Album Cover Deconstruction

Kid Cudi - Man on the Moon: The End of Day

FRONT:

Main image is of the main artist, merged into a moon. It’s a striking image that really captures the audience’s attention – this is the function of the front cover, to get people to notice it and entice them into buying it. It's also used to be familiar to the audience and therefore instantly recognisable to the fans.
The image also relates to and anchors the title of the album – ‘Man on the Moon.’
It’s a close-up, profile of the main artist, and this dominates most of the album cover, along with the moon which covers the other half.
Key colours range from the orangey effect on the moon to the reds/purples/blues on Kid Cudi’s face.
Sense of dreaming, being somewhere beyond earth. Kid Cudi comments that “I’m always dreaming away, I’m always just in my own little realm and in my own little space, and that goes back to the man on the moon thing.”
Futuristic style font placed in the centre to stand out, along with the use of white to make it clear against the darker background. There is also a small space-like logo to fit in with the whole theme.
Has more of an arty feel compared to most albums that belong to the hip-hop genre. He’s been trying to create something new and that is reflected in the album cover. The genre of his music is described as Alternative Hip Hop, Trip-Hop (downtempo electronic music), with some alternative rock.
Concept album (unified by a theme) – space, sci-fi, movies
The album seems to appeal to a fairly mainstream audience; however the unique design of the cover which reflects his music in this album, may not appeal to all mainstream hip hop fans.
Parental Advisory - explicit content

BACK:

Movie-esque styled back cover. The tracks are sequenced into 5 Acts to give the listener a feeling of a story being told – implies that he’s going to take us on a journey with his music, rather than it being just a collection of songs. It will progress and therefore implies it’s a cohesive collection of songs, not just individual ones. Implies that the audiences should listen to the whole album right the way through just like a movie, in order to appreciate its creativity. – Kid Cudi commented, “We really made sure to give those people that vibe of a movie. I want people to feel like they’re in a movie theatre with their eyes closed.” “I wanted everything to be like a movie so the track listing I broke it down as if you were looking as the page of contents for my script. I made it so that you can follow along while you’re listening to the album. ‘Ok what’s coming up next,’ and then you can go to the booklet and read the lyrics and follow along.”
The summary at the top is like a synopsis of a movie – features film language such as ‘all star cast,’ ‘from the guys who brought…’ ‘the long awaited tale,’ etc.
Fonts – futuristic style which fits with the image on the back which is like an x-ray effect.
Colours of the font also stand out with the white font against the dark background and the colour orange to distinguish each ‘Act.’
First studio album
Universal Motown Records – his record label
Dream On/G.O.O.D Music production
Barcode
Website details - Kid Cudi’s official website, as well as his record labels.
Institutional information (pug) such as record label, producers etc. is small compared to the rest – doesn’t detract from the main focus.

INSIDE:

Poster, book of lyrics etc.