Cover design inspiration
For this project, I looked at the work of Scritti Politti and their single vinyl cover for ‘Skank bloc bologna’. Created in 1978, their DIY record was experimental and busy, with the use of type and photo transfer collaged together. A typewriter and rubber stamps were used were used for the lettering, and nothing is hand written. The text includes information on production costs, record pressing, addresses and phone numbers of companies involved in the process, and the bands own memoirs such as; ‘play loud’, ‘a socialist rockers production’, and ‘turn bass right up through out’. The punk sound of the single seeps onto the artwork of the sleeve, and itself is a rebel against capitalist norms. With the heavy use of text and the restricted colour palette of black and white, ‘skank bloc bologna’ was a fitting motive for our project.
Process
For my vinyl single cover art for ‘Dust Bowl Refugee’ by Woody Guthrie, I was restricted to use only typography to design the cover, and for it to only be black and white. To create the lettering, I used methods such as stencils, wood blocks, rubber letter stamps and a typewriter, similar to what Scritti Politti had used for their handmade single. I used black paint and ink to stamp and stencil the letters and words. I then cut up the words I had created and began to stick them together, photocopying and pasting words that were either enlarged or minimised. The text included the title, the artists name, the production, and copyright information and select lyrics from the song. Some of the lettering was also completely random and used as a back drop to make other elements stand out. I used a variety of fonts and sizes, especially on the front cover. Panning across the front cover is the word dust, with each letter being a different size, font, and method of printing. I created my own stencil for the ‘D’ and ‘U’, as the number of stencils and wood blocks were limited due to the restrictions in the class room. This forced me to be more creative and logically plan how I was going to create the letter forms I needed. The ‘S’ and the ‘T’ were stamped with wood blocks I traded between my class mates, with both letters angled in different positions, and due to previous printing had a unique texture. When folded over correctly, the large ‘T’ fills the front panel of the sleeve creating a bold and striking effect. Within the ‘T’, I typed out the title and the production and copyright information of the single, using a typewriter. The contrast of the small type against the large ‘T’ catches the audience’s eye from a far, but also forces them the get up close to read the information. Using rubber letter stamps, I then stamped some lyrics that I felt were most impactful from the song, photocopied and shrunk down, then jotted them around the front and back cover of the sleeve. On the inside cover, the folds holding the record in place include Woody Guthrie’s name, stenciled and stamped out in various ways. On the backing of the inside cover is a stenciled out, randomised collection of letters and numbers to create a background for the stencilled title of the song title to tracing paper, before gluing it to the backing to create a faded frame around the words, making them easier to read.
