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Colour inspiration - record sleeves

I love colour and am always interested in finding inspiration for new ways of using colour in my home, combining different tones, creating beautiful palettes and so on.

This week I'm taking inspiration from record sleeves - a wonderful place to find great design, illustration and use of colour. These are a mixture of vintage and modern designs, with bold mixed colour palettes and strong graphic shapes. Record sleeves and covers some in a huge variety of styles from contemporary op-art through to a simple photograph of the artist. There's a lot to explore, and this is a nice jumping off point for you to start from:

Amiga record company sleeve
Amiga record company sleeve

Parlophone record sleeve
Parlophone sleeve


Unsure of the origin of this one

His Master's Voice record sleeve
His Master's Voice record sleeve

Supraphon sleeve
Supraphon sleeve

Qualiton sleeve
Qualiton sleeve

Kate Moross record cover
Kate Moross design

Polskie Muza Nagrania sleeve
Polskie Muza Nagrania sleeve

Polish record sleeve
Polish record sleeve

Design by Maggie Frost
Design by Maggie Frost

Fictitious Bach Record Cover by Javier Garcia
Fictitious Bach cover design by Javier Garcia

Supraphon record sleeve
Another great combination from Supraphon

Record sleeves by Thomas Caslin
Record sleeves by Thomas Caslin

Olivetti Project
Olivetti Underwood sleeve

Lewis Heriz Soundway record cover
Soundway cover by Lewis Heriz

Decca sleeve
Decca sleeve


When looking at these, bear in mind that a lot of them are actually not even the cover of the record, just the little paper sleeve inside. Hidden, unobtrusive... maybe even unimportant, but so beautiful!

So, yes they are pretty, but how could they inspire you?

- You could use these as inspiration for a colour palette for a room
- as a starting point for a design for a quilt to sew
- as colours to use in a collage
- as a guide to colours for a collection of cushions on a sofa
- as inspiration for a stencil
- to select colours for bunting or garlands
- or just find some old sleeves and frame them!

What would these inspire you to do?

Explore the music world and you'll find a huge amount of beautiful, elegant, inspiring, creative, confusing and fabulous design. From finding beautiful old record covers or sleeves in charity shops to exploring your local record shop and enjoying the fantastic, inventive design on the seven and twelve inch covers. It's well worth an afternoon to refresh your creative thinking, and you might even find some great new music along the way!

Enjoy

Becky

Date: 05 Aug 2014 14:37
Author: Becky
Tags: inspiration