In the music industry, image is everything, so your CD design should look like your music, your album and you. This means that you must have a vision for the design before you even begin the design process. While you are creating the CD design for your project, listen to the music on the album; this will inspire you with ideas that reflect the mood of the music.
The design for the CD cover and the design on the CD itself should send a clear message about the type of artist you are and the type of music and album you are selling. You can start the brainstorming process by looking at the CD art and designs of other musicians, especially those whose music is similar to yours, and notice how their image and music are reflected in the design packaging.
Hire a professional graphic designer, especially one who is familiar with Photoshop photo editing software. You need someone who can interpret your ideas and bring your vision to life. If you are designing the CD music project yourself, you need to know how to use graphic editing software like Photoshop and Illustrator. Either way you must get good-quality, high-resolution pictures and prints for your artwork design.
Make sure that all your work is done in the digital painting or 100 percent scale format, and use a good-color ink-jet or laser printer to print out a hard copy of all your artwork. Make several designs, print them out and review each one, noting the things that make it a hit or a miss. Go with the one you think is best.
Attract your target audience by choosing a distinctive design that appeals to that audience. Everything from the typography and the symbols to the colors used in the design should be done with your audience in mind. For instance, a CD design targeting children can include bold, bright colors and cartoon graphics; for a hip-hop album, a CD design of graffiti letters, brick walls and an artist sporting tattoos may appeal to the hip-hop music fan.
In addition to artwork, you need to include important details such as your contact information, website and barcode in your artwork design for the CD cover. The song titles also need to be included, as well as the credits showing the names of those who were involved in producing the album.