Genre Conventions

Genre and Design for Music

	Genre	Typical conventions
	Pop	Range of colours are used with this genre; vibrant, pale,saturated etc… Pop art can be compact on the design making them busy and give a joyful vibe. Designs can be random/odd and they consist of various kinds of typography. Photographs of the artist/s are sometimes used which can help get their face known worldwide.
*	Rock	Dark colours (purple/turquoise) are used within the design. The rock genre has the widest range of cover designs, as not all are dark, some are more vibrant. A lot of the Rock genre CD Covers try to give either a scary, depressing, or fantasy vibe.
*	Dance	Vibrant colours are used of Dance CD Covers. The ‘exploding’ background suggests a club atmosphere implying bright lasers/lights. The CD’s are designed to be ‘bling’. A lot using diamonds and ‘tacky’ features. Upper case and lower are combined to make it look unique from other genres, also the typography is usually 3d and bulky. There isn’t usually an artist’s image on the front as the are a compilation of artists. This genre’s albums are usually computer generated, making it look ‘technological’.
*	Rap	Rap CD covers usually use parafernalia; bling/broken things (associated with the street) A lot of them have self images, usually exposed, showing off their toned body. They use subdued colours to give it a manly stereotypical edge.
	Pop punk	Pop punk covers usually use saturated colours and are busy sometimes with cartoon style images. The typography is also a cartoon style to fit with the theme. Sometimes bizarre designs and hand drawn imagery or even photography. These three CD covers are great examples of this genre as they show the cartoon theme, hand drawn illustrations, and also the photographic and bizarre side of design.
*	Jazz	The design of this is abstract and consists of bright colours. There is usually only a few colours used and they use independent/original designs and typography. This genre usually has quite bizarre illustrations and creativity within the design.