The Forms of Vinyl
A collectible for vinyl lovers
Brief
The brief was to choose a theme we were interested in, carry out thorough research into it, and graphically respond to this research. I chose the topic of vinyl records and studied various different aspects of them, such as how they work, the history of recorded music, the culture of record collecting, and the role of album artwork in the music listening experience.
The Cover
Insights
I decided to refine and direct my project towards creating a collectible item for record collectors that frames each aspect of vinyl as a form of art. The main influence for this was the quote 'Vinyl is like the poor man's art collection' from Noel Gallagher. In context, he's talking about album covers and artwork, but thanks to my research into the history of the physical record and recorded music, I was inspired to look at the whole package and experience of vinyl as art and something to be appreciated.
This resulted in creating a deluxe record sleeve that acts as the record collector’s book and art collection all in one. The order of this piece is intended to mirror the act of opening a new record, with inserts inside each sleeve representing the lyric sheets and posters that allow for further discovery and world building with vinyl records.
The Introduction
Album Artwork
The Physical Record
Record Labels
The Full Piece
It was most fitting to create a deluxe record sleeve, rather than a standard one, for two reasons. The first is purely from a functional viewpoint - it allows for the space necessary to display the content. The second, however, is so it stands out in a record collection, encouraging the owner to place it out on display so the piece becomes its intention - to view everything about records as a form of art.