Album Artwork Research: Joe Brooks

Joe Brooks - Constellation Me

'Constellation Me' is the debut album offering from British artist Joe Brooks. His style of music is mainly identified as belonging to the Indie/Pop genre, and reflects this through the utilisation of a variety of genre specific features.

For example, the main image and therefore focal point of the album cover is of the artist himself. This is a typical convention of the popular music genre, as style and image are a key part of the overall package the artists present. There is often a close focus on the artists themselves, making them easily and instantly recognisable to the audience - this is an approach that is often avoided, or is certainly used far less frequently in genres such as that of Rock or Metal for example, where often the focus is mainly intended to be upon on the music itself as opposed to its creators and their image.

These particular visuals are in a high contrast, black and white vintage style, standing out against the plain beige of the background and reflecting not only the artist’s music, but his personal style and image as well. For stylistic emphasis, certain parts of the image are coloured or highlighted, such as the lining of his jacket. This breaks the flat block of colour slightly, making the image overall more visually appealing and interesting. The bold block of black of the main image gives quite a strong and powerful impression, standing out dramatically from the rest of the artwork, and immediately catching the eye. This also links with the typical portrayal of the dominant, powerful male – a stereotype relied heavily upon in such a genre.

Another way in which this is portrayed is through the use of lighting – his face is brightly lit from a high angle, casting parts in shadow, giving a feeling of power and superiority. This is further emphasised by the central framing and the neutral expression, accompanied but a typical ‘cool and composed’ forward-staring gaze looking directly down the lens of the camera – another feature often seen throughout the pop music genre, due to the theory of audience gratification which aims to create a form of connection between the artist and the audience. The direct eye contact could possibly connote equality and familiarity, as eye contact is usually held as quite personal as well as a form of respect – for example, when engaged in conversation.

An oppositional reading of this could be that this is yet another manner in which the stereotype of male dominance and superiority is being emphasised, almost as if the artist is looking down upon the audience and is regarded, in some ways, as above them. This could be further supported by the lack of expression in the artist’s face – potentially coming across as a cold and seemingly superior demeanour as opposed to friendly and welcoming. It seems to be a fairly straightforward and serious image, potentially reflecting the style of music that he creates.

The main image is duplicated and overlapped, perhaps reflecting the title of the album and the main theme – that this album constitutes a variety of factors that make up the artist as a person, much the same as a number of stars group to make a constellation – hence, ‘Constellation Me’. The duplications of the image could represent different parts of himself that merge together to create the overall picture. This is further supported in the way that the section where the two copied images overlap in the centre of the original image is coloured green – the combination of the two original colours of pale blue and yellow.

The use of colour in these images not only serves to make the cover more visually appealing, but could again be reflective of this idea, due to the connotations of the colours used, For example, bright yellow carries connotations of vibrancy, happiness and warmth, whereas pale blue could perhaps indicate coldness and sorrow. This could refer back to the idea that the album is supposed to build the picture of the artist as a person, and therefore the content would be likely to consist of both the brighter side and the sadder side of his life and experiences, which all build up to create the bigger picture. Additionally, the triple image could again be representative of the implication of power and status, almost in an egotistical way, very much emphasising the artist and his image and imposing the view upon the audience.

The artists name is drawn in a dot-to-dot style, perhaps reminiscent of the joining together of stars to create shapes – again in reference to the album name. There is also a child-like element to this style, as the dots are numbered as if in a children’s colouring book. This could represent a sense of youth and innocence that is an increasingly popular feature throughout this genre, perhaps indicating the intended target audience, as well as possibly reflecting the more innocent nature within the lyrical content of many of his songs. The font additionally makes the cover see more personal, as it looks as if it could have been handwritten by the artist himself, again perhaps implying a connection between artist and fan base.

The red of the connecting lines - which could again emphasis the idea of supremacy due to the connotations of power associated with the colour, contrasts highly with the plain background, standing out and emphasising the artist’s name. This could again be due to the idea that the image and identity of the individual is a key concept within the popular music genre. This is supported by the fact that the name of the artist is significantly larger than the name of the album, perhaps suggesting that this album is being marketed more towards the mainstream, relying heavily on the artists name and image for promotion.

The name of the album is relatively small and simplistic, written in a straightforward font. This perhaps indicated that it is held in lesser significance to the rest of the album artwork, its sharp plainness contrasting starkly against the other more detailed aspects of the cover. The words are stretched out across the centre of the cover in a typical generic indie fashion, using its isolation for emphatic purposes.