Behind the Covers
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“album cover design”

3 cover stories in our archive

Behind the Covers' archive includes 3 album covers documented under the "album cover design" design theme, spanning the 1970s, 1980s, 2020s. These covers sit within the rock, alternative, pop tradition and feature work by Fontaines D.C., Joy Division, Elvis Costello & The Attractions. Each entry below includes the cover artwork, the designers and photographers behind it, and a short story about the visual choices that defined the release.

Romance by Fontaines D.C. — album cover art

Romance by Fontaines D.C. (2024)

The cover of Romance announces a new Fontaines D.C. before a note is heard. Its neon color and unsettling illustration belong to a world of fantasy, dread and exaggerated emotion rather than the archival Irish imagery associated with the band's earliest records. The shift is deliberate: by 2024 the group was interested in a wider, stranger visual language.

Label
XL Recordings
Designer
Carlos O'Connell and Texas Maragh (art direction and design)
Genre
Rock, Alternative
Decade
2020s
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Closer by Joy Division — album cover art

Closer by Joy Division (1980)

A photograph of a Genoese tomb, chosen by Joy Division before Ian Curtis's death, became one of rock's most haunting covers. Peter Saville's classical design turned a modern record into an object that seemed to belong to another century.

Label
Factory Records
Designer
Peter Saville and Martyn Atkins
Photographer
Bernard Pierre Wolff
Genre
Rock, Alternative
Decade
1980s
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This Year's Model by Elvis Costello & The Attractions — album cover art

This Year's Model by Elvis Costello & The Attractions (1978)

Barney Bubbles made This Year's Model look misprinted on purpose. Chris Gabrin's confrontational portrait of Elvis Costello was shifted off the sleeve, cropping letters from the artist and title while exposing a printer's color bar—an intentional production 'error' designed to make record-store shoppers stop and look twice.

Label
Radar Records
Designer
Barney Bubbles
Photographer
Chris Gabrin
Genre
Pop
Decade
1970s
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