OUGD406 Studio Brief 01 Massive Attack Album Analysis

In an attempt to understand the tone and general aesthetic established by massive attack on their album covers, I thought it would be a good move to analyse a couple of the designs. the fist i will be analysing is the album design by Tom Hingston, shown below. I also found an interview with him explaining some of his process.

The way that there are multiple layers to this design reflects the complex meanings that can be found in the music. At first glance all that is seen is the roses, wilting considerably with a definite look of fragility and impermanence to them, this is communicate by the thin petals and soft visual texture. Then the strange images set within the roses starts to be noticeable, the guns and other unpleasant mechanical aspects. This pairing of something that you would expect to be beautiful with cold harsh and unpleasant imagery creates quite a jarring effect. The message this sends is that massive Attack's music is darkly reflective and perhaps brings out the truth in things whether it is ugly or not. 

The use of unsettling imagery seems a theme with Massive Attack designs. The use of high contrast black and white creates an impression edginess and decisiveness. To be honest other that that it is a beetle it is quite hard to tell what is going on, although it is clear that some kind of augmentation has gone on. Arguably this fits with massive Attack's style of music (often confusing) but I would argue that the obscureness of this design makes it inaccessible.

I found an insight into the way that Tom Hingston works not only in the interview which I have extracts of below but also a video interview which helps to further illuminate. the most noticeable part for me is when he says that the designs on covers are not translations of the music or its meaning, but rather a reaction of the individual. I am going to take this idea further by taking it into consideration in the idea generation stage.

"What's always at the forefront of my mind is that you are creating a sleeve that you want to be as iconic as possible, regardless of where it's going to be sold. It's got to work when it's a thumbnail on Amazon, it's got to work on the shelves at Tesco, and on the racks at HMV."

-This suggests to me that sometimes the best cover designs are the simplest, something where even the silhouette was so distinct that it could be recognised. I want to look into this further and possibly attempt to understand what it is that makes an iconic album cover design.

The simultaneously dark and appealing image - one of the most recognisable covers of the last six months - was developed by Tom Hingston alongside photographer Nick Knight. It was a concept Hingston describes as "difficult for the band to get their heads around," but it was a completely new approach and a break from their trademark flame.

-This idea of something dark yet appealing really sums up the Massive attack identity and is something that I will return to evaluate each of my ideas.