New and Notable: Herb Alpert & Lani Hall

When I saw the cover that was being used with the media materials for the new live album by Herb Alpert and Lani Hall (right), I thought it was decent album art. It features a nice photograph of the artists, framed on the left and bottom with a tri-color border and interesting typography. The colors are muted and unique. It has an almost retro look that I believe is appropriate for an album of jazz standards.

Unfortunately, the final album art used for the release is quite different. There are quite a few design flaws that make it clear that a committee rather than a single artistic vision produced it. The muted tri-color border has been replaced with a bright blue band of color that has obviously been Photoshopped into the image. The photograph has been changed to one with Alpert in the foreground and a violet filter has been applied to his face. The typography is basically the same. However, without the band of solid color that bordered the left of the original cover, the type is not anchored and looks clumsily and arbitrarily staggered. This is a perfect example of beginning with a decent design and ending up with something quite ugly.

The photograph used for the original cover showed Hall singing and Alpert playing the trumpet. The new version shows Hall acting as Alpert’s audience. Instead of powering out a ballad, she looks as if Alpert is putting her to sleep. This should be used for design students as an example of how to ruin a concept.