinent information is readily accessible although the inside cover his too wordy with a very small point size - just a block printing. Nothing gets in the way of the printing - mostly black on white. Good, clean cover and back.

Rating: 4

A cheap, one page cover, simple and easy to spot. Good use of the spine - large letters. Inside is black on white, easy to read but a little messy. Track numbers and times are present. Very little info about the songs. A really basic package but generally very little wrong with it.

Rating: 3

Basic 3 color cover that's easy to read. Good font and point sizes. The back of the booklet is a problem: Gold on brown! It sort of works but could have been a whole lot better. Background graphics inside never get in the way of the printing. Names are in bold. Back cover has track numbers but no times. Excellent use of the spine.

Rating: 3

Nice, smart cover, front and back. Good Graphics with all the vital info on tracks. However, the usage of horizontal blue / black thick stripes behind white print on the inside is kind of weird. Not a joy to look at. Light blue song titles on blue background is rather pointless. An excellent spine! Fonts could have been better on the inside. Although the band has a web site, it's not on listed on the CD. Other vital info is well posted.

Rating: 2

A really nice cover with good pictures. Some of the small black font is obscured by background in places. Not all the song info re lyrics is used: only 7 of 13 songs. Therefore, the credits are incomplete. Back cover lists track numbers and times. Web site is listed but you have to search for it with a magnifying glass. Spine is not bad but could be better.

Rating: 3

Really good artwork that obscures the print. The cover pulls out to be read vertically which is highly questionable. Hard to hold since it flops around while you're trying to read it. Inside is simple white print on a black background. Lots of good info there. Back is also very artsy but the tracks are numbered and timed although blue and white font is strange to the eyes. Better than the white on light orange in the next panel. Web info not really clear. Spine clear but small.

Rating: 2

This is a very good example of what a cover / liner should do. Good colour pictures that are framed do not interrupt the text flow. Clear, large font on a small booklet, and yet all the lyrics are included. All credits are easily found. Tracks are easily readable, numbered and timed. Very good spine, bold block lettering - you can't miss it! Should have listed the tracks on the back cover instead pasting his picture with Mickey Newberry there. Web info easily found.

Rating: 4

Hey, another good cover! Great colour reproduction and layout. Nowhere is there a clash between art work and text. Large lettering and all the vital information and excellent use of the spine. Web info easily found inside but should have been on the back cover as well. The font size on the inside is a little too small but readable.

Rating: 4

A very nice front cover but that's where the niceness stops! A lot of clashing elements inside, especially where text spills over a photo with a lot of contrast. Also, blue over green is not the best thing for the eyes. The back cover is even worse: tracks 1 - 7 are purple against a painting with white times while 8 - 12 are yellow with white times. Web info easily found. While the title on the spine is easily read, the artist's name evaporates against the background. All songs are numbered and timed.

Rating: 2

This one's a nightmare! Bold red titles that bleed into the brown / black background. Song lyrics are very difficult to read against the same background. White print on brown in small block print. Tracks are not numbered but do have times listed. Web info almost impossible to read or find. Too much info in too small a font. Back cover is as bad as the rest. The front cover is warm but unfriendly to the eyes. Spine is foolish: large print but brown artist name against black in block font that is not clear. Terrible.

Rating: 1

This one's busy, a lot of text. All white font inside against a mostly darkened background of photos that works. Even has English / French text! Not the greatest cover but it does the job. Spine, also not the greatest but it's good. Tracks are numbered and timed. Web information is difficult to find. After 25 years od doing this, they should be better at it.

Rating: 3

One of the best spines you can find! Easy to read and very colourful - noticeable. Songs are numbered and timed. Great bw photos inside and large, very easy to read font - black on white. Simplicity at its finest. Credits are very good and web info, although not as large as it could be, is easy to find. The back cover is rather poorly executed: red font on yellow / red linen background. But the front cover is excellent - a tapestry that just pours out at you.

Rating: 4

Although this cover is not very slick or professional looking, it's surprisingly easy to read. The cover is clear and well reproduced. The back has the songs listed with times and track numbers. The spine could have been better contrast while the Web info is rather small. The inside is black font over a very pale background.

Rating: 3

I take it that this is a home-made design, rather simple but effective. The front cover is extremely bare, but the artist's name is in big, bold black lettering against a very pale yellow. The rest of that side of the paper is also pale yellow. Web info or mailing address is non-existent. The layout: lyrics in paragraph form, is rather crude reading but readable. Tracks are not numbered but are timed. The spine is simple: bold and big.

Rating: 3

An expensive looking booklet with a fancy font on the cover looks fine but the back cover, with the track list, is over the top. The font is difficult to read, pale yellow on a smoky orange background. The tracks are numbered but in two columns surrounding an inset photo. Very confusing. The layout is excellent but the small font, and heavy use of italics, makes a lot of it difficult to read. Variously coloured backgrounds seem to work but sometimes clash. The spine is pretty good. In all, a good example of art over info.

Rating: 2

A simple cover, a decent back cover (tracks numbered with times - small white font on dark gray / blue). But that's where the good stuff ends. The rest of this cover is terrible! Inside, on an olive green swirling background, tiny white text between dark brown tiny song titles. The tech info is just about impossible to read: the same reddish brown tiny font listed across two panels. Even with a magnifying glass and good lighting it's hellish. Why bother? Web info is tiny on the legible back. Even the spine is in tiny font.

Rating: 1

Good reproduction of original artwork: yellow on royal blue with a bit of green. No problem. The text stands out just waiting for you. Good web info in the obvious place on the back cover. Songs well listed and timed. A multi-paged booklet in bw with extremely eye-friendly font. Very nice sized. All the info you could want and more. A first class job. Even the spine takes full advantage.

Rating: 5

The outer cover is sparse and very well reproduced. The Spine is simple and easy to read. The back lists the songs by number with times including web info. So far so good! The booklet is more of the same: sparse and elegant, easy to read, bw. Nothing clashes with the retinas at all. The only problem is, the plastic tray holding the CD came broken so the disc keeps falling out. It cannot be replaced. So what good is such a lovely, well made cover? However, I am not rating the infallibility of the trays.

Rating: 4

A very ritzy production here! And yet filled with problems. The Front cover is gorgeous and easy to identify. The Spine jumps out at you: Jubilee, and yet the players' names are much too small. The back cover is dirty orange with hairline handwriting font that is difficult to read. Not all tracks listed are on their own line, so a radio programmer has to be extremely careful. Times are listed. Tracks are numbered. But the real problem starts inside with an elaborate booklet. A page of onion skin paper between each page makes it difficult for quick browsing. Info is buried inside - literally. Sunbursting yellow against orange backgrounds a verbose block of small thin text that clashes. Song credits are very difficult to discern, written out in paragraph block form. Web info is tucked away as if too precious to be displayed proudly. Bolded titles in tiny text are violet against the sunburst orange. Must have taken many hours and a lot of money to pull this wanking project together! Too much ego in the art is like the back-up band over taking the vocalist.

Rating: 1

A nice looking cover with vital information layed out nicely. The spine: white against medium blue is too faint - not bold or large enough to display. The back lists the songs, numbered and timed. However, the text is rather small. Web info prominently displayed. Bw booklet, very bold and playful. Well laid out. The font style isn't the nicest - a little too clunky and round. Too many point sizes used.

Rating: 3

A great spine - very clear and bold. The front is uncluttered and simple to see. The back is slanted text, dark red against gold and works very well. All tracks are numbered and timed. Numbers are in white circles making it extremely easy to look at, but laid out in a strange manner: two columns - odds on the right and evens on the left. Web info is not great but not bad. The inside has other mysteries: orange fine print on a dark red background! What's that all about? A hodge-podge of info on the inside but too much orange on red. The layout is thick and complicated, not easy on the eyes.

Rating: 3

The layout is very nice but the choice of font is surprisingly bad. Condensed tall characters are very difficult to read, especially the finer print. Only a wee bit of clashing in the dark end. Web info is easy to find. Use of dark blue on light blue is foolish. All tracks are timed and numbered. The back cover works well but too stingy with the spine.

Rating: 2

Very similar to Aengus Finnan's in layout and appearance except not nearly as sparse. Good big, easy to read font which clashes a bit (black against red). Nicely illustrated and laid out booklet with well chosen fonts. Even the fancy ones are easy to read. Tracks numbered and timed. Web info prominent and spine easy to spot at a distance.

Rating: 4

A perfect example of good, large, easy to read lettering. One of the few examples of a fancy use of graphics that do not clash with the text. Artistic expression suppressed to help the info stand out. Tracks are numbered and timed. The spine is a little weak - should be bolder. Even the block paragraph style of text works here. Well laid out. Web info easy to find.

Rating: 5

Another example of where simplicity is supreme. Following a nice front cover comes a back that lists 26 tracks (many short poems) complete with writing credits and times in an uncluttered way. Perhaps white on mauve / brown background isn't the most appropriate over a blurred photo of the author but clashes just a little. The inside is much the same. Bold red titles against slick black spoils the effect. Web info could be larger and more prominent. Song info is easy to read, good size and well documented.

Rating: 3

Hi Steve,
 

What a great idea, and a fascinating read!
 

You're absolutely right, that sometimes the CD designers have a real forest through the trees problem, and forget what's important to the radio
programmers (and the public!). Wearing my Brampton Folk Festival a.d. hat, I've often noticed the same sort of things when receiving solicitations.
 

I wonder how much of this is caused by the amount of real estate available. Vinyl albums, which are roughly 4 times larger than CDs, didn't seem to
have as much of this problem as CDs (although I do recall a few indiscretions of printed lyrics over some  non-contrasting backgrounds). The other
possible cause is the great proliferation of independent CDs, which weren't really available in the Vinyl days, in other words the products back then
were designed by professionals.
 

I took a look at our most recent CD (Brown Ale, "Self Titled", 2003). I think it holds up reasonably well, and I invite you to include a review of it
on you page. My partner Les worked hard on the artwork, and in the end my only regret is that the track titles (and respective MAPL logos - are they
still used?) weren't a slightly larger font, although they're still quite readable to this 41 year old. We released 18 tracks on our CD, a lot to
list, and still wanted room for a decent photo and preserve the artwork themes, which one could argue may help sell the album.
 

Indeed, it is an  interesting byproduct of the CD era, that more tracks are usually included on CDs than on vinyl, but there is less space to list
them. With that challenge, you can truly say that CD artwork really is a totally different medium than vinyl artwork,  which I miss badly.
 

Glenn

Noah Zacharin

    Although I appreciate the motivation behind what you're doing here, I'm not sure it's going to come across the way you want it to. The comments you've made are all worthwhile, indeed, and should serve as good advice to CD insert designers, whether that's the musicians on the CD or someone hired for the job.     But in the end, who is the insert aimed at? There are several groups, of course, who see and use the liner notes--the recording artist, the purchasing public, the radio announcers, the reviewers, and perhaps others. Which group should be targeted the most? Should the expectations of one group be predominant over the desired artistic effect?     If a bad artistic decision annoys one group, surely that's the risk the designer takes and--we hope--understands. Is there really a need to suggest, "Do it primarily with my group in mind, because if you don't you risk losing our support"?    Granted, radio play is important; granted, radio announcers have their preferences and needs; granted, it's not a good idea to turn announcers against your recording, via bad liner notes or in any other way.     But radio announcers are not the only group, nor perhaps the primary group, that use CD liner notes. The designer knows--or ought to know--who uses the liner notes & inserts, and why. If the designer forgets or ignores one of those groups, then maybe that person shouldn't be designing. But at the other end of the stick, the designer shouldn't be working with the needs or desires of only one group in mind, either.

    I have a good relationship with my recording engineer. He sometimes tells me about things others do in his studio--as he tells others about what I do (in generalities, of course, not breaking any confidentiality). For example, when he has a punk band in there, screaming sometimes incomprehensible lyrics against overpowering rhythms and music, he suggests they try and make the voices more understandable. They usually listen to his advice, then decide whether to take it or not. If they choose to pass over his advice, they've made an artistic decision, and he goes along with them, whether he agrees with them or not. It's their risk to take and their choice to make. He's right more often than not, but that's the way it goes.
    The situation is comparable (although, I know, not a perfect analogy). The artistic choices made on a CD liner may also be ill-advised, or they may inconvenience some users. But it's for the designer--or the musicians--to make those decisions, and they have to succeed or fail on them.

    So, I repeat, the advice you give, Steve, is valuable and should be taken into account. But radio announcers are only one factor in the creation of the CD inserts and notes, and not necessarily the primary factor.

>My intention is to get artists and record companies to consider the buyer/reader of the text on these CD covers. I really don't >believe they do.

Here I think you're mistaken to some degree--although I'm sure you're right in some cases. Some of those you describe--I can see why you'd make this comment!

Steve L.

~debbie carroll

www.debbiecarroll.com