The cover must speak for itself! 30/30 Competition

The cover must speak for itself!

23.07 – 18.08.2024
Opening: 23.07.2023, g. 18.00
Gallery Nowa Scena UAP, 28 Marcinkowskiego Ave.
Participants: Bovska, Zbigniewa Bielak, Hanna Cieślak, Maciej „Animisiewasz” Grochot, Patryk Hardziej, Mariusz Mrotek, Łukasz Paluch, Grzegorz „Forin” Piwnicki, Dawid Ryski, Ada Zielińska
Curator: Ewelina Muraszkiewicz

My dears, the cover must speak for itself! It is not without reason that I recall, at the very beginning, the almost sacred words of Rosław Szaybo, which were heard many times during the most heated discussions during the 30/30 Competition. Usually, there was a deafening silence afterwards, glances were exchanged and a raging brainstorm could be felt J

What should a good cover be like? This question appears in every edition and each time justifying our opinion in such a way as to convince the interlocutors can sometimes be very difficult. And as far as we are concerned, there are people who seem to have discovered this secret. You have the opportunity to get to know them better at this exhibition.

Over the course of ten years, I have reviewed and rated over a thousand album covers. At the moment, when I open the file, I know, and it cannot be explained in a simple way, that a given project is good, but exactly… what does good mean? The secret lies in one sentence, the cover must speak for itself!

We have a record, CD, vinyl, i.e. a physical medium, plus the main component – music, and the icing on the cake – the graphic design, which ties everything together. A finished product going out into the world to please its listeners. But it’s not that simple.

The person who designs starts with music. The cover should best reflect what a given album has to offer. Translating one medium into another, sound into image, is not an easy task. And it doesn’t end there. The cover must perform well on a store shelf, in a home collection (who among us hasn’t picked up a CD and smiled with satisfaction while looking at it), on steaming services… The expectations of the recipients also set a high bar. I have a CD, a poster inside, stickers and maybe some gadgets, and then there’s merch. And not necessarily only in limited versions.

Grzegorz “Forin” Piwnicki asked the right question what Spotify would look like without covers. You can imagine these countless white or black windows. How would this affect ranges? Hmmm…

So what about this cover, where is the clou? Graphics, photography or a mix of techniques must be technically well made before it becomes a cover. And it’s good enough for us to admit that even if we don’t like it, it’s a good design, and then it’s a good cover.

The cover functions independently, without the accompaniment of music, without the support of good quality paper, let me say it again, it has to defend itself. Without this, it will not be able to fulfill many functions that it should fulfill as a complete product.

We present you the best of the best of the ten years of the 30/30 Competition. Specialists who create in various styles, referring to and drawing from various tendencies, invariably creating the Polish school of record cover design.

Enjoy!