Visual Continuity
In the record store’s heyday, I used to love browsing singles, considering how the artwork related to the albums that spawned them. And this was regardless of whether I liked the band or not. In this age of a-la-carte song downloading, an album having actual singles with “b-sides” isn’t nearly as common as it used to be, and thus, less artwork variants.
The biggest influence on my choosing graphic design as my discipline, Malcolm Garrett, was one of the masters of design continuity. His artwork for the first two Duran Duran albums had excellent consistency with their singles. The “stop gap” single that appeared between the two albums was “My Own Way” (which appears drastically different on the following album, Rio), and that sleeve design also stood on its own. Incidentally, it was the only single to feature Peter Saville as a co-designer. (continued below image)
As the designer hired to the series of releases and ephemera for Stripmall Architecture’s Feathersongs For Factory Girls album, I had been confronted with an opportunity to explore the concept of continuity in design. The “key art” from the album is an illustration by Dallas-based artist Jody Pham. At first, for the “Radium Girls” promo CD single art, I cropped out a piece of the smoke plume to suggest a girl’s hair worn up. As this CD preceded the album, it also worked as a visual teaser to the album art.
For the “Pripyat” single, part of that same plume now suggests a wave of water (though, I admit, that has nothing to do with the song). Other parts of the illustration have been used in various ads and posters. With Part II of the album still forthcoming, it’ll be interesting to see where the continuity goes.
