A CD Album in 77 Snaps
A bit of a change with this post.
Instead of the normal style of detailing my design processes (such as my CD Design for Dominic Finley), the rest of this article just shows 77 photos detailing the process of a CD design for singer/songwriter, Peter Webster (you can here his great music on his site). That’s right! No screen-shots, just photos.
The post shows everything from snapshots of project conception, Illustrator® and Photoshop® setups, “the designer-life” with kids and the final CD printed.
Any questions can be asked in the comments section afterwards…
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69Final Printed CD Sleeve & Jewel Case
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77For any questions, please use the photo numbers if necessary…
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31 Comments
A CD Album in 77 Snaps…
A bit of a change with this post. Instead of the normal style of detailing my design processes (such as my CD Design for Dominic Finley), the rest of this……
A CD Album in 77 Snaps…
A bit of a change with this post. Instead of the normal style of detailing my design processes (such as my CD Design for Dominic Finley), the rest of this……
A CD Album in 77 Snaps…
A bit of a change with this post. Instead of the normal style of detailing my design processes (such as my CD Design for Dominic Finley), the rest of this……
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Andrew Kelsall † and Warren Rossiter, Carlos Estrada. Carlos Estrada said: A CD Album in 77 Snaps: A bit of a change with this post. Instead of the normal style of detailing my des… http://bit.ly/9nBbac [...]
Good job. Really shows how much work goes into creating CD packaging.
29 Sep 2010 08:09 pm Matt
I don’t know, Andrew. There’s a distinct lack of hydration towards the end of the process.
29 Sep 2010 08:09 pm David Airey
@Matt → Yeah, most people don’t realise. Just proofing the design and doing the mockups took me 4 hours! (I’m sure you know what it’s like)
@David → I think I was obsessed with taking pics of everything at the start, but the drinks didn’t get photographed near the end. Just as well me spilling cornflakes and milk over the Wacom tablet didn’t make it in the post
29 Sep 2010 10:09 pm Andrew Kelsall
“Just as well me spilling cornflakes and milk over the Wacom tablet didn’t make it in the post.”
I treated my Intuos 3 to a whiskey and coke about 6 months after I bought it
30 Sep 2010 07:09 am Andrew Keir
You have your dock on the left hand side of the screen – a throwback from when the apps were in the Apple menu? I have mine on the bottom and hidden. Enough Mac talk.
Ribena or red wine?
Nice CD cover!
30 Sep 2010 12:09 pm Rob Cubbon
As one designer to another, a really nice job!
30 Sep 2010 06:09 pm beeveedee
@Andrew → That’ll teach you to drink & design
@Rob → I used to have it at the base, however, since upgrading to the 27″ model, the screen is very wide, so there’s more space at the side. This way, there’s more horizontal space for application windows, etc. I never keep the dock hidden though; I find this really annoying. Glad it works for you though!
@Beeveedee → Cheers.
30 Sep 2010 08:09 pm Andrew Kelsall
I think bar code should be only 100% K. At least that is what I have always been told to do. Something about the scanner?
Great post man. Love the visual only idea.
30 Sep 2010 09:09 pm mtension
@mtension → To be honest, I like to only have the barcode in 100% Kay too in most situations. On my previous CD design, I the barcode was supplied in vector, so I simply knocked out the CMY so it would be sharp.
However, in this case, the client’s barcode supplier only sent a bitmap version. As can be seen in images 41, 42 and 43, this is where I was checking the CMYK breakdown composition, as I was curious. It turned out to be a TAC of roughly 250% (I think), so I assumed that this was the intended mix for the barcode. There were also instructions from the supplier “not to mess with it”, so after checking it over, seeing that it wasn’t 400% or other ridiculous CMYK TAC, I left it as-is.
Another consideration was the paper stock used. It was glossy as most are, so colour bleed wasn’t visible. As it turns out, the end result was very sharp.
In general: I think it’s equally-true using a flat black on a a matt paper, for example, can make the black dark-grey, which as I understand, can be worse that bleed depending on the barcode scanner?
Ultimately, it comes down to what paper stock is going to be used and the printing method. Hope this helps
30 Sep 2010 10:09 pm Andrew Kelsall
Awesome post man, I designed a CD artwork for a band “Cylinder” and without printing out test copies and it came out way too dark. Plus, I forgot to convert all the pages into Grayscale resulting in a sepia tone. I was very disappointed but the band seemed to not mind. We all learn from our mistakes I guess. Thanks again for sharing!
01 Oct 2010 09:10 pm Kiren
I love how you got your daughter involved in the process too
Seems like a long/tedious process, but the product came out great!
02 Oct 2010 01:10 am Briana Ford
@Kiren → Glad it turned out for you in the end. Were you trying to produce Photoshop DS2 files (for duotone)?
@Briana → Yes, my daughter can be a welcome distraction
02 Oct 2010 01:10 am Andrew Kelsall
“Andrew → That’ll teach you to drink & design”
It was “one of those” projects unfortunately, hehe.
04 Oct 2010 02:10 am Andrew Keir
I was trying to make it purely grayscale for the printers but instead I saved it as CMYK after converting everything to black & white manually, which was my mistake. The CMYK black and white had a weird tone, almost faded looking. If printers require CMYK but I want something in grayscale, do I save it in grayscale or do what I did oringinally?
04 Oct 2010 10:10 pm Kiren
@Kiren → Hmm, not sure what you mean. I don’t have much experience in Duotones, though
09 Oct 2010 09:10 pm Andrew Kelsall
I usually get the bar codes as EPS files and they are always rich black. But if I ever sent them to the manufacturer like that they get all upset about it and I have to change it to 100% K. Good point about the stock and getting a washed out black. I don’t even know what the big deal is, the manufacturer never explains anything, just demands the correction. Thanks for your response man. Cheers.
14 Oct 2010 11:10 pm mtension
A CD Album in 77 Snaps ? CD Design Tutorial…
Article that follows a CD Design project in a series of 77 photos taken from start to finish….
A CD Album in 77 Snaps…
Article that follows a CD Design project in a series of 77 photos taken from start to finish….
A CD Album in 77 Snaps | Andrew Kelsall | Creative Designer…
Article that follows a CD Design project in a series of 77 photos taken from start to finish….
[...] Direct Link [...]
Great stuff Andrew! Thanks for sharing…
Could i ask you how many hours it took you to design this CD ?
I have a CD design project now and am trying to estimate time/money… Many thanks!
Shai
27 Oct 2010 11:10 pm Shai
@mtension → Yeah, it IS strange that they’re not supplied properly. Ever since talking about the barcode black issue, I’ve been noticing varied barcodes lately. I have a bag of crisps with a washed-out black printed onto deep red??? Well, it scanned at the supermarket. Just goes to show that by “rule of thumb”, use 0C M0 Y0 K100, but in reality, modern scanners can scan anything other than red on white (so I’ve read somewhere).
Many companies now supply vouchers that have to be printed at home, and home printers will not only print a rich black, but they are made of inkjet dots…and they will scan too. It’s a funny old world…
@Shai → As a rough estimate, from initail client phone-call to final delivery of files to printers and invoicing, I’d say about 10 hours. Hope this helps
27 Oct 2010 11:10 pm Andrew Kelsall
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