Visual Label Identity

[Martin]

I'd like to single out one single aspect discussed in the "How do you decide what to buy?" thread and ask you about your opinions on this:

In what way does the visual identity of a CD label have an impact on (1) what you are going to buy and (2) how you perceive the music heard? What I am talking about is the design of the booklets and tray cards, the packaging of CDs in jewel boxes, digipacks, mini lp covers etc. - EVERYTHING that might give a label a clearly identifiable visual appearance.

On a more general level I might ask: Are there labels which you consider to have such appealing designs that you are more inclined to buy their CDs than if those CDs had been released by a different label?

Speaking about my personal experiences and preferences, I've got to say that I usually do not see (or hear) the discs I'll eventually buy, but that after I have bought them, the visual design is (to a certain degree) decisive for my overall attitude towards the label in its entirety, for my interest in other releases of specific labels and - finally - for my listening predispositions: If I like the booklet design, I might expect the music to be more likeable than if the design was crappy/uninviting which in turn might result in a self-fulfilling prophecy. I'm not that pretentious to claim that I am unsusceptible to influences outside the heart of the matter (the music).

Some labels worth being discussed for their individualistic visual designs are (in no particular order): ECM, CIMP, hat, Winter & Winter, Erstwhile, Victo, Tzadik, Emanem - to list just a few.

[Brian Olewnick]

Although it's rarely a deciding factor with me, package design can certainly give a little positive or negative push if I'm on the fence. I have picked up discs that I otherwise knew nothing about simply because of the attractiveness of the package--John Wall's book-like disc-containers come to mind as well as a Gunter Christmann disc with a yellow, 1/4" thick block of wood affixed to the front. I'd've picked it up anyway, but had I come across the Sachiko M/Sean Meehan disc in a store, with its white, wraparound sleeve made from watercolor paper, featuring a jagged slash through the front, I certainly would have at least given it a second look.

On the other hand, I find myself pretty turned off by any packaging that overtly pushes personality over product, especially those featuring "alluring" portraits of the artists involved. Maybe it's because I was weaned on those early ECM jackets, but I generally can do without musician photos at all. Speaking of which, those first ECMs, with just the bold typeface and blank or subtle backgrounds (like the first Garbarek's) were way cool.

My favorite cover in recent years was Annette Krebs' abstract, gorgeous watercolor gracing the cover of her solo disc on fringes last year. Just perfect, both in and of itself and as an analogue to the music.

[Tom Storer]

The look of a CD has an effect on how I hear the music, but in ways too mysterious for me to understand. The most noticeable aspect to me is that I tend to hear the music as being imbued with the dominant color of the CD sleeve... red, black, white... And I prefer warm, earthy colors to white, and white to black.

I make a conscious effort to filter out graphic design issues when I buy a CD, because I know a look I enjoy will influence me to buy, whereas other clues to actual musical content (personnel, history of musician, recording context, etc.) might make me lean towards not buying, and that is a more rational basis.

I have only a slight awareness of labels. I'm not usually able to say which labels go with which artists, with some exceptions like SteepleChase. I tend to steer away from major-label releases, though.

[michaelr]

I'm not sure that I am lured in to buying anything in particular by the design, though it certainly helps to narrow in on particular labels because of their readily identifiable look. One thing that is a bit irritating, though, is the habit that some labels have of burying details about a recording inside the cover. FMP has been doing that lately. It is just about impossible to figure out any details (like who is on the date, when it was recorded...) from the front or back of the CDs.

[Dennis Gonzalez]

Unfortunately, I've been duped for years by the ECM look. I pick up just about anything that they put out, and which is available here in Dallas - luckily it's only a small percentage of their releases - and a lot has to do with the beautiful photos and design. I am about 35% satisfied with the music they put out though, so I have an expensive collection of nice photos.

This began during the golden, creative days of ECM, when anything I bought - 1972 to 1980 - was pretty fab, and it was big design, on an LP, not on a small CD. As Uli says, "Stoopid!"

Tzadik has very beautiful covers, and I wish they too were LP sized. And the music, for me, is about 40% satisfactory.

hatHut's early LP designs were a nice artistic series.

nuscope has lovely covers and increasingly great production, but the music is a bit cerebral for a daily listen.

[Sergio Zamora]

Visual label identity plays a part when I'm in a brick and mortar. Usually what happens is that if I can identify a release by a musician I'm not familiar with by its label, I'll spend some more time investigating it, reading the personnel, etc. For musicians I am familiar with, it will make the difference between selecting one recording and another. It's not necessarily the artistic quality of the covers, but rather how I (semi-subconsciously, I believe) associate it with other recordings from the same label. Sometimes, it also causes a negative reaction. For example, I've been avoiding Leos for a while - or at least doing a lot more research before I pick them up. It used to be that if I saw a Leo (which are pretty easily recognizable), I'd grab. Now I tend to avoid them.

[Reid]

Omar,

I agree that if I identify the label, but I don't know the musician I'll investigate it a lot more. I remember several years ago, I picked up an Andrew Hill recording on bluenote. I never heard of Hill at the time, but since it was a bluenote, I had to check it out. Naturally, seeing the line-up made me more curious as to who this guy was. (The album was Point of Departure).

----------

I'm not sure why cover design affects me, but I know that it does at least on some level. I think a big part of the reason is that the type of music I like is associated with certain type of design aesthetics. I can't articulate the differences between the albums of music I listen to from the albums of music I don't usually listen to, but I know that my eyes can distinguish the two. I know this because I frequently scan through bins of cds that aren't separated by stylel. I can flip through the cds at a pretty fast pace--faster than I can actually read the titles of the album--but my eye will catch covers that have a certain look. In that case, I'll stop and check out the album.

--------

I also like the Tzadik labels, and as the Penguin guys mention, the Rabi Abou-Khalil discs are really nice, too. I don't really care for the hat art designs, but I like the music and the label is so distinctive that when I see it, I get pretty excited.