Album Cover Research Ideas

After knowing what song we will use for our music video and also after analysing the bands, Snow Patrol's, existing album covers, we firstly decided to put together a mood board to help us focus all of our ideas. We obviously wanted to use features from the bands existing covers but we also wanted to inject some of our own interpretations and ideas into designing the album cover.

The pictures of the mood board we created, left, were labelled A to E. This then made it easier to analyse and discuss each picture and what we could potentially use it for on the album cover.
A = top image 
B= top right image
C= bottom right (horse and man) 
D= bottom image
E= far left image

Image A 
Image A is a good example of a dark, baron landscape which we agreed would act as a good backdrop if merged with other elements from other images. The darkness will be symbolic for negative emotions such as depression which are heavily incorporated within the song we have chosen ('You could be happy') and also matches the 'moody' persona given off by many of Snow patrols songs.


Image B 
Again the backdrop for this image gives a depressing feel similar to Image A. However this image contains two horse's silhouettes which adds to the eerie feel of isolation. One of our pending location possibilities, Acton Trussell Farm, has horses which is why we chose this picture. We could consider using live animals but applying an artist twist to the picture for example, blurring, layering, editing or turning the image into silhouette.


Image C
This picture is very different to A and B, and is far more colourful in comparison. The man in red walking a horse through a field is far more 'upbeat' and less depressing. We were considering using elements from imagery like this (e.g man in red and horse) which is colourful and placing it against a dark background to make them stand out. This would then go with the theme that depression and sad emotions will always be there, but humans are resistant.


Images D and E 
A lone wolf is shown on a white background to represent the feeling of isolation which again is another negative emotion put forward by many of the Snow Patrol soundtracks. Our song in particular, You Could Be Happy, has continuous themes of sadness, depression and regret running through it. It could also be interpreted as one ex partner 'releasing' their ex and allowing them to move on. The lone animal in pictures D and E represent this very effectively.