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Design A Music Album Cover!

Design A Music Album Cover!
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Design a music album cover using drawing, collage, and color choices. Explore imagery, typography, and mood to represent the music visually.

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Step-by-step guide to design a music album cover

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Design Your Own Album Cover Art: Quick and Easy Steps

What you need
Black marker, coloring materials such as markers crayons or colored pencils, glue stick, magazines or printed images, paper or cardstock, pencil and eraser, ruler, scissors, stickers or embellishments optional

Step 1

Pick a song or music style to design the album cover for and decide the mood you want it to feel like.

Step 2

Choose a title and the artist name you will put on the cover and say them out loud.

Step 3

Use the ruler to measure and cut your paper or cardstock to the size you want for the album cover.

Step 4

Lightly sketch a simple layout with your pencil showing where the main picture title and artist name will go.

Step 5

Look through magazines or your printed images and pick pictures that match the mood you chose.

Step 6

Cut out the images you picked carefully with scissors.

Step 7

Arrange the cutouts on your sketch until you like how they look without gluing them down.

Step 8

Glue each chosen image onto the paper one at a time following your arranged layout.

Step 9

Use your coloring materials to add colors and drawn elements that match the mood of the music.

Step 10

Practice different letter styles for your title and artist name on a scrap piece of paper.

Step 11

Lightly write the title and artist name in pencil on the cover then trace over them with the black marker.

Step 12

Add finishing touches like borders small drawings or stickers to make the cover pop.

Step 13

Take a photo of your finished album cover and share your creation on DIY.org.

Final steps

You're almost there! Complete all the steps, bring your creation to life, post it, and conquer the challenge!

Complete & Share
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Help!?

What can we use if we don't have cardstock, magazines, or a ruler?

Use cereal-box cardboard or folded printer paper instead of cardstock, printed family photos or images from the internet in place of magazines, and the straight edge of a hardcover book as a ruler.

My cutout pictures keep sliding or wrinkling when I glue them—how can I fix that?

Arrange your cutouts first (refer to the 'Arrange the cutouts' step), then glue one image at a time with a thin layer of glue stick or a small dab of white glue, smoothing from the center outward and letting each piece dry before adding the next to avoid movement and wrinkling.

How can I adapt this activity for younger children or make it more challenging for older kids?

For younger kids, pre-cut the images, give stickers and chunky coloring materials and help with the ruler and scissors during the measuring and cutting steps, while older kids can practice advanced lettering on a scrap (step 10), use precise measurements for the cover size (step 3), or design a digital cover to print.

What are some ways to enhance or personalize the finished album cover?

Add textured materials like fabric swatches or glitter glue, create a back cover with a handwritten track list and liner notes, use stencils or mixed media when coloring (step 8), and then photograph your finished cover to share on DIY.org (step 13).

Watch videos on how to design a music album cover

Here at SafeTube, we're on a mission to create a safer and more delightful internet. 😊

Creating INSANE Album Covers For My Favorite Artists! (Photoshop Tutorial)

4 Videos

Facts about graphic design for kids

✂️ Collage and photomontage techniques were used on iconic covers like The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper to build rich, story-filled images.

🎨 Alex Steinweiss created the first modern album cover in 1938, turning record sleeves into a new art form.

📱 Even now, eye-catching cover art helps music stand out as a tiny thumbnail on streaming apps and playlists.

🎧 Pink Floyd's 'The Dark Side of the Moon' prism artwork is one of the most recognized and reproduced images in music.

🖋️ Some famous albums use almost no text—The Beatles' 'White Album' is a great example of powerful minimal design.

How do I design a music album cover with my child?

Start by listening to the song or album together and talk about the mood, colors, and images it suggests. Brainstorm words and sketch thumbnail ideas on scrap paper. Pick one concept and make a full-size cover using drawing, collage, or painting. Add typography for the band/name/title with hand-lettering or stencils, then finish with a protective coat or scan it for a digital copy. Adults can help with cutting, gluing, and typing.

What materials do we need to design a music album cover?

Gather paper or cardstock (square if mimicking an album), pencils, erasers, colored pencils, markers, paints, brushes, glue, scissors, and magazines or printed images for collage. Optional items: stickers, stencils, ruler, letter stickers, laptop/tablet for digital layout, and recyclables like cardboard or old CD sleeves. Choose washable, non-toxic art supplies and a table cover to protect surfaces; reserve craft knives for adult use only.

What ages is designing an album cover suitable for?

This activity fits ages about 5 and up with adjustments. Ages 5–7 enjoy simple collage, color choices, and guided cutting/gluing. Ages 8–12 can plan layouts, experiment with typography, and work more independently. Teens can explore digital design tools, branding, and more complex concepts. Tailor materials, step complexity, and supervision to each child’s motor skills, attention span, and interest level.

What are the benefits of designing album covers and how can we vary the activity?

Designing album covers encourages creativity, visual literacy, emotional expression, and active listening as kids translate music into images. It builds fine motor skills, planning, and descriptive vocabulary. Try variations: design covers for different genres, create a series of mini-covers, make band-member portraits, or produce a digital collage. For safety, supervise scissors and craft knives, use non-toxic supplies, and set up a protected work area.
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