January 06, 2006
Album cover designer spotlight: Winston Smith
Winston Smith is an artist who arguably created an entire design genre. His cover designs for The Dead Kennedys, Green Day and others have really defined the rebellious cut-and-paste montage look so commonly associated with punk rock. Green Day's Insomniac cover and The Dead Kennedys 'bladed' logo are his most notable design works.
Smith has completed more than 30 cd cover designs since 1980, but his work also includes major magazine illustrations, posters and compilation books of his art. He uses no computers to create his designs. His tools are old magazines, catalogs, a razor knife and glue - which he uses to create art with biting social commentary. So well composed are the designs that they sometimes appear to be a painting. He seems most fond of using images from the 1950s, mashed-up and combined in a way to turn the innocent, happy feeling of the original pictures into rebellious, authority-questioning, psychedelic collages.
Sometimes humorous, always thought provoking, Winston Smith's art represents a milestone in the realm of cover design.
Winston Smith cd cover designer
