Design I like: The Illmatic album cover

In breaking down the components of an album cover there are the common ingredients: text (artist name, album title, etc) and an image or images. Simple. For the cover of Nas' 1994 album Illmatic, a very artistic combination of images and text are used that make it a memorable one.

 

The cover is composed of two blended photos - one of Nas as a youth and the other of a street view of the projects. The composition of the projects in particular have a one-point perspective with a vanishing point (conveniently enough ending on Nas’ head shot). In effect, if you focus on one photo, it will inevitably force you to view the other. This is a very effective technique. The colors of the photos appear dulled and aged although each is very clear and even the smallest of objects show clearly. The used of such tarnished colors produces an the idea that the images presented are in themselves rough and dulled, which is appropriate with the content of the albums’ songs.

As for the text, there are three separate sections where the viewer must look. The viewer’s gaze travels in the shape of a triangle. Although it would appear that the alignment of this design is either unattractive or visually sloppy - I would argue that it is not. On the upper right-hand corner is the very gothic looking font of the name Nas, on the lower right-hand side is the parental advisory sign, and on the lower left-hand side is the album title Illmatic in both a mix of the same gothic style font and plain Heveltica font. The alignment of these three sections of text although appearing very scattered actually frame the images within. The composition of both text placement and image placement match well and lead the eye easily.

I've considered how the album cover would look if the text were aligned to one side and its proximity to each other close. Although it would fit into standard design I honestly think it would take away from the images that make this album cover one of a kind. For this cover it is very obvious that the images are most important and the text merely a secondary element.

All in all, all the components of Nas’ album work well especially when considering this was his very first album. His name is the largest of text in size, and his face the most prominent of the two images. The Illmatic cover does a very good job at creating a design that gives the viewer a sense of who the artist is, where they come from, and what is expected artistically.