I’m a big Pixies fan, but not a big fan of the solo work by their lead singer, Black Francis. When the Pixies broke up, I bought Frank Black’s (as he was now known) first two albums, which I just couldn’t get into. His third album, The Cult Of Ray (referring to author Ray Bradbury, hence his image in the Revized version), had the most boring cover (incidentally, the first that wasn’t designed by Vaughan Oliver). This sealed the deal for me: I would never buy another Frank Black album again.

Most people know the song “I Melt With You,” but not the band behind the hit, Modern English. Their first five albums were all designed by Vaughan Oliver. Their sixth album’s design makes them look like a completely different band (and they probably were by this point, to be honest).

Big Star’s 3rd / Sister Lovers is one of my favorite albums of all time, a cornerstone album in alternative rock’s history. But I was thoroughly disappointed with the exceptionally poor reissue CD cover from Ryko, a bad mix of weak typography and stock photo. Here’s my quick take on it.

Let’s say you’re new to the DVD design industry. Chances are, you’re going to be working in the Los Angeles area. The first thing you’re going to learn is that marketing is more important than design. That’s right, it’s more important to have a consumer-friendly design, than to have a great design in general. The client doesn’t particularly care about those cool P22 fonts (all you need to know is the dynamic duo of Trajan and Impact), or that Vaughan Oliver is an amazing graphic designer. They just want to sell DVDs as easily as possible, or else their superiors get very cross.

Take notice of certain big-studio Hollywood films. Some come in two editions: the standard one and the deluxe one. Marketing people realize there is greater chance at a built-in audience for the more expensive deluxe editions. Thus, they will tend to be more lenient with design. This is especially true for Criterion DVDs (Rashomon, for example), as they operate outside the Hollywood system. Put both editions side-by-side and it’s usually obvious which the designer enjoyed working on more. The standard editions tend to have certain clichés such as large, recognizable floating heads of the stars.

Having been a part of this industry for a few years, I’ve often felt the need to break out of the box. Of course, the whole idea of working in any design industry is to create the best solution possible for your client–there’s very little room for personal expression, and quite frankly, your day job probably isn’t the best place to do that anyway.

So, there’s a little more background on the genesis of this site. Just for fun.