The best or worst years of an artist’s career can be defined by a single square image. Album cover art is often the first step toward that album’s reception — good or bad — and we often associate the ...

A good album cover adheres to basic design principles. A great album cover has a layer of cultural commentary. And a fantastic album cover understands both while maybe breaking some rules.

“There was no MTV, there was no VHI, there was no Spotify,” says Aubrey Powell. Instead, there was album art. In the 1970s, designers were treated as rock stars–album cover designers, that is. “You ...

From Cream to the Lightning Seeds, Leith's Rob Petrie honed his craft on album covers. He explains how it shaped his design philosophy, and why that approach is more relevant than ever. Before the ...