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When the album is no longer the only display form of music, its role as a collection or souvenir has not faded. Instead, it has been sublimated into a rare cultural symbol, symbolizing that you truly “own all of music.”

This article is selected from the 2024/04 Lifestyle Special Issue of “Shopping Design” magazine | We collect designs like this

Lai Jiawei
Head of Lai Jiawei Studio. A plant terminator, a camera-phobic and embarrassing cancer patient, a veteran homebody who can never leave the house as long as he has Uber Eats, Netflix and PS5. Mainly engaged in record packaging design, book binding design and performing arts visual design, etc.

Collecting may be one of the most unique hobbies of human beings. It is not for survival or sustenance, but only for the pleasure of appreciation. From ancient times to the present, the trend of collecting has never declined. Emperors, generals, ministers, and literati all enjoyed collecting.

I remember that during my childhood summer vacation, I loved treasure hunting at my grandma’s house. 10.8cm×7.4cm square colorful plastic shells filled the wooden desk drawer in my uncle’s room. I looked at the cassettes collected by my uncle: Zhao Chuan, Air Supply, Lin Qiang, You Ke Li Lin, Southern Star…, I rummaged through the boxes, imagining what kind of music was wrapped under this cover. I couldn’t wait to put the cassette into the recorder, and pressed the play button “click” With a “chirp” sound, the transmission mechanism in the tape recorder began to drive the tape. The magnetic head kissed the tape, letting the sealed music bloom. Through the speaker, it vibrated the originally colorless air in the room. The music filled the entire room, in this almost ancient magic circle. According to the legend of the summoning ceremony, the cassette that was stored in the drawer of my uncle’s room was like a fascinating mysterious magic weapon, emitting all kinds of strange dazzling lights, leading me to the path of design aesthetics.

The first time I realized the existence of the so-called “binding design” in an album was “Duplicity”, the last album released before Zhang Yusheng’s death in 1997. The album cover of “Duplicity” was drawn by the Italian illustrator Paolo Rui. Different from the Chinese-language records at that time, which almost exclusively featured artists’ headshots with the singer and album title on the cover design, the cover of “Duplicity” features a gold figure similar to Zhang Yusheng’s. The yellow-haired puppet Pinocchio is the title of the album, and its magical tone echoes the album’s side label text at the time – The Musical Magician.

The overall binding design of “Duplicity” was designed by Mr. Du Daxiong, a senior record designer in Taiwan. What impressed me most is that the CD plastic case of the album is specially dyed with the same brown color as the cover illustration. If you listen to the album carefully, You can definitely think that it also echoes the song “CAPPUCCINO” in the album. At that time, the texture and aura of this album when it was placed on the shelf in the record store was profoundly different from the surrounding albums. This was the first time I realized that the components of an album are not just the cover or the album. Record labels, lyric books, all paper materials, volume, weight, material changes, and even smells can complement the music content, shape your imagination of music, and be imprinted in your mind from this moment on.

In the era of streaming music, the way music is disseminated has changed rapidly. Albums are no longer the only form of music display. People’s music listening habits have also changed. However, the role of physical albums as collectibles or souvenirs has not faded, but has been sublimated into a rare cultural symbol, symbolizing that you truly “own everything about music.” The binding design of a record is no longer just to attract consumers to spend money to buy it, but also to highlight the unique charm and atmosphere of the music work (or musician). What’s more, it provides a complete picture for all music works. experience.

For example, in 1967, the Beatles released their eighth studio album, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. The album is widely regarded as the world’s most groundbreaking concept music album. A concept album generally means that the album is conceptually coherent and unified. The creator intends to express the same theme through the songs of the entire album. At the same time, there is a clear concept or theme in the lyrics, cover design, and binding form.

The Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” album is a fictional group of protagonists, telling the story of what the band saw and heard during the tour. The album design uses collage techniques to extend this theme quite competently. The cover shows a gorgeous party scene, and the characters include celebrities and idols of the time, including Babu. Dylan, Carl. Jung, Marilyn. Monroe, Edgar Allan Poe, Bernard Shaw, etc., also incorporate many details to closely connect the visual elements with the main body of the music.

I think that with contemporary paper and printing technology or even technological breakthroughs such as AR and VR, so-called concept albums in the future will no longer be limited to music content. By extending the ideas of musicians through binding design, they will be able to further promote the spirit of concept albums, or even, Future music albums are musicians’ unique music platforms. Owning an album is a key to entering the musician’s fantasy world.

Although since I entered the design industry, “Oh! Record design is already a sunset industry.” Such words of disdain or ridicule have never stopped. However, what is interesting is that a while ago, Japanese composer Dai Fujikura shared on the social platform Looking for their favorite vinyl or CD, they seem to be collecting more than just for fun. When Fujikura asked his daughter why they wanted to collect vinyl or CDs, Fujikura’s daughter answered simply: “Aesthetic”.

In the future, we may be completely nourished by technology, but perhaps we will still instinctively pursue feeling the warmth of our original mother’s fingers and face, and thus we will be happy or even shed tears.

This article is selected from the 2024/04 Lifestyle Special Issue of “Shopping Design” magazine. We collect designs like this. For more content, please click here to preview.