Bringing sexy design back:
I you haven’t heard, Justin Timberlake has a new song. When it was released almost a month ago, quite a few of my Facebook friends decided it was the right time to pull out a certain Titanic .gif:
While it hasn’t been that long, it has indeed been a while. We’ve been waiting 7 years for JT to come back and class up the place. This new song, Suit & Tie, does just that. It is dominated by JT’s high-pitched crooning, a marimba roll, and general old-timey charm.
Suit & Tie‘s single artwork is also part of what I will call the “Class Offensive”. The Class Offensive has many fronts, including JT’s finely-parted new hair-do, and this exquisite medium weight sans serif font.
suit and tie – single cover
I like almost every element of this single cover. This isn’t because I have an unhealthy obsession with the 32 year old pop star, but rather because I can see what the designers are going for. This is a great case study because the cover works for obvious reasons, reasons I am actually able to explain.
The cover is high contrast, with large areas of pure white on a background of mostly pure black. The cover is also simple. Both of these help make the cover stand out as an inch-by-an-inch icon on the iTunes Store.
The cover takes advantage of Timberlake’s excellent name recognition by placing “JT” huge and centered. Your eyes would go there first if it weren’t for the white gash of the shirt competing for your attention.
The cover makes very smart decisions about color. The designers looked at the greenish highlights on the suit and tie, and then chose to make the song title red, which is complimentary to green.
Lastly, the cover does something infinitely clever. Look at the typography – all caps, san serif, with oddly large gaps, placed in rows. Not quite clear yet? Maybe knowing the album’s name will help:
the 20/20 experience – album cover
The typography for Suit & Tie and The 20/20 Experience directly references an ophthalmologist’s eye chart:
Pretty damn clever, right? This is a very elegant choice. It relates directly to the album’s theme, and it allows the designers to get JT’s initials up there in very big letters. The only downside is how it spaces out Jay Z’s name at the bottom of the single cover.
Hopefully you understand now why I like this so much. The designers of this single cover definitely did their job. They made a design that simultaneously matches the suaveness of the song, references the album’s theme, and catches the viewer’s attention. If JT is really leading a Class Offensive, then he has certainly chosen some good soldiers.
D SIGNS 
