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The K-pop industry pays a lot of attention to aesthetics. The clothes, hairstyles, concept pictures for albums and even album covers are well thought-out so as to match the style and vision the company had for the group's comeback.
In the era of digital access to music, most people do not buy albums. However, this is not the case for K-pop fans. K-pop albums are treated as collectibles by fans and the majority of them eagerly wait to buy the physical albums of their favorite groups.
The novelty of K-pop albums is that not only are they aesthetically pleasing to the eye but are also packed with various goodies, especially a photocard that members collect to keep as memoribilia.
5 most eye-catching K-pop album cover designs
1) Love Yourself trilogy
BTS' Love Yourself series is made up of three albums: Her, Tear, and Answer. Each album has four different versions, and each version has a different album cover design, designed by Husky Fox.
Love Yourself: Her album deals with the topic of blooming love and hence the album cover for each version is a different kind of flower. Love Yourself: Tear talks about heartbreak and one can see each cover representing the same flower in the previous album cover unraveling.
Finally, in Love Yourself: Answer, the theme of introspection and self-love is explored and the album covers showcase the unraveled flowers turning into different kinds of hearts.
When all the album versions are put together, the lines on each of the album covers form a continuous interconnected design, flowing from one album to another, showcasing the brilliance of the design.
Love Yourself: Tear album was nominated for 2019 Grammy Awards for the category of Best Recording Package. The trilogy albums also won the 2020 Red Dot Design Award for the Brands & Communication Design category.
2) Pink Tape
K-pop group f(x)'s Pink Tape is one of the most iconic albums ever made in K-pop. The entire concept was the brainchild of Min Hee-Jin, who has worked on many creative concepts related to the group.
Pink Tape gives old-school nostalgia with the entire album designed as a VHS cassette tape. The concept of the album was retro-themed, perfectly captured by the cover and packaging.
f(x) is known for their unique and creative album concepts. Pink Tape went on to win the 2014 Red Dot Design Award for the Communication Design category.
3) Perfect Velvet
Red Velvet ditched their cute and bubbly look for a more eerie concept with their album Perfect Velvet. SM Entertainment's former creative director, Min Hee-Jin, was behind this concept as well.
The album cover perfectly embodies the dark and horror aesthetic Red Velvet was going for. Their title track, Peek-A-Boo, encapsulates the horror mystery feel of the movies from the 70s-80s which was also portrayed on the album cover.
Red Velvet's albums have always been colorful, but this time a darker color palette was chosen.
4) Map of the Soul: 7
BTS' Map of the Soul: 7 was released in their seventh year as a group. The album was designed by the husband-wife duo Sparks Edition. They tried to capture what the number seven meant to the group.
The album cover has a flattened seven on it and each version has a different color palette depending on the concept of that version. However, the seven on the album cover is made by juxtaposing seven different numerical sevens, each in a different font that represents each member.
The first two versions of the album were inspired by white and black swans representing their innocence and their shadows respectively. The third album cover was inspired by the group's strength and resilience, while the last album cover symbolized the ego or harmony between the members.
5) LILAC
IU's LILAC album is one of the prettiest albums to exist. Not only does the album perfectly capture IU's beauty and innocence, it also has a spring-like feel to it. IU's concept with this album was to use lilac flowers to represent youthfulness.
The album's concept is cheery and playful, an attempt to stay young no matter the age. The album is her way of welcoming her 30s and bidding a sweet farewell to her 20s.
K-pop album covers should encapsulate the emotions of the songs and the concept the artists were going for, and the aforementioned albums did exactly that.
