Too many options? Treat your friends and family to their favourite stores with a Bayshore Shopping Centre gift card, redeemable at participating retailers throughout the centre. Click below to purchase yours today!Purchase Here
*Product information may vary - to confirm product availability, pricing, shipping and return information please contact Coles
The man who launched the Golden Age of album cover design
"I love music so much and I had such ambition that I was willing to go way beyond what the hell they paid me for. I wanted people to look at the artwork and hear the music." —Alex Steinweiss
Alex Steinweiss invented the album cover as we know it, and created a new graphic art form. In 1940, as Columbia Records ’ young new art director, he pitched an idea: Why not replace the standard plain brown wrapper with an eye-catching illustration? The company took a chance, and within months its record sales increased by over 800 per cent . His covers for Columbia— combining bold typography with modern, elegant illustrations —took the industry by storm and revolutionized the way records were sold.
Over three decades, Steinweiss made thousands of original artworks for classical, jazz, and popular record covers for Columbia, Decca, London, and Everest ; as well as logos, labels, advertising material, even his own typeface, the Steinweiss Scrawl. He launched the golden age of album cover design and influenced generations of designers to follow. Less well known—but included here—are his posters for the U.S. Navy; packaging and label design for liquor companies; film title sequences; as well as his fine art. Includes essays by three-time Grammy Award-winning art director/designer Kevin Reagan and graphic design historian Steven Heller ; Steinweiss’ personal recollections from an epic career; and extensive ephemera from the Steinweiss archive.
Record collectors and graphic designers rejoice! Previously available in a limited edition, the book is finally available in an affordable trade version.
The man who launched the Golden Age of album cover design
"I love music so much and I had such ambition that I was willing to go way beyond what the hell they paid me for. I wanted people to look at the artwork and hear the music." —Alex Steinweiss
Alex Steinweiss invented the album cover as we know it, and created a new graphic art form. In 1940, as Columbia Records ’ young new art director, he pitched an idea: Why not replace the standard plain brown wrapper with an eye-catching illustration? The company took a chance, and within months its record sales increased by over 800 per cent . His covers for Columbia— combining bold typography with modern, elegant illustrations —took the industry by storm and revolutionized the way records were sold.
Over three decades, Steinweiss made thousands of original artworks for classical, jazz, and popular record covers for Columbia, Decca, London, and Everest ; as well as logos, labels, advertising material, even his own typeface, the Steinweiss Scrawl. He launched the golden age of album cover design and influenced generations of designers to follow. Less well known—but included here—are his posters for the U.S. Navy; packaging and label design for liquor companies; film title sequences; as well as his fine art. Includes essays by three-time Grammy Award-winning art director/designer Kevin Reagan and graphic design historian Steven Heller ; Steinweiss’ personal recollections from an epic career; and extensive ephemera from the Steinweiss archive.
Record collectors and graphic designers rejoice! Previously available in a limited edition, the book is finally available in an affordable trade version.
Coles is renowned for its outstanding customer service and great selection of books. Along with the vast array of magazines, stationary, audio-books, children's literature, fiction, non-fiction and reference books, you can find accessories to make your reading experience more pleasurable. We can recommend the very best in reading today. We will help you search our titles for exactly what you need, and if we do not have it in stock, we will order it for you.
