It is interesting when you listen to the 80′s pop genre. The music you know, you think of as ‘amazing’ and then once you hear B-sides or tracks on full lengths that you have not been exposed to, they sound, well, dated. Or shall we say ‘cheesy’, and often plain embarrassing.

The same holds true for the record sleeve designs, as you can see in the examples below:

We see all the 80′s had to offer: The haircuts, the neon, the bad typography, the ‘wild’ angles and effects. Sadly, the same forgettable design is to be ‘heard’ on a lot of the tracks that are hidden behind those album covers.

Yet my  top two 80′s albums, Depeche Mode’s ‘Music For The Masses’ and U2′s ‘The Joshua Tree’ seem to be immune to what is going on around them, in sound as well as design sophistication.

There seems to be a formula. Timeless compositions equal timeless designs. Great artists, regardless of their background and genres know to stay away from styles and trends and like working with like minded individuals or firms. It seems that they create work solely with inspiration that comes from within, a gut instinct, driven by just one fundamental thing: a strong concept.

Looking through design annuals of the past years this thread holds true. Trends become a big wash and the only items that truly stand out are new concepts; fresh ideas that are followed through with a smart and appropriate design solution.

Designers, let’s live by this rule! And for those Entrepreneurs and Marketing Managers looking to hire an agency; this might be an important variable to consider when interviewing the agency that creates your brand atmosphere, so that come 2011, no one feels that your brand feels ‘oh so 2010′.

Based on us just having spent 3 months designing for music as a group, it was reassuring to see today’s digital music fans being very opinionated, and also quite savvy, about design and brands that are being built around their favorite artists as new albums are being released.

Three of my favorite creative collaborators, Depeche Mode, U2 and Anton Corbjin, sparked this blog entry. Depeche Mode’s soon to be released single design to the upcoming ‘Sounds of the Universe’ album is, well, let’s face it ‘wrong’. I will not bash it more then others have already done before me, but it is amazing to see fans’ mock-versions appearing online when the single will not even be released until April 6th. As a bonus I throw in the design of the full-length, just so we all understand the depth of the design issue at hand. Anton Corbjin is the backbone of the visual re-launch of the Depeche Mode brand in 2009, and it shows that an amazing creative force with a unique vision for the moving image, does not immediately make a good graphic or brand designer. Or typographer of course:

The mock ‘remix’:

The full length album design (NOT a mock-version):

U2′s just as eagerly awaited full-length feels like the opposite to me and I was taken by its beauty and modern simplicity, yet the equal sign disturbed me mainly because of Coldplay’s very apparent and frequent use of the ‘trade fair’ symbol. Yet, as you can read here, fans of photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto and U2 had their own strong opinions.

And the ‘trade fair’ logo as seen in tattoo form:

The power of brand building, seen in one of its mass market – and most competitive and critically viewed – forms.

On that note I salute our friends at Audiolife for having launched their web site recently. The power of music and design, displayed in a visual language that, we hope, shares common ground.

Anyone who knows me personally knows about my near-pathetic admiration of electronic pioneer band Depeche Mode. A band that had a lot to do with why I became interested in graphic design to begin with. I started collecting their records (Quite passionately, I think my collection reached over 1,500 items, many of which are completely unique) mainly because of the captivating graphic design and packaging. I picked up their 12″ Singles because of the beautiful colored vinyl editions, not the music. After a couple of listens I turned into a passionate follower, so passionate that by 1993 I have thrown an after-concert party in Vienna, Austria, with over 1,000 paying guests. I was 18, I met the band backstage, had a radio interview on Austria’s largest station Ö3, and I of course had to design the posters and flyers for the event based on budgetary restrictions, which in turn contributed largely to me being where i am right now. When I was asked who my biggest artistic inspiration was when I entered Art Center College Of Design when I was 20, I noted Anton Corbijn. Although I am not as impressed with his freeform graphic design work, I am very inspired by his amazing black and white photography and music video work, for my graphic as well as my photography work. Corbijn was responsible for many videos and cover shots of important bands like Depeche Mode, U2 and R.E.M., most notably U2′s legendary ‘Joshua Tree’ cover and Depeche Mode’s classic video to the song of the same status ‘Enjoy the silence’.

Coldplay’s recent ‘video cover version’ of Depeche Mode’s ‘Enjoy the silence’ is a quite funny and well done tribute to the band as well as ‘the genius of Anton Corbijn’, and how appropriate that it is a video to a song that already is known to have the same legendary status in years to come.

Time to revisit Anton Corbijn’s work, best done through the amazing DVD that was released a couple of years ago as part of the brilliant Director’s DVD Series.

As a sad side note, and since we talk about music, I just learned about the death of Isaac Hayes. Another legend that deserves revisiting, even if on a very tragic note. Rest In Peace.