7 Days of Album Artwork: #7 – Warrior

via simonsez-cd.blogspot.com

Thought I’d go out with a big, glittery bang. Keep reading:

For the final day of 7 Days of Album Artwork, we’re going to break some rules. Warrior, the second album by Ke$ha (pronounced Kee-sha, not Kah-ching-hah or Quiche-ah), was released all the way back in last November. This design has been out for a while now, and you many have already seen it, but I’m willing to make an exception on account of visual interest. The album cover, and the artwork for the first single, have it in spades:

via justjared.com

First, I would like to make a quick note, which is that there are myriad edited or alternative covers to both of these designs, and I’m almost certain these are the originals.

Anyways. I could not find any designer taking credit for these designs, and Ke$ha wasn’t giving out any on her website. That is a shame, because I would mostly like to commend them. In a medium where one of the most important things is visual impact, they seem to have it down.

I really like the playfulness with fonts. The block font of “Warrior” and the 80’s metal lettering of “Ke$ha” complement each other very well. Many of the angles used in both are close. I think it’s rather sloppy not to get them to line up perfectly, but you can really only tell there is a disconnect on close inspection. I like how the altered colors of the background blend with Ke$ha’s crystal-dress-thing. There’s also something about the black box at the bottom behind “Warrior” that just hits me right.

That being said, I would have liked it if the black splatter coming out of the back of her head was repeated elsewhere. Also, the lens flare in the top left is very fakey, and draws attention away from the focus of the album, which is Kesha in her crystal-dress-thing. Finally, there are simply too many textures used on the text, not to mention an inconsistent drop shadow.

More kudos go to the single artwork, which uses an Instagram filter and some photo grain to good effect. The choice to mirror the image works very well with the geometry of the Ke$ha logo. The swirly font of “Die Young” continues the 70’s theme and shows more font-playfulness. I would like to point out, however, that the sun seems to be setting directly behind her bum.

To wrap it all up, I think the album cover lacks a certain amount of finish that I would have expected from a multi-million dollar record production. On the other hand, we get to see some creative uses of fonts here. I personally want to add the “Warrior” font into mine own personal collection – I’m sure I’ll use it somewhere.

I’m going to make a separate post very briefly summing up my take-aways from 7 Days of Album Artwork, but I think it’s good to note here that interesting design is being done for artists across genres. Be it mainstream pop artists like Ke$ha, or, you know, any one of these people:

Day #1: Mosquito – Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Day #2: The Next Day – David Bowie

Day #3: Bankrupt! – Pheonix

Day #4: I Am Not A Human Being II – Lil Wayne

Day #5: Comedown Machine – The Strokes

Day #6: Heartthrob – Tegan and Sara